President Donald Trump will make a formal declaration recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank in the lead up to the 2020 presidential elections, the head of a Christian Knesset caucus claimed in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News on Wednesday.
“I believe that right before the election Donald Trump will make a statement recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria,” the director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, Josh Reinstein, said.
According to Reinstein, Trump is likely to say something along the lines of a May statement made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asserting Israel’s right to decide to apply its law over the West Bank.
Reinstein’s remarks follow the recently signed U.S.-brokered peace deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel which included a clause to suspend Israel’s annexation plans.
According to remarks made both by Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the deal, the issue of sovereignty was shelved at the U.S.’ behest.
“Israel has agreed not to do it. More than off the table, they have agreed not to do it,” Trump said. “I think that very important. I think it was a great concession by Israel, I think it was a smart concession.”
However, according to Reinstein, Trump’s history of pro-Israel policies makes it likely that the postponement will not last long.
“If you look at his track record, he’s done all the big things that [his base] wants from him,” Reinstein said.
His base, Reinstein maintains, is a growing number of Bible-believing Christians. Reinstein explains a crucial aspect of standing with Israel for these Christians is the land itself – and the importance of not dividing it.
“It’s not places like Tel Aviv and Haifa that are important, its Shiloh, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Beit El,” Reinstein said, referring to West Bank settlements mentioned in the Bible often referred to as the cradle of Jewish civilization.
“Sovereignty is a very big issue for Christians and the one thing they’re waiting to hear,” he said. “I believe that Donald Trump understands these issues and cares about them.”
Reinstein, who is also the president of the Israel Allies Foundation, made a list in 2014 of ten pro-Israel policies his group hoped to see come to fruition, with the goal of ensuring that one of them was fulfilled within five years.
“Trump did nine out of ten of them over the last three and a half years,” Reinstein said, with Israeli sovereignty being the only item left on the table.
The list included moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem; declaring Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights; defunding the corrupt UN agency for Palestinian refugees; ceasing to refer to settlements as illegal; signing an executive order fighting anti-Semitism; signing legislation against funding terror and the anti-Israel BDS movement; killing the nuclear deal with Iran and normalization with Arab countries.
Last week’s UAE deal was just the beginning, Reinstein averred, adding before Trump makes his sovereignty announcement “we’ll see a lot more peace deals.”
“I think we’re just seeing the beginning of the importance and effectiveness of the Bibi-Trump doctrine,” he said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
That doctrine, Reinstein said, holds that a strong Israel brings peace.
“We’re seeing that peace through strength, as Reagan would have it, is the only thing that works. And the UAE deal is an amazing success for both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump because it shows that by empowering Israel you bring about peace,” he said.
“Everyone said that every move that they’ve done, from moving the embassy to the recognition of the Golan Heights is going to bring more condemnation, strife, war, and we’ve seen the exact opposite. We’ve seen peace get closer to Israel.”
That runs entirely counter to what the Obama administration did, Reinstein added, which believed peace in the Middle East could only be achieved through placating the Palestinians and emboldening Iran.
The UAE deal is “one of the most decisive pieces of evidence that the Bibi-Trump doctrine is really the most effective for bringing peace in the Middle East,” Reinstein concluded.
Josh Reinstein’s new book, ‘Titus, Trump and the Triumph of Israel; The Power of Faith Based Diplomacy’, is on pre-sale now on Amazon.