JONATHAN TOBIN
President Joe Biden's weakness and appeasement of Iran, as well as ambivalent policies and public scolding of the Jewish state, have become routine since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead and 251 taken captive into the Gaza Strip. The fallout from that assault has undermined the alliance between the two countries in the past 15 months.
The military successes of the Israel Defense Forces against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon during the last year were the result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's courageous decision to reject the terrible advice that he was getting from Biden, and his foreign and security policy teams.
But it appears that the first foreign policy blunder of Trump's second administration may have occurred even before his inauguration takes place on Monday.
The hostage release/ceasefire deal that was just announced between Israel and Hamas may have been largely the result of Trump's blunt threats against the terrorists and their allies, coupled with pressure placed on Netanyahu by the new U.S. Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff. If, contrary to its past record, Hamas doesn't blow up the agreement at the last minute, the once and future president will have gotten what he wanted.
Trump has repeatedly declared that he wanted the hostages freed before he took office, vowing that he would unleash "all hell" if that didn't occur. It was a blunt hint as much to Hamas's funders and enablers, like Qatar and Iran, as it was to the terrorists. But if reports are true, it was also the tough pressure brought to bear on Netanyahu by Witkoff that forced the prime minister to make concessions in the form of favorable terms, such as Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and the mass release of imprisoned terrorists, including many with blood on their hands.
Netanyahu's critics at home and abroad have wrongly interpreted his commendable reluctance to make a deal that would undermine Israel's security--and lead to more Oct. 7-like atrocities in the future--as motivated by nothing more than his desire to hold onto power. Yet as he plowed forward while Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken exerted pressure on him (and though he appears to be getting very little credit for what he's accomplished), Netanyahu has again shown a willingness to pay a heavy price to gain the release of at least some of the Israelis still being held by Hamas.
It has always been Hamas that has been the primary obstacle to a hostage deal. Its leaders have repeatedly thwarted negotiations, despite Israel's willingness to make grievous concessions to free the men, women and children who were kidnapped amid the Palestinian orgy of mass murder, torture, rape and wanton destruction that started the current war.
Despite the suffering Hamas imposed on their own people, the defeats suffered by their terrorist forces and the deaths of their leaders, the terror group has stubbornly refused to end the fighting. They have stuck to the same belief that led to their decision to breach Israel's border 15 months ago. They are sure that sooner or later, the United States and an international community hostile to Israel will force Jerusalem to bend to their will.
And though there is no world leader more hostile to them or to their genocidal cause of destroying the Jewish state than Trump, it appears that he has done just that.
The president-elect should get some credit for speaking of Hamas's holding of hostages with the sort of moral clarity that was rarely, if ever, uttered by anyone in Biden's administration. Though his legions of detractors don't seem to think that Trump is capable of empathy, he obviously cares about this issue. And his record of support for Israel--unmatched by any other American president--has earned him the trust of Israelis.
But pushing for this hostage deal will, as reports of its terms indicate, almost certainly lead to a revival of Hamas control of Gaza. That is only setting up both Jerusalem and Washington for future problems that will test both Trump's support for Israel and his commendable preference for no wars.
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