U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Israel on Monday to a rapturous welcome, from banners on the seashore close to Tel Aviv to a standing ovation within the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, the place his private and pivotal position in bringing residence the final 20 surviving Israeli hostages was thanked, effusively, by households, service members, and lots of—although not all—Israeli politicians.
Trump’s lightning journey to Israel began with a gathering with households of former hostages in Jerusalem. Hamas launched all 20 of the remaining residing captives early Monday, simply earlier than Israel launched practically 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The trade was half of what’s presently a cease-fire however which Trump hopes would be the first step in a complete peace deal that kinds out the Gaza Strip’s future and disarms Hamas.
U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Israel on Monday to a rapturous welcome, from banners on the seashore close to Tel Aviv to a standing ovation within the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, the place his private and pivotal position in bringing residence the final 20 surviving Israeli hostages was thanked, effusively, by households, service members, and lots of—although not all—Israeli politicians.
Trump’s lightning journey to Israel began with a gathering with households of former hostages in Jerusalem. Hamas launched all 20 of the remaining residing captives early Monday, simply earlier than Israel launched practically 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The trade was half of what’s presently a cease-fire however which Trump hopes would be the first step in a complete peace deal that kinds out the Gaza Strip’s future and disarms Hamas.
For starters got here a valedictory, and a well-deserved one, because the cease-fire is in place, the hostages are residence, and the cheers from Khan Younis, within the devastated Gaza Strip, to Tel Aviv echoed in unison.
What was additionally in unison had been the messages that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump delivered to the Knesset. After Hamas’s assault on Oct. 7, 2023, “Israel did what it needed to do,” Netanyahu declared on Monday—a tidy summation of a two-year conflict that leveled most of Gaza, led tons of of 1000’s of individuals to flee, and killed, by official estimates, at the very least 67,000 Palestinians. Trump used the identical phrases in describing his peace credentials and the facility of the U.S. army: “We’ve to do what we’ve to do.”
Trump went on: “America joins you in these two eternal vows: Always remember, and by no means once more.”
Trump made it clear that he expects Netanyahu to stay to this cease-fire. Whereas flying to Israel, he advised reporters on Air Pressure One which the “conflict is over.” Regardless that Israeli forces will solely make a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as a part of Trump’s peace plan, renewed hostilities at this level could be a direct slap within the face of a president whom Netanyahu described as “the best buddy that the state of Israel has ever had within the White Home.”
The solemnity and historic nature of the day, whether or not on the Re’im army base the place the hostages had been first ushered residence through the care of the Worldwide Pink Cross or the red-carpet therapy that Trump acquired at Ben Gurion Airport, are indelible. What was additionally indelible was the bellicose nature of Netanyahu’s remarks to the Knesset, through which he described a battle between civilization and barbarity; Trump later known as his interlocutors in negotiations “monsters.”
Trump, in a usually rambling speech, praised his negotiating staff, together with Steve Witkoff, in addition to Gen. Dan Cain, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, however he additionally discovered time to wade wildly into Israeli politics. He requested Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, who’s below indictment for varied counts of corruption and malfeasance and whose authorities might not final till the scheduled elections subsequent fall.
Not everybody within the viewers was happy by Trump’s presence, although. Because the U.S. president spoke, two Knesset members—Ayman Odeh, an Arab Israeli politician and head of the left-wing Hadash social gathering, and Ofer Cassif, a celebration member—shouted protests and held up indicators that learn “Acknowledge Palestine” earlier than being swiftly eliminated by safety.
The theatrics of Trump’s Israel go to apart, the heavy lifting will start later Monday at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which Trump will attend together with greater than 20 world leaders, together with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; Netanyahu, nonetheless, won’t be there. Nor will Iran’s leaders, who had been invited by Egypt.
On the agenda are the very urgent questions about this peace deal: find out how to disarm Hamas, because the militant group has already began retaking management of areas vacated by the departing Israeli military; find out how to cobble collectively a workable governance construction for the Gaza Strip that’s designed to exclude the one formation that ever received an election there; and find out how to start the arduous, and costly, means of rebuilding a spot that’s largely rubble and break.
However, for now, Trump has his victory lap. As Netanyahu mentioned whereas nominating Trump for Israel’s high honor, the Israel Prize, he might not have received “the opposite one”—a reference to the Nobel Peace Prize—however that day might come. Maybe.
This submit is a part of FP’s ongoing protection of the Trump administration. Observe alongside right here.
