politics

Not everyone agrees: Some still back President Trump

5TJT editor says Trump's still on Israel's side

Posted Wednesday, June 24, 2026 12:00 am

The Jewish Star's cover last week was especially blunt. (Homage to the NY Daily News — "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD"

The logo of Larry Godon's column in the Five Towns Jewish Times. Amid the rhubarb over the Iranian MOU, Gordon prescribes patience, believing that President Donald Trump will stay the course and support Israel.

The cover of last week's edition of the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press: "Betrayal?"

Different folks for different folks: In 2021, a Jewish Star digital front page reports on a storm over Five Towns Jewish Times coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington. On Jan. 7, the 5TJT published a celebratory cover with a large photo of one of its columnists outside the Capitol before rioters stormed in; their breach of the Capitol resulted the death of Police Officer Brian Sicknick and in a range of injuries to 140 officers. Before and since, the Times has been devoted to President Trump, standing with him even after details of the US peace deal with Iran were made public.

By Ed Weintrob, The Jewish Star

While most Jewish leaders and Jewish media expressed dismay over President Donald Trump’s Iranian peace deal, some are sticking with the president.

The Jewish Star’s cover last week screamed, “TRUMP TO ISRAEL: DROP DEAD,” and the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press topped its cover with one word, “Betrayal?" — but the community is not of one mind.

The Republican Jewish Coalition urged American Jews to trust Trump.

“President Trump has earned the trust of the Jewish community as he and his team work toward a final agreement,” RJC national chairman Norm Coleman and CEO Matt Brooks said. “This is the same president who moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, delivered the Abraham Accords peace agreements, tore up Obama’s disastrous JCPOA, ended the war in Gaza and brought all of the hostages home.”

Some critics of the deal say it may be worse than the one crafted under Obama, which Trump continues to denounce. It is difficult to compare the pacts because the MOU is only an initial framework while the JCPOA was a comprehensive agreement, and the president and some of his supporters challenge any unfavorable comparison.

In last week’s Five Towns Jewish Times, publisher and editor Larry Gordon rejeccted the suggestion that Trump's deal is worse than Obama's, beginning his column by suggesting that the goals for the war that were articulated by Trump were too ambitious.

“I think it’s important to understand that the idea of completely wiping out Iran is not going to happen,” Gordon wrote.

Nevertheless, is confident that the US will see to it that “Iran never has the ability to build nuclear weapons.”

Referring to the JCPOA that former President Barack Obama signed with Iran in 2015 and which Trump cancelled in 2018, Gordon wrote that “it’s silly to suggest that the two agreements are the same.”

“It’s Obama’s fundamental dishonesty that moved him to say that there is no difference between the two deals,” he continued. “The new Trump deal prohibits Iran from possessing nuclear weapons of any size, shape, or under any circumstances.”

[Actually, the MOU only reaffirms that it “shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons." It does not state that the Islamic Republic is prohibited from "possessing" them or even from using them.]

Gordon further writes that “Obama so desperately wanted an agreement with Iran that he paid them pallets of cash worth $1.7 billion to agree to the deal. The Trump deal offers zero money to Iran until a show of good faith on their part that they are unequivocally abiding by the agreement.”

It is widely reported, however, that the flow of cash to Iran has already begun as restrictions on Iranian oil and other business transactions are lifted, giving it unfettered access to a US-dollar-based international monetary system; some estimates say that the Islamic Republic's haul during the MOU's first 60 days may be more than $6 billion, with up to $300 billion anticipated over time as Iran for the first time collects fees from ships traversing the Straight of Hormuz, sanctioned funds are released, and US allies aid in rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

“It was wrong and unconscionable for Mr. Trump to refer condescendingly to Prime Minister Netanyahu as he did recently,” Gordon conceded, adding that “Trump is a great friend of Israel and he always will be.”

Ending the war now is “not just about gas prices or endangering US troops. More than anything, the focus here is on the November elections and the need for the Republicans to retain or even increase their majorities in the House and Senate,” Gordon concluded.

“The goal here is to maintain if not widen the Republican majority in the House in November as well as maintain the current Republican majority in the Senate. At the end of the process in November, the US and Israel will have no choice but to finish the bombing of Iran and openly call for regime change. At the same time, Israel will have the opportunity to finish off Hezbollah and the Houthis. It’s at this point that we will finally be able to conclude once again that Donald Trump is indeed the best friend Israel ever had in the White House.”

Story updated June 25 at 1pm ET to add clarity about MOU terms. An abbreviated version of this story appeared in The Jewish Star print edition dated June 26.