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Thanks to President Donald Trump’s unceasing efforts to obtain their release, the twenty living hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack on Israel are now home. And nothing should be allowed to diminish the joy all people of goodwill are taking in this triumph of diplomacy and sheer force of will.
President Donald Trump told Palestinians in his speech to Israel's Knesset that their "choice could not be more clear" and urged them to "turn forever from the path of terror and violence," make peace with Israel, and focus instead on rebuilding Gaza.
President Trump declared that the cease-fire in Gaza is the “end of an age of terror and death” and an “historic dawn of a new Middle East” in an impassioned address to Israel’s legislative body on Monday.
The “Commander-in-Peace,” who spoke for over an hour, said Israel “won all that they can by force of arms” and delivered a powerful message to the Palestinian people as they look to rebuild their war-torn territory after two years of intense fighting that was sparked by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack.
Trump received a thunderous standing ovation as he was introduced to the Knesset, just hours after the remaining living hostages were freed by Hamas.
Trump, who then attended the global summit on his Gaza peace plan in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh, in calling the hostage deal and the attendant ceasefire an “historic dawn of a new Middle East,” the President sought to broaden the landmark deal he brokered, even before the celebration of the hostages’ return had concluded.
Trump's tough-talking diplomacy has delivered this huge and potentially pivotal moment for the Middle East, laying the foundations of a path that could lead to a solution to a decades-long conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors over the Palestinian issue, observed Newsweek.
President Trump closed his remarks at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit by predicting a wave of financial support for Gaza’s reconstruction. He said “numerous countries of great wealth, power, and dignity” had pledged backing, calling the expected funds significant but modest compared to the resources of those nations. Specific contributors were not named, though Trump promised to reveal details soon.
As he wrapped up, Trump thanked leaders for assembling quickly, saying, “The greatest deals happen that way.” Despite the signing of a key document by four mediating countries, the contents of the document remain undisclosed. Ending his speech, Trump said, “God bless the Middle East,” and asked the media to exit so he could meet privately with attending leaders.
After the celebration of the hostages’ release there will be plenty of time to evaluate what the next steps in the “peace process” will look like, but there are many indications that they will be no less difficult than the hostage release process.
The first and most immediate concern is the repatriation of the Israeli dead, which was to be accomplished in parallel with the release of some of the almost 2,000 terrorists Israel has captured and held in prison.
After agreeing to that part of the Trump peace plan, Hamas later claimed it didn’t know where all the twenty-eight unreturned bodies were located.
However, there is a strong suspicion that Hamas refuses to repatriate the bodies of the dead because it will reveal, as the repatriation of the Bibas family’s remains did, that the dead had been brutally murdered in captivity. There is also information to suggest that prior to being murdered the missing woman, Inbar Hayman, had been raped by Hamas terrorists.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said that Hamas failed “to meet commitments.”
“Any delay or deliberate avoidance will be considered a blatant violation of the agreement and will be responded to accordingly,” he said.
A spokesman for the Israeli military said that “efforts are being made at all levels today to continue the release of the abductees, who were killed beyond the four that Hamas announced.”
“Regarding the mission of returning the fallen hostages, we hope that as many as possible will be returned today, and we know there will be many who remain and whom we will need to work to bring back in the coming days,” stated Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, head of the Israel Defense Forces’ command center to return the hostages.
The second and no less difficult challenge will be Hamas’s refusal to disarm, an obvious breach of the deal, which is already bearing bitter fruit for those Gazans who wish to rid themselves of their brutal Hamas terrorist overlords.
Reports from Gaza suggest armed Hamas units have already deployed across several districts, some wearing civilian clothes and others in the blue uniforms of the Gaza police. The Hamas media office denied it was deploying "fighters in the streets".
A Hamas mobilization had been widely anticipated amid growing uncertainty about who will govern Gaza once the war ended. The BBC reported a mobilization order was reportedly issued via phone calls and text messages which said the aim was to "cleanse Gaza of outlaws and collaborators with Israel" and told fighters to report within 24 hours.
This is a key issue that could complicate the start of the second phase of US President Donald Trump's peace plan, which calls for Hamas to disarm.
A Hamas official abroad declined to comment directly on reports of the security deployment, but told the BBC: "We cannot leave Gaza at the mercy of thieves and militias backed by the Israeli occupation. Our weapons are legitimate... to resist occupation, and they will remain as long as the occupation continues."
Translation: The “occupation” is the existence of the State of Israel, hence as long as Israel exists Hamas will retain its arms.
A retired security officer who served for years with the Palestinian Authority in Gaza said he feared the territory was sliding towards another round of internal bloodshed.
"Hamas hasn't changed. It still believes that weapons and violence are the only means to keep its movement alive," he told the BBC.
Even as we acknowledge the difficulties ahead, we should not let them diminish the moment when the hostages were returned and there is at least a glimmer of hope for a lasting peace.
“You, President Donald J. Trump, are a colossus who will be enshrined in the pantheon of history thousands of years from now,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said to applause.
“There was not a single person on this planet who did more than you to advance peace. No one even came close. Your election to the presidency marks the turning point, not only for the United States, but for the entire world,” the Knesset Speaker said, and he was right.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
- Hostage release
- President Donald Trump
- Oct 7 Hamas Terror Attack
- Trump foreign policy
- Rebuilding Gaza
- Ceasefire
- Knesset
- Gaza peace plan
- Trump diplomacy
- Sharm el-Sheikh summit
- Inbar Hayman
- Hamas terrorists
- Disarming Hamas
- Hamas mobilization
- Israel existence
- Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana
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