On December 2, 2024, just a few weeks after a sweeping election victory, President-elect Donald Trump shared a post on Truth Social stating that if the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas and other Islamist terror groups on October 7, 2023 are not released by Inauguration Day, “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East.” Furthermore, he said “[t]hose responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.” Trump did not provide further details on what actions he intends to take to follow through on this, but the statement nevertheless took the international diplomacy world by storm, with journalists trying to guess at what this threat may mean.
Trump doubled down on these incendiary statements on January 7, 2025, stating in a press conference at Mar-a-Lago that if the hostages aren’t freed by the time he’s back in office, “all hell will break out in the Middle East. It will not be good for Hamas.” Again, no details were provided on what “all hell will break out” means, and when asked twice for clarification, Trump refused to elaborate. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance stepped in to clarify Trump’s statements: “It means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple of battalions of Hamas and their leadership. It means very aggressive sanctions and financial penalties on those who are supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East.”
Trump is known to be unpredictable, and he has stated several times that he wants to see an end to all wars, including the war in Gaza, which may contradict his “all hell will break out” statements. But regardless of what actions Trump does or does not take to help release the hostages, defeat Hamas or cripple the Iranian regime, the Jewish community should recognize and appreciate support for Israel no matter which side of the political spectrum it comes from. Adam Milstein, an American of Israeli descent and Los Angeles-based venture philanthropist, wrote about the need for pragmatism in a recent article for The Jerusalem Post. He insists that the Jewish community should “work holistically with common allies left and right of center across the entire spectrum” to ensure the best outcome for Israel and Jews in the U.S. and globally.
Milstein is the co-founder of the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, a foundation that, since 2000, has delivered on its mission to support a network of nonprofits that strengthen American values, support the U.S.-Israel alliance and combat hatred and bigotry in all forms. He has written tirelessly on the dangers both the extreme left and right pose to Jews and Israel, and his philanthropic work reflects his drive to fight antisemitism and ensure a prosperous Jewish future.
In his article, Milstein breaks down how the Jewish community has “focused political capital almost exclusively on the American left” since the end of World War II. The left was a “natural ally for a century, driven by traditionally shared values of civil rights and social justice.” But he feels that this strategy is now shortsighted given the fact that the extreme progressive wing of the Democratic party has grown more influential when it comes to social issues, endangering Jews with rigid, race-first ideologies like Critical Race Theory, anticolonialism and the “oppressed versus oppressor” framework. He says:
The evolution of the Islamo-leftist alliance, the rise of the so-called “Squad” in Congress, along with the normalization of anti-Israel rhetoric on the left, has too often been ignored and dismissed by American Jews. Within the left, Israel is continuously demonized and Jews are routinely asked to choose between their identity and their party loyalty.
Therefore, he argues that “alliances should not be dictated by tradition or blind loyalty but rather by a clear-eyed pragmatism.” The Jewish community should assess each politician or leader individually not based on party but by values and actions. Despite Trump’s unpredictability and ambiguity in terms of future policies, his record of support for Israel and the Jewish community from his first administration speaks for itself. Milstein states that Trump made “some of the most significant pro-Israel actions in modern history,” such as moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Far from symbolic gestures, these were “concrete historic changes that have had a lasting impact on Israel’s security, and the future of the Jewish people.”
Perhaps most important for Israel’s security is how Trump deals with the Iranian regime. In his first term, he “used maximum pressure to ensure that this evil regime would never get nuclear weapons by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal,” says Milstein. Trump will likely resume these maximum pressures sanctions but he has also telegraphed that he “intends to pressure Iran into a negotiated deal to give up its nuclear program without resorting to military force,” according to Israel Policy Forum Chief Policy Officer Michael Koplow. So while “all hell to pay” is still an unclear strategy, the Jewish community can be sure that Trump will take a different tack from Biden, who eased sanctions on Iran and tried to revive the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal, which many, including Milstein, saw as counter to Israel’s interests.
By working with any leader or activist who supports the Jewish people, Milstein believes “we can advance Israel’s security, combat antisemitism, and ensure the continued flourishing of Jewish life in America.” This means not allowing partisanship to “cloud our vision,” but rather “forg[ing] alliances that strengthen our community regardless of party affiliation and protect our values for generations to come.”
