A young assassin named Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to eliminate the former president of the United States and current Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. The assassination attempt came at the right political timing for Trump. After all, in the days before the assassination attempt, the political talk in the United States of America was about the current president, Joe Biden, and the question, "Is he fit for another term?"
The talk about Biden's competence increased after Trump beat him in the presidential debates. That failed assassination attempt on former President Trump, not only brought out a hero, who survived an assassination attempt and remained indifferent to the whole event, as if he were a veteran soldier, but emphasized the difference between him and Biden. Joe Biden looks much older and slower after that assassination attempt when you look at him stammering and unable to complete a simple sentence in a televised confrontation when in front of him a man who is only 4 years younger than him gets shot in the ear and continues like Mini Rambo. It is safe to bet that Donald Trump is probably on his way to a second term as President of the United States.
If this indeed happens and Donald Trump returns to the American presidency, it can be assumed that the situation of forces in the Middle East is going to change for the better for the allies of the West. In Saudi Arabia, it is still remembered that Joe Biden decided to sever relations with Muhammad bin Salman because of humanitarian views. Biden failed to understand the local custom in regards to the elimination of opponents of the government. True, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi is an inhumane, non-Western act and this is not how it should be done in a reformed country. But the same political move by Biden hurt America's allies in the Middle East, making them feel they lack political support in the face of the terrorism fueled by Iran. Thus, the severing of relations with bin Salman, caused Saudi Arabia to get closer to Iran and damaged deterrence against the Houthis in Yemen.
And of course, you have to remember what the situation in the Middle East looked like when Trump finished his first term. At the beginning of the period at the end of his term, the United States and Israel discussed an Israeli annexation of the territories of Judea and Samaria. Although this did not happen, what did happen was the Abraham Accords - the beginning of the open relationship between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, a historic political move. Of course, after that, the Abrahamic agreements continued to expand and also reached Morocco and Sudan. It is interesting to think how the face of the Middle East will change after the return of Trump to the position of President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world.
I can surmise that Trump will first of all start arming Israel without doing the math as if he were a grocery store seller who prescribes to his customers. True, Biden stood by Israel from the first second and gave weapons and international backing, but the problem is Biden's party. The Democrats are known as a party supported by many pro-Palestinians, so no matter how pro-Israel Biden is, there will always be those who will put a stick in his wheels. Trump will surely push for Israel to fight and win the war against Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis, and of course the head of the octopus - Iran. Biden's conciliatory approach towards the Iranians, who dared to send missiles directly to Israel, does not do the West's supporters in the East any good, not Israel, not Jordan, and certainly not Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is a pro-Western country, against Iran, pro-Israeli, and a neighbor of Iran. However, President Biden and the Democrats have not shown enough appreciation for this country. US President Joe Biden has recognized the 1915 Armenian Massacre as a genocide, but President Trump does not. Trump's position is greatly appreciated in the Turkic world. Both Turkey and Azerbaijan acknowledge that the Armenians were deported from Eastern Turkey and that there were many deaths, but believe it was caused by civil unrest rather than being part of a premeditated attempt to eliminate an entire nation. Meanwhile, Biden was silent on the Khojaly Genocide and this does not help him look balanced in Turkic eyes.
Azerbaijan is a super important country for the West, from where you can send missiles to Iran, from where you can buy natural resources, through which you can get closer to Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc.) and of course Turkey, its close ally. The West must not take Azerbaijan for granted, and not give the Azerbaijanis any excuse to join the Iranians over their allies - Israel and America. The bottom line, Azerbaijan is a country that should be appreciated, not shunned. Therefore, it was a mistake for Biden to give into the claims of the Armenian lobby and politicize the history of what happened over 100 years ago. He should have left history to the historians and recognized the Armenian tragedy, without using the word genocide, just like Israel does.
The fact that America has such a strong Armenian lobby who all of the time condemns Azerbaijan in the US Congress, and so many Democratic Congressmen go along with this lobby, endangers American national security now that Iran has an Azerbaijani President who is a Reformist. For the Azerbaijanis, this is a game changer in their relationship with Iran. Under Raisi, speaking to Iran was like speaking to the wall. It was under his regime of terror that the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran was attacked. But under the new president, both President Ilham Aliyev and the new Iranian leader can converse in Azerbaijani and find mutual ground, and this is not good for America's interests. Therefore, the US must provide Azerbaijan with good treatment, so that they will stay in America's camp, and for this, Trump is excellent.
Of course, I am not happy that former President Trump was injured and almost assassinated. It's even very scary to think that one person can determine the fate of an entire world if only he manages to get a good enough weapon. But I am sure that if before the assassination attempt, there was any doubt in the world about who would win the American presidential election, it disappeared after seeing the picture of Trump, with a bleeding ear and the American flag in his hand while security guards guard him. And in the situation we are in with the war in Israel, the processes of building the nuclear reactor in Iran, the desire to protect the allies of the West (mainly Azerbaijan), and the Iranian takeover of the Middle East, we should have Trump sitting in the purple room, and no one else.
Rachel Avraham is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center and the editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."
