The president of the United States, Donald Trumphas been received this Monday with a standing ovation in the Israeli Parliament, where he proclaimed “the historic dawn of a new Middle East” after the release of the last 20 Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The president of the Knesset has also reiterated that “no one deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more” than Trump. So he will be nominated for next year’s award after finishing last in Maria Corina Machadoleader of the Venezuelan opposition.
The Republican boss, who mediated the ceasefire agreement with Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye, has defended that Israel “has won everything that can be won by force.”
“This is the time for a new Middle East,” Trump exclaimed, only interrupted for a few seconds by a protester. “It is an exciting time for Israel and the rest of the region.”
The president has taken advantage of the platform to repeat that resolving this conflict has been easier than removing the Russians from Ukraine, and to highlight the contributions of his friend and real estate businessman to bringing the hostages back. Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushnerone of the architects of the Abraham Accords.
Trump has congratulated Netanyahu for “a great job” in Gaza. One that has given him the ovation of a good part of the Knesset and an arrest order from the International Criminal Court. And he has also taken pride in the US Army, “the most powerful in history.”
On one occasion, he said, Netanyahu asked him for “weapons that he had never heard of before.”
Before the Knesset, Trump celebrated that they chased away “a dark cloud” from the Middle East by attacking Iran. “I tell you, guys, that they are not going to develop the nuclear program because they only think about surviving,” he emphasized, and that his team’s priority must be to close peace in Ukraine: “We will do it.”
Only later will he ask them to seek an agreement between the ayatollah regime and the Israelis.
The American leader then travels to Egypt, where more than twenty heads of state – among them the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez— debate the next steps of the 20-point plan promoted by Washington to guarantee lasting peace after more than two years of fighting in Gaza.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuhas congratulated Trump and his team for “bringing everyone together”, for their “global leadership” that “brought the hostages home”, and for living up to the name of the operation Midnight Hammer when it hit the atomic bases of Tehran, especially Fordó.
He has even recognized him as “the best friend that the State of Israel has ever had in the White House”, which is why Trump will be the first non-Jewish man to receive the State’s highest distinction. And he has anticipated that, “hopefully,” “the next few years will be one of peace inside and outside of Israel.”
“I am committed to this peace,” he concluded, and “together we will achieve it.”
His speech has not been very different from that of the head of the opposition, Yair Lapid. Trump has been just as flattered. Lapid has pointed out to Westerners that “they have fallen into propaganda paid for with terror” when demonstrating for the Palestinian victims. “There is no such genocide and there has been no caused famine”he proclaimed. “If you side with Hamas, you are on the side of evil.”
The Hebrew leader, on the other hand, has announced that he will not participate in the Egyptian summit. The official reason is that it coincides with the Simchat Torah holiday. From his office they have limited themselves to celebrating the return of the hostages and emphasizing that Israel “will not let its guard down.”
The ceasefire, reached last week in the Egyptian city of Sharm el Sheikh, has also allowed the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. In Tel Aviv, thousands of people have gathered in the so-called Hostage Square to accompany family reunions.
In Gaza, devastated after two years of bombings that have left more than 67,000 dead according to local health sources, the population has welcomed those freed between skepticism and the desire that the exchange marks the end of violence.