Will Joe Biden reverse Trump’s Middle East legacy?

JERUSALEM – Three weeks into the Biden administration, American conservatives are horrified by the pace at which the new president is dismantling the economic and domestic policy legacy of former President Donald J. Trump.

But they are also increasingly worried that President Joe Biden is going to reverse Trump’s Middle East legacy, particularly with regard to a great ally like Israel and a great enemy like Iran.

Last night, ALL ISRAEL NEWS Founder and Editor-in-Chief Joel C. Rosenberg was interviewed by Steve Deace, the Iowa-based conservative who hosts a daily program on BlazeTV, the subscription-based cable network founded by Glenn Beck.

Deace asked Rosenberg to comment on a range of topics: 

• What’s life like in Israel right now given the coronavirus, the third national shutdown, closed airports, and so forth?

• Has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gone “insane” by depending so much on lockdowns when they aren't working?

• Was Trump right to essentially abandon the Palestinian issue and focus so hard on building a strategic alliance between the U.S., Israel and the Sunni Arab states, most of whom are worried about the Iran threat?

• Is Biden going to be, essentially, a third term for Barack Obama?

In the final segment, Deace pressed Rosenberg on whether Biden was going to systematically dismantle Trump’s very positive and historic Middle East legacy, especially when it came to getting tough with Iran and preventing them from getting nuclear weapons.

“I really think this is the third term of Obama,” Deace said. “So, I've been calling it ‘Obiden.’” 

Rosenberg told Deace he thought the host was “absolutely right,” especially “on domestic and economic and social policy” for which “Biden is going to be horrible for anybody who’s Christian, Evangelical, pro-life, pro-traditional biblical marriage.”

Biden may also prove to be a “disaster on the economy,” Rosenberg noted.

Regarding foreign policy, however, Rosenberg wasn’t ready to predict that Biden would be a total disaster, or completely dismantle Trump’s Middle East policies.

“We're going to have to watch – I'm not sure yet,” Rosenberg said. “I'm skeptical, but I don't want to be a cynic. I think Biden has some differences with regards to Israel. Obama was a train wreck with Israel – a train wreck.”

Rosenberg noted, Biden has historically called himself a “Zionist” and “pro-Israel,” and has also had “much warmer” chemistry with Israeli leaders over the years, including with Netanyahu.

But the ALL ISRAEL NEWS founder added: “Now, if he [Biden] makes a terrible deal with Iran – like he is signaling he might – then this will be horrible." 

Hopefully, Rosenberg added, Biden will prove “he's tougher with Iran” than Obama was and that Biden and his team “have learned some things.”

Biden “said this week that he's not going to remove sanctions on Iran until Iran stops enriching uranium past where they were supposed to begin – if he sticks to that, that's good,” Rosenberg said.

“If he gets tough with Putin, that's good. If he gets tough with Recep Erdogan, the dictator emerging in Turkey, that would be good.”

“So let's see – I'm cautious, and I'm concerned, but I'm not yet ready to say it's going to be a disaster,” Rosenberg added, telling Deace, “but we'll see – you may end up being right. I hope you're not.”

“I hope you are [right],” Deace replied. “I did see what he [Biden] said over the weekend about not coming back to the table with Iran, because I thought was pretty active during the campaign about wanting to renew the Iran deal. That kind of surprised me. So, I hope that you turn out to be right about that.”

The full interview on BlazeTV runs 14 minutes.