While the world is waiting to see how President Donald J. Trump will decide to proceed with Iran – diplomacy or war – and Israelis are hesitating about whether it is wise to travel abroad under the present circumstances, other very important issues are being pushed to a secondary plane of attention. Perhaps not surprisingly, those issues are also dramatically affected by the person who holds the position often called “the leader of the free world”, now a controversial term.

The present world situation was described precisely by Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos, on January 20, 2026: “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”

Here are two examples that should be of great concern to all of us:

On February 12, 2026, as announced by President Trump, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) repealed the “Endangerment Finding”, a 2009 EPA ruling that determined greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. Trump stated that the finding “had no basis in fact”. However, the scientific evidence of global warming caused by human activity continues to mount.

A recent research article by a multinational team of prominent scientists warns that Earth is shifting away from the stable climate that has fostered human progress for thousands of years. The authors argue that immediate precautionary action and more aggressive emission cuts are essential to avoid a future in which the climate becomes unmanageable (see here, in Hebrew and in here, the original research paper).

Not only that – President Trump pulled out (for the second time) from the Paris agreement on climate change. The US is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China. This sends a very problematic signal. Other countries may not withdraw from the agreement, but the move could weaken the motivation to invest the necessary resources to combat climate change, including in Israel, which has committed to climate-related goals that are not easy to achieve. Just recently, the Israel Electricity Authority proposed a challenging target of more than one-third of electricity generation in 2035 from renewable and clean energy sources.

Artificial Intelligence Safety

The Trump administration has reduced significantly the Federal Government’s emphasis on AI Safety and is making best efforts to block state governments from taking actions that may not align with White House policies. President Trump’s AI Action Plan includes the word “safety” only once, and only in the context of critical infrastructure cybersecurity.

Recently, a very comprehensive report, “International AI Safety Report 2026”, was published by an international expert team led by Prof. Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal. The report provides an in-depth analysis of emerging risks, including malicious use and crime: scams, fraud, blackmail and non-consensual intimate imagery. According to the report, AI systems now match or exceed expert performance on benchmarks relevant to biological weapon development, heightening concerns that they could provide critical assistance to novices.

Experimental evidence shows that AI systems can be as effective as humans at manipulating and influencing beliefs. This aspect is particularly critical for Israel, given the potential to significantly affect election outcomes. In response to this rapidly emerging risk, the Central Elections Committee has established a dedicated team to address external influences, specifically those driven by AI.

The report addresses risk management and the so-called “evidence dilemma”: policymakers face the challenge of making critical decisions while evidence of AI risks is slow to emerge. Acting too early can lead to ineffective interventions; waiting too long leaves society vulnerable.

Once again, a lack of US leadership in this area may significantly hinder international collaboration and the development of necessary standards, so that society can benefit from the extraordinary power of AI systems while working jointly to minimize their risks.

Israelis have many reasons to be grateful to President Trump. However, on both climate change and AI, Israel should continue to adopt different positions, working closely with the international community, contributing to sound scientific approaches, and promoting proper policies and safeguards, for the benefit of humanity’s future.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)