Donald Trump showcases peace through strength in Israeli Parliament, addressing ceasefire negotiations.
I had the opportunity to visit the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, to hear President Donald Trump speak. Trump, who had just brokered a ceasefire deal involving the release of all 20 living Israeli hostages from Hamas — without a full Israeli withdrawal, and with a stated commitment by Hamas, backed by erstwhile allies like Qatar and Turkey, to disarm — was met with ecstatic applause. Calling out his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump stated, “We’re not gonna go into a war, but if we do, we’re going to win that war like nobody has ever won a war before. We will not be politically correct . I think, you know, as you mentioned, Bibi, before, ‘Peace through strength.’ And that’s what it’s all about.”
Indeed it is.
Critics of the Trump administration have claimed that President Joe Biden’s ceasefire plan from 2024 was similar to the ceasefire achieved by Trump. That’s absolutely untrue. Biden’s plan involved a pullback of Israeli forces from “all populated areas of Gaza”, in exchange for an unspecified number of living hostages; phase two would involve a complete end to hostilities, which would involve the release of the remaining hostages. The proposal did not include the disarmament of Hamas. Trump’s plan, by contrast, committed Hamas and its allies to return of all hostages, living and dead, in phase one; Israel would not be forced to withdraw from all populated areas (in fact, Israel currently continues to militarily control some 53% of the Gaza Strip); only after phase two, with the demilitarization and disarmament of Hamas, would Israel pull back fully from Gaza.
