Israelis Once Again Compare Trump to Cyrus the Great

As Israel rejoiced in the return of its last living hostages after two agonizing years of war, visiting U.S. President Donald J. Trump was received not just as an ally but as a figure of biblical proportions. From the Knesset podium to the streets of Jerusalem, the comparisons were loud and unmistakable. Trump is being likened to Cyrus the Great.

“Mr. President, you stand before the people of Israel not as another American president, but as a giant of Jewish history,” said Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana during Trump’s address to the Israeli parliament. “One for whom we must look back two-and-a-half millennia into the mists of time to find a parallel, in Cyrus the Great.”

The reference is profound. Cyrus, the ancient Persian king from the 6th century BCE, is revered in Jewish history for ending the Babylonian exile and enabling the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Second Temple. Though not Jewish himself, Cyrus is celebrated in Scripture as a divinely-appointed facilitator of Jewish restoration.

This is not the first time the Trump–Cyrus comparison has surfaced. In 2018, after Trump moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew a direct line from Cyrus, to Lord Balfour, to President Truman and finally to Trump each credited with pivotal roles in the return of Jews to their ancestral homeland.

The symbolic resonance was embraced beyond politics. The Mikdash Educational Center, a Jewish group, minted a commemorative coin featuring Trump’s profile superimposed on that of Cyrus. And now, with the hostage deal signed and the captives finally returning, the comparison has reemerged with renewed vigor.

In recent days, Jerusalem billboards blazed the message: “Cyrus the Great is Alive!” alongside images of Trump and the intertwined American and Israeli flags. The campaign was launched by the Friends of Zion Museum, founded by evangelical leader Mike Evans. “God has used this imperfect vessel… in an incredible, amazing way to fulfill His plans,” Evans said, drawing a parallel with the biblical Cyrus.

Despite earlier doubts from some due to Trump’s brash persona, Christian Zionists have long embraced the Cyrus narrative seeing Trump not for who he is, but for what he has accomplished: recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, supporting sovereignty over the Golan Heights, brokering the Abraham Accords, and now, helping secure the return of Israeli hostages.

For many Israelis, these deeds are not only political achievements but historical milestones the kind that warrant their own place in Jewish memory.

And like Cyrus, Trump’s legacy in Israel is being written not just in policy, but in prophecy.

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