President Donald Trump may have pulled off one of the most extraordinary diplomatic feats of the last several decades by negotiating a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war.
The key to ending the war was never stopping the Israeli counterattack against Hamas, which started the war and which would have declared victory if Israel had accepted the unilateral ceasefire demanded by its critics.
Rather, the key was that Hamas had to agree to release all of the hostages, thereby ending its leverage over Israel; and it had to agree to leave power and disarm. The latter may be a sticking point; the deal is not done.
Hamas is reluctant to give up its weapons because its entire reason for existing is so-called “resistance.” It also fears reprisals from its enemies, including Fatah and a variety of local clans and gangs in Gaza.
Israel does not want Hamas to retain any ability to attack in future, but it may have to accept a compromise — i.e. only securing two out of its three major demands. It will have to remain vigilant for the foreseeable future.
What Israel has gained in this deal is partnership with Arab nations in rebuilding Gaza, as well as oversight by the United States, which is not about to let Hamas rebuild a terror enclave in a strategic coastal location.
Israel also restored its deterrent — not just by smashing Hamas, but also by convincing its enemies that it would stop at nothing to achieve victory: attacking Qatar, for example, or even risking the hostages’ lives.
And along the way, Israel also destroyed Hezbollah along its northern border, and defeated Iran in war — knocking out, for the moment, the Iranian nuclear program, with American assistance in the final days.
It is now possible that Israel will end the October 7 war on October 7 itself — the second anniversary of the terror attack, whose sheer horror is not captured in numbers alone, but in the brutality of individual murders.
October 7, 2023, was the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, when Jews around the world commemorate the years of wandering in the desert before entering the Land of Israel.
October 7, 2025, will be the first day of Sukkot — thanks to the eccentricities of the Hebrew calendar — and a fitting close to the conflict, restoring the sanctity of the holiday to Israelis and to Jews around the world.
While those who were murdered, and many of those taken hostage, will never be recovered, the fact that as many as 20 hostage could return alive to Israel is cause for celebration — and for gratitude, toward Trump.
This week, Jewish communities around the world will read II Samuel 22, as they do every year at this time. This year, the words of King David’s song of praise are more relevant than they have been in generations:
“He delivered me from my mighty enemy; from them that hated me; for they were too powerful for me. / They confronted me on the day of my calamity [October 7!]; but the Lord was a support to me. / And He brought me forth into a wide place; He delivered me because He took delight in me. / The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He recompensed me.” (22: 18-21).
Hopefully, this deal will hold — thanks to God’s grace, to the extraordinary sacrifices of the common Israeli soldier, and to the brilliant and determined diplomacy of President Donald Trump, the peacemaker-in-chief.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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