FOZ Founder to TML, on Trump: ‘He Knows the Game Obama Played; He Won’t Take the Bait’
National security adviser Mike Waltz reassigned to UN post; ‘Trump loves to fire people—he’s really good at it,’ says Mike Evans, founder of Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Heritage Center, ‘but he didn’t fire Mike Waltz’
With negotiations between Washington and Tehran set to continue this weekend, President Donald Trump told reporters he and his team “haven’t made the decision” about whether to allow Iran a limited nuclear enrichment program. Later that day, he insisted that Iran’s nuclear centrifuges must be blown up, whether by agreement or by military intervention.
Amid President Trump’s vacillating rhetoric, some observers suggest that the US administration might be toning down its “maximum pressure” approach to negotiations. But Dr. Mike Evans, founder of Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Heritage Center, sees it differently. In an interview with The Media Line’s Felice Friedson, Evans said that the president is “hardening his tone” on Iran.
“What he’s trying to do right now is drain the swamp,” Evans said. “He’s trying to destroy Iran economically. That’s why he’s putting sanctions on all these countries. He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
He described President Trump as a “moral clarity president,” comparing him to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The deal with Iran is still up in the air, but President Trump struck a deal with the Houthis on Tuesday. The Yemen-based terror group agreed to stop striking ships in the Red Sea in exchange for the US agreeing to halt strikes in Yemen. Notably, the Houthis did not agree to stop firing missiles at Israel.
“I don’t see it as the Houthis firing rockets into Israel,” Evans said. “I see it as the Iranians firing rockets into Israel. It’s just a proxy of Iran. They fund them. They provide the intelligence. They provide the missiles. It’s all Iran. In my opinion, Iran needs to be bankrupted.”
He said that Iran could be taken down in 72 hours if strikes on Iranian oil refineries and ports paved the way for a popular uprising. “Eighty-five percent of them hate the mullahs, and they could overthrow this government the same way the Shah was overthrown,” he said.
If Iran doesn’t agree to “a total disarmament of its nuclear program,” such a strike may be necessary, Evans said.
Donald Trump won’t take the bait. He knows the game Obama played.
“Donald Trump won’t take the bait. He knows the game Obama played; he won’t take the bait. He’s making a good-faith attempt to squeeze the economy of Iran to bring them into submission,” he said.
He emphasized that the Iranian regime, rather than the people of Iran, poses a threat to Israel. “The Persians, the people themselves, love Israel,” he said. “It’s going to be fine for Israel with the Persian people. But these demon-possessed nut-job mullahs have to be thrown out of this country. And really, the only way to do it is to bankrupt the country.”
With geopolitical dynamics shifting in the Middle East, many are wondering about the potential for a normalization deal between Israel and the US, which has long been a US objective. Evans said that a deal is likely to take place as soon as this fall and that such a deal would result in “the whole Sunni world” adjusting its stance on Israel.
“The cash register for terror will shut down because the crown prince, MBS, has zero tolerance for antisemitism and terror,” he said. “I know it, I’ve been with him. He told me the Palestinians are fools. They should be copying Israel, not fighting her.”
On Tuesday, President Trump told reporters that three of the 24 living hostages thought to remain were no longer living. “As of today, it’s 21,” he said. Netanyahu said on Wednesday that 21 are confirmed to be alive and that “there is doubt” about three others. The Hostages Family Forum said that the families of hostages had not been given new information.
“I can say this, it’s 21 to 23 at maximum that are alive, 21 to 23,” Evans said. “If they are alive, remember there were five that were going to be released but four were dead Americans. So we really don’t know. No one really knows how many hostages are alive.”
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What is known for sure, Evans said, is that Hamas wants to use the hostages to maintain power in Gaza. “They want to do it because they think they can make money off of it,” he said. “They think they can use it like a Jerry Lewis telethon to get people to send them money, dialing for dollars.”
With no apparent plan for freeing the hostages who are still in Gaza, some are questioning President Trump’s warning in February that “all hell would break loose” if all the hostages held in Gaza weren’t freed.
“I think the president is 100% on the same page as the prime minister of Israel,” Evans said. “He has tremendous compassion for these hostages. There’s never been a president that brought them hostages into the Oval Office the way he did. He’s spoken so much about them. He really cares, but he realized Hamas is a terrorist organization and it has to be taken out.”
The Israeli military has recently called up tens of thousands of reservists to serve in Gaza. According to Netanyahu, the intention is for the military to remain in Gaza indefinitely, for as long as it takes to dismantle Hamas.
Evans said that President Trump had bought into that strategy. “He realizes that Hamas has used the foreign aid, the food, everything to buy missiles, to make life more miserable for these precious people, and kill more people. So he realizes there’s no options. They can’t do anything,” he said.
