Trump Echoes Talleyrand in Middle East Diplomacy

EJ Kimball, The Daily Caller, Middle East Forum

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Excerpt:

President Trump's public diplomacy, from his first days in office to his State of the Union speech earlier this week, often appears inspired by the immortal words of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand at the Congress of Vienna in 1814: "If it goes without saying, it would go better by saying it." ...

[I]t goes without saying that "weakness is the surest path to conflict," and that "complacency and concessions only invite aggression and provocation." These words from President Trump's speech Tuesday night are fundamental truths that have become politically incorrect to acknowledge. There is perhaps no conflict more illustrative of this than the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The "peace process" has failed due to decades of complacency and concessions by Israel, the United States, and the broader international community.

The root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not been an Israeli refusal to concede, or an American unwillingness to bend: it has been the ongoing Palestinian rejection of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

It should go without saying: If President Trump is serious about brokering an "ultimate deal" to end the conflict, the Palestinians and their supporters must be put on notice. There will be no more weakness. There will be no more concessions.