The Jewish people’s long memory means we remember those who have been good to us for thousands of years and our ‘Hakarat Hatov,’ our gratitude, is eternal. Donald Trump has etched his name in history alongside Cyrus the Great. Opinion.
A key requirement for observant Jews is Hakarat Hatov, literally translated as ‘recognizing the good,’ but more accurately translated as ‘acting in recognition of the good.’ It includes the commandment to express proper gratitude for good things that happen or are done.
The long memory of the Jewish people does not only extend to tragedies that have befallen us and the atrocities that have been committed against us. We remember the good that has been done for us as well. The Persian King Cyrus is still known as ‘Cyrus the Great’ over 2,500 years later for his decision to allow the Jews to rebuild their Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The daughter of Pharaoh who rescued the infant Moses from the Nile River and raised him as her son, was given the name Batya, meaning ‘Daughter of God.’
In modern times, the heroism of the “Righteous Among the Nations,” those who, like Oskar Schindler, risked everything to protect and save Jews from the Nazi genocide, has been immortalized. In the US, George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, declaring that the newly free America would “give to bigotry no sanction” and protect the religious rights of minorities, continues to be celebrated nearly two and a half centuries later. Jews likewise still remember Abraham Lincoln’s intervention to rescind General Order No. 11, the order issued by General Ulysses S. Grant expelling and banning Jews from Grant’s military district.
Grant’s case demonstrates the extent to which Hakarat Hatov extends, for Grant is remembered as one of the Jewish people’s biggest defenders from his time in the White House, despite the antisemitic order he issued during the American Civil War. As president, he spoke out against the expulsion of thousands of Jews in Russia and the persecution of Jews in Romania.
Likewise, two antisemitic men who sat in the Oval Office deserve Hakarat Hatov for what they did for the people of Israel, Richard Nixon for his resupply of Israel following the devastating losses at the start of the Yom Kippur War, and Jimmy Carter for brokering the first peace treaty between Israel and a major Arab nation with the Camp David Accords. Both men also deserve tremendous criticism, and it Carter’s case most of the credit belongs to Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, but the good can never be forgotten.
The current occupant of the Oval Office, Donald Trump, deserves a tremendous show of Hakarat Hatov for the support he has shown for the State of Israel and for his brave decision to strike Iran’s underground nuclear facilities last night. One does not have to support everything Trump does or says in order to show gratitude for what he has done with regard to Iran.
Trump already deserved Hakarat Hatov for moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s eternal capital. He already deserved Hakarat Hatov for recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. He deserved a special Hakarat Hatov for brokering the Abraham Accords, peace and normalization agreements with four Arab states.
The US has carried out many military airstrikes at the directive of the President in the last 30 years. Even Democratic Bill Clinton and Barack Obama ordered airstrikes in places such as Sudan and Libya. Even so, it is hard to imagine any other President ordering an airstrike against Iran or showing such support to Israel as President Trump has shown over the last two weeks.
When Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osirak, the Reagan Administration, one of the most pro-Israel administrations ever at the time, was furious and condemned Israel. Years later, American officials would express their gratitude that Israel eliminated Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, but at the time, even a pro-Israel president could not contain his rage.
In 2007, when Israel again eliminated the threat of an enemy nation developing nuclear weapons with a strike on a nuclear reactor in Syria, the US under George W. Bush did not condemn Israel, but neither did it publicly support the Jewish State.
The elimination of Iran’s nuclear weapons program is very much an American interest and a strategic imperative. There was no way the US could allow the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism, a state which has murdered many Americans, whose leaders declare America to be the “Great Satan” and lead their followers in chants of “Death to America,” a state whose leaders have plotted to assassinate Donald Trump, to acquire nuclear weapons.
Moreover, a nuclear-armed Iran would spark a regional arms race as countries such as Saudi Arabia launched their own nuclear weapons programs to restore the balance of power against Iran. That arms race will not happen now that Iran’s nuclear facilities are no more.
The fact that it was just as much in America’s interests to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons program as it was in Israel’s interests does not detract from the need to express the proper gratitude. Trump had to stand up to the antisemites within the Republican Party, the Tucker Carlsons who defend Hitler and all dictators who seek to destroy America. It is easy to imagine a scenario where Carlson’s extreme isolationism won out and the Republican Party bowed to the whims of its most virulent antisemites the way Democratic Biden Administration and the Harris campaign bowed to the whims of the most virulent left-wing antisemites last year.
Thankfully, the Trump Administration has stood up to the Tucker Carlson wing, and America and the world are all the better for it.
With these strikes on Fordow and the other nuclear facilities, the US has done its part. It has defended its values, its citizens, and its allies. It has acted with honor and bravery. It has saved potentially millions of lives and made the prospect of World War Three far more distant than it was just last month. Hopefully, this will be the end of America’s military involvement in the Iran crisis, which should hopefully end soon with the elimination of Iran’s missiles and launching pads now that Fordow has been destroyed.
This has been a very difficult two weeks in Israel. 24 people were murdered and thousands more injured in Iran’s ballistic missile attacks. the war in Gaza has claimed soldiers’ lives. Daily life has been disrupted by the frequent sirens and trips to bomb shelters and protected rooms. But every time I am woken from sleep by a siren or alert, every time I have to drop what I’m doing to go to a safe room, I am so thankful for everything.
Many thanks are in order for the success of Operation Rising Storm and the defanging of the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.
First and foremost, Thank You to Hashem, the Almighty, for being with the brave pilots who have had to fly so far from home in defense of not only Israel, but the entire free world, for giving courage to the leaders whose decisions carried the fate of millions on their shoulders, and for giving them victory.
Thank you to the brave pilots of the IAF and the American Air Force, who had to carry out missions the likes of which the world has never seen before, thousands of miles from home. May God bless and protect them.
Thank you to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for making the decision to strike the source of the terrorist threats of Hamas and Hezbollah and for preventing the rise of a nuclear Iran.
Thank you to the Israeli people for their bravery and continued support for the operation despite the hundreds of ballistic missiles Iran has fired at them.
Thank you to the American people for their understanding of the danger of a nuclear Iran and their support for actions to prevent that danger from becoming reality despite the propaganda and their justified scepticism of more military action.
And whatever your opinion of his other policies, Hakarat Hatov requires that we say thank you to the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for defending the American people, American values, and America’s allies. The gratitude the People of Israel feel toward you today will live forever alongside Cyrus the Great.
Gary Willig is a veteran member of the Arutz Sheva news staff.