He rejected the idea that the conditions inside Gaza amount to a famine. “During the Ethiopian civil war, I was bringing C-130s filled with maize food to the Ethiopians. They were in a famine,” he said. “The Gazans are not in a famine. There is no famine in Gaza. You look at their bodies. They’re not in a famine.”
The hostages, many of whom reportedly ate no more than one pita a day, were in famine conditions, Evans said.
Many international groups have called for the entrance of humanitarian aid into the country, which has been blocked by Israel for more than two months.
“Any international aid that comes in has to be incredibly vetted, because that’s how the terror happened,” Evans said. “It was coming in from Egypt with weapons. And by the way, it can’t be allowed to get into the hands of Hamas anymore.”
In order to prevent arms smuggling of that sort, Israel will have to take control over aid distribution, he said.
One looming question regarding Gaza’s future is whether rebuilding will require relocating the enclave’s 2 million or so residents. President Trump has suggested that the Palestinians living in Gaza leave in order for the US to take control and rebuild, and Israeli and US officials have reportedly reached out to three African countries about taking in Gazans.
“I can tell you that there’s African countries that said yes and they will take them in,” Evans said. “On the Gazan end, you probably have 60% of the population that want to leave. They won’t say it because they’re afraid for their lives. But they’ve been used. They’ve been used. They’ve been exploited. They didn’t create this problem.”
Leaving Gaza could be a good thing for many of its residents, Evans said, pointing to the “very happy” 160,000 or so Palestinians in the US as an example.
They’ve been held captive as hostages themselves by radical Islam, and all this has to stop
“They’re prospering. Their children are being greatly educated. There’s no problem at all,” he said. “They know they can have a better life, and this is going to happen. They’re going to get out of this hellhole. They’ve been held captive as hostages themselves by radical Islam, and all this has to stop.”
Last week, national security adviser Mike Waltz was removed from his position, with President Trump nominating him instead to serve as ambassador to the UN.
“I think the media exaggerated the story of Mike Waltz,” Evans said. “They said he was fired. Donald Trump loves to fire people. He’s really good at it. But he didn’t fire Mike Waltz.”
Trump loves to fire people. He’s really good at it. But he didn’t fire Mike Waltz.
He said he was “kind of surprised” by the news since he was hoping former Ambassador to Israel David Friedman would be nominated for the role.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now acting national security adviser, in addition to serving as acting state archivist and acting administrator of USAID.
“There’s never been, ever since Henry Kissinger, a diplomat who was secretary of state and national security adviser at the same time,” Evans said. “He was at the embassy gala that I hosted. They don’t come more pro-Israel than Marco Rubio, and he has the ear of the president.”
Evans himself knows what it’s like to advise a national leader. He reflected on his long relationship with the late Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, whom he described as a mentor and “the pioneer of Christian Zionism.”
“On June 30, 1980, I met with the prime minister [Begin] and he asked me why I came, and I told him, ‘I don’t know,’” Evans recounted. “He said, ‘Do you know anything?’ I said, ‘I know God sent me.’ He said, ‘But he didn’t tell you why?’ I said, no. He said, ‘When he tells you why, come back and tell me.’”
The next week, Evans met Benjamin Netanyahu, who was then running the Jonathan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute. The institute was named in honor of his brother, a military officer who was killed during a 1976 counterterrorist operation.
“On July 4, I went to the home of a grieving young man, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in agony because it was the anniversary of his brother’s death,” Evans said. “And when I went to his home, I said a prayer over him, and this is the prayer I prayed: Jonathan loved David, you love Jonathan. Out of the ashes of your despair will come strength from God, and you will be the prime minister of Israel.
“The next day, on July 5, I went to Menachem Begin and I said, ‘I met the prime minister yesterday.’ He said, ‘You’re mistaken. You met me on June 30.’ I said, ‘No, no, it’s another man, Benjamin Netanyahu. Will you give him a job in the government?’ He did. And so, there’s a very special place in my heart.”
President Trump is set to fly to the Middle East next week to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Evans said that a visit to Israel isn’t on the president’s agenda.
“But it’s on the agenda every day for Donald Trump,” he said. “There’s no country in the world that he’s focused on more than the State of Israel.”
He said that the president will maintain unconditional love and support for the Jewish state.
“We have a major event here tonight with Mike Huckabee, and there’ll be a massive banner on our building that says ‘Donald Trump, Israel’s greatest president.’ And he’s the greatest president in American history for the State of Israel,” Evans said. “Nothing’s going to change. Listen, he knows the Israelis love him. He knows they love him, and he loves them. And nothing’s going to change with Donald Trump at all. He’s going to stand by Israel.”
