Among supporters of Israel — even among those who are died-in-the-wool Democrats — there isn’t a lot of faith in the Obama administration to do right by our critical ally in the Middle East. President Obama’s decision to abstain from the most recent (of seemingly infinite) anti-Israel resolution in the United Nations — combined with Secretary of State John Kerry’s admonishment of Israel in a follow-up speech — is the most recent and clearest reason for this lack of faith. On the other hand, the incoming President, Donald Trump, has been an unabashed supporter of Israel. Many of us who believe in the critical importance of Israel’s success and well-being are hopeful that President Trump will usher in an era of American-Israeli relations that will make Israel stronger than ever.

I fear we are fools to believe this. I fear that the opposite is true. The dominoes are lined up in such a way that a misstep could cause irreparable harm to the State of Israel — and with a worldwide media which is hostile toward Israel combined with Mr. Trump in the White House, that is a very real risk.

To explain why, let’s start with a new emergence in the lexicon of Democrats and of Mr. Trump’s other critics: “this is not normal.” There’s a fear that, slowly but surely, Americans will accept the erosion of certain rights and customs, and over time, those losses will become the new status quo. Over time, the things we previously abhor become just part of everyday life. It’s called “normalization,” and it’s not a good thing.

For Israel, violence against its citizens — typically by Palestinians — has become normalized. I can’t speak to the credibility of this Google spreadsheet cataloguing attacks from 2015, but taking it as true, there are more than 3,600 attacks listed over approximately a 16 month period. That is 225 per month. More than seven per day. Imagine if ISIS-inspired teenagers started attacking people in the similarly-sized New Jersey — seven a day, every day, for 16 months. That’s “normal” in Israel.

Take, for example, the events of last month. A terrorist — a Muslim extremist, to be clear — drove a truck through a crowd of innocent Christmas shoppers. Mr. Trump responded the way any good world leader should: he immediately denounced the attack as a brutal, inhuman assault not only on those killed and injured, but also on safety and security as a whole. And unlike that of other politicians, Mr. Trump’s denouncement was not mere lip service. Whether you see his proposed policies around Muslims — much lower immigration, much higher surveillance — as necessary or offensive doesn’t matter. It’s clear that Mr. Trump sees Islamofascism and terrorism as a primary evil in today’s world, both here and abroad.

Just two weeks later, a similar scene played out in Jerusalem. Again, an Islamic extremist murdered people using a truck as his weapon of choice. Once again, America’s leaders strongly denounced the attack. The Obama White House issue a statement saying that “such cowardly acts can never be justified, and we call on all to send a clear and unequivocal message that terrorism must never be tolerated.” Secretary Kerry’s State Department stated that there was “absolutely no justification for these brutal and senseless attacks.” Senator Ted Cruz stated that “the terrorists targeting them are the enemies of peace, which can never be achieved while terror groups like Hamas incite violence and the destruction of Israel.” Senator Marco Rubio tweeted that the attacks were “despicable.”

President-elect Trump? Nothing.

Instead, Mr. Trump tweeted (as he does) about his his spokeswoman, Kelly-Anne Conway, has been mistreated by the press. About the wall with Mexico and how the media. About Rupert Murdock, positively. About Meryl Streep, negatively. About a months-old decision by Chrysler to build some more cars. He even found the time to tweet out an old picture of when he shook hands with then-President Ronald Reagan. On the Jerusalem attack? Nothing.

I do not mean to imply that Trump doesn’t care about Israel or the Jerusalem attack — hardly. Instead, he was simply a victim of the world media’s anti-Israel bias. It seems that Mr. Trump’s public statements — tweets, for the most part — are in response to whatever is on his television set. Maybe it’s his spokeswoman on CNBC, or CNN reporters saying that his wall is going to cost America a fortune, or the Golden Globes. If he sees it, he tweets a reply. And the mainstream media buries anti-Israeli attacks by Palestinians on a regular basis. Mr. Trump, reacting to what’s in front of him, misses this critical story.

But the silence is more than a missed opportunity. Unfortunately, the world needs to be constantly reminded of the constant state of peril that Israel is in. Mr. Trump’s failure to make that moral argument means no one who matters will. When the United Nations passes a punishing, anti-Israel resolution, it does so to cheers — but only does so because the world has lost sight of Israel’s right to exist and moral obligation to defend its citizens against terror. Mr. Trump’s silence perpetuates the myth that being victimized by horrible, violent attacks are just part and parcel of what it means to be Israeli.

Mr. Trump is probably the most ardent, prominent pro-Israel zealot outside of the Knesset itself — or, at least, he’s positioned himself as such. He’s also one of the most divisive leaders in recent Western history. When those who support Israel to welcome him into the fold, we do so at the risk of alienating the rest of the world. He’s the friend you invite over that the rest of your friends can’t stand, an, when things get uninteresting, he finds someone else to occupy his attention.

At this point, the world is stuck with Mr. Trump, for better or for worse. For him to deliver on his promise to Israel, Mr. Trump needs to stand up for Israel all of the time. The Golden Globes are no excuse for failing to do so. Israel simply can’t afford it.