The Israel Angle of Signalgate
In his second term as President, Donald Trump has demonstrated a brazen willingness to move fast and break things. He has dismantled federal government agencies and initiated large-scale spending cuts to critical programs. He’s weakened our system of checks and balances by usurping legislative authority and undermining the judiciary. This week’s “Signalgate” scandal – with Trump’s senior leadership openly discussing war plans via an unsecured messaging app, Signal – demonstrated that Trump’s recklessness impacts national security. It has also weakened trust between the Trump Administration and Israel at a time when our security partnership has never been more important.
“LOATHING OF EUROPEAN FREE-LOADING”
In addition to endangering our national security with the mishandling of classified information, Signalgate illustrates the White House’s dangerous isolationist worldview that characterizes Trump’s foreign policy. In perhaps the most telling lines of the entire Signal chat, Vice President J.D. Vance expressed reticence in supporting the U.S. military operation because he “hate[s] bailing out Europe again.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth strongly agreed, “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading.”
This exchange demonstrated the clear animus, distrust, and even “loathing” that exists at the top of this White House toward vital U.S. allies. It came at a time when an Iran-aligned terrorist organization based in Yemen, the Houthis, had previously fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, hijacked commercial ships, and disrupted commercial shipping lanes in and around the Red Sea. Yet Vance and Hegseth were not solely focused on securing American interests against the threat posed by the Houthis. According to Signalgate, their priority appeared to be avoiding a situation in which Europe may also benefit from U.S. military strikes.
INEXPLICABLE REVERSAL
The Vance-Hegseth exchange illustrates the contempt and suspicion with which Trump views our European partners. The Trump White House appears to view our allies as adversaries and our adversaries – such as Russia – as potential allies. We have yet to see the full national security impact of Trump’s inexplicable undermining of the post-WWII worldorder, but Signalgate will undoubtedly distance America even further from our European allies. This is antithetical to our national security interests and those of our allies, including Israel, who rely on the broader U.S. security umbrella as an essential component of their own national security.
THE ISRAEL ANGLE
For the past year and a half, the Houthis have consistently targeted Israel and Israeli interests in the Red Sea. What began as persistent Houthi ballistic missile and drone strikes targeting Israel in the weeks after October 7th culminated with a drone reaching downtown Tel Aviv, hitting an area just meters from the U.S. Embassy Branch Office, in July 2024. In the past 24 hours, the Houthis launched two missiles toward central Israel that were intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory.
Given close U.S.-Israel intelligence coordination in advance of the Houthi strikes earlier this month, Israeli officials are reportedly upset and frustrated with the Trump team’s reckless disclosure of this information via Signalgate. Just as advance notice of strikes via unsecured channels risked the lives of U.S. service members by potentially revealing such information to our adversaries in advance of a military operation or as it was underway, it also risks the lives of Israelis reportedly responsible for providing the intelligence that informed the operation.
The utter recklessness of Trump’s team in handling such information is reminiscent of when Trump revealed highly classified Israeli intelligence to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador in the Oval Office in 2017. This incident left Israelis “horrified,” given Trump’s public disclosure of classified information the Israeli government had entrusted in the hands of its closest ally. Signalgate reveals that eight years later, Trump has only grown more reckless.
The U.S.-Israel security relationship is based on mutual trust, which Trump and his team have now repeatedly violated by publicly revealing the use of Israeli intelligence. These incidents underscore Trump’s disregard of this vital aspect of the U.S.-Israel security relationship – intelligence sharing – at a critical time, as Israel faces direct threats from Iran and its proxies. It also demonstrates what Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton warned about last year – that Trump’s support of Israel is “not guaranteed” because “Trump’s positions are made on the basis of what’s good for Donald Trump, not on some coherent theory of national security.”
ACCOUNTABILITY
This week, Jewish Insider reported that Republican senators are concerned about what Signalgate revealed about the Trump administration’s dangerous isolationist approach to foreign policy. According to their reporting, “Republican senators are privately expressing frustrations over Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion in a leaked group chat that the Houthis are more of a problem for Europe than the United States and his voicing of doubt that it was in the U.S.’ interest to strike the Iran-backed group in Yemen.”
In addition, multiple Democrats have called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Hegseth and National Security Advisor Waltz, given their reckless misuse of classified information and the national security risk it posed for the United States, American troops, and our allies. Members of the administration must be held accountable for this egregious incident, which also revealed the White House’s use of Signal – where messages can automatically disappear – potentially to avoid legally required record-keeping obtainable by Congress and the public.
As someone who had a top-level security clearance during my roles in government, it’s painfully clear that the information on the Signal chat was grossly mishandled by Trump’s entire national security team. If I – or anyone else in previous administrations – had treated classified information so recklessly, outside of legally required security protocols, we would have been rightfully fired and potentially jailed. The threat posed by this incident is grave, and there must be accountability, which is why JDCA is calling for the resignation of Hegseth, Waltz, and others involved in this security breach. We encourage you to join us in writing to your members of Congress demanding their resignations because jeopardizing national security demands accountability.
JOIN JDCA CALLING FOR THE RESIGNATION OF HEGSETH AND WALTZ
CRITICAL ELECTION IN FOUR DAYS
As JDCA serves as the political home of Jewish voters in support of Democrats who share our values, there’s an important opportunity to get involved in our work in Wisconsin in the next four days.
The first statewide election since November – the Wisconsin Supreme Court race – is on April 1. It’s a critically important race that will not only tip the ideological balance on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but also serve as the first statewide electoral test of Trump’s second term. Join us in getting out the vote for liberal Judge Susan Crawford, and we hope you’ll continue to support JDCA, which makes our work possible. Thank you for your partnership and support.
Shabbat Shalom,
Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America
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