From Caracas to Tehran
Maduro's capture is outstanding news for the democratic world.
President Trump’s audacious action in capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in downtown Caracas and airlifting him to prison in America is outstanding news for the democratic world and especially for Israel.
The operation follows many years that the United States turned its back on South America. Having visited the continent repeatedly in recent years, I witnessed the bitterness many of its pro-Western residents felt toward the American policymakers who they felt abandoned South America to radical leftists closely allied with Russia, China, and Islamic extremists.
Trump has utterly reversed this trend, reestablishing South and Central America as a pro-American sphere in which the U.S. will not tolerate hostile foreign intervention. Cuba, Nicaragua, and even Brazil must all take notice.
So, too, must Iran. Maduro was a major ally of Tehran and a facilitator of Iranian-backed terror. His arrest came just over a week after Trump, in the presence of Prime Minister Netanyahu, pledged to use military force to prevent Iran from rebuilding its ballistic and nuclear capabilities. Two days before the Caracas raid, Trump promised to intervene forcibly to protect Iranian protesters against the regime. The Ayatollahs can have no doubt that, as long as Trump remains in the White House, the days of their Middle East hegemony—and perhaps even their rule—is over.
All this is superb news for Israel. As in last summer’s war with Iran, Trump has again proven his determination to stand up to the isolationists in his own party and to protect American power abroad. I have long said that Israel is better off with a president who is critical of us but is willing to project power than with a president who supports us but refrains from using force. Trump both backs us and flexes American muscle worldwide.
The fall of Maduro in Venezuela could well mean the restoration of the Pax Americana in the Middle East. The demise of yet another virulently anti-Zionist dictator strengthens the hope for peace between Israel and Lebanon, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The collapse of yet another Iranian ally could conceivably mean peace between Israel and Tehran as well.
This article was originally published in Hebrew in Ynet on January 4, 2026.
And the spineless whine and scream… I’m sure when Pres.Thomas Jefferson ordered the USMC to the Barbary Coast to squash pirates hijacking maritime trade there were naysayers, concerned about another war after the Revolutionary War. I’m sure there were isolationists and whiners when Pres.Teddy Roosevelt took audacious actions against those who attacked /threatened American forces/interests. Pres.Trump is not Putin. He has no real plans to annex countries like Venezuela or the joke so many thought the Greenland affair was about land grabs… and yes -Americans are war weary and tired from decades of wars we shouldn’t have been involved in and now when resolve and action is needed there are many who think the USA should just pull up the drawbridge and withdraw. IMO our enemies laugh at words, but they tremble and fear real action- and real men of action.
This move certainly portends an epic change in the world order. Dr. Oren's positive view of events gives me heart. נראה