President Donald Trump has said the world is witnessing the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” with the ceasefire that has taken effect in Gaza, calling for a commitment on all sides to end fighting in favor of rebuilding — and even extending an appeal to Iran for “friendship and cooperation.”
He called on Israel Herzog, the president of Israel, to pardon Netanyahu, who is facing corruption charges over accusations that he accepted luxury gifts in exchange for government favor.
“Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that,” Trump asked, a remarkable insertion of the U.S. president at the height of his popularity into a foreign government’s affairs.
Addressing the Knesset, Israel’s 120-member legislature, the president celebrated the end to a two-year long war that began with one of the worst attacks in Israel’s history and left tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians dead. He praised Benjamin Netanyahu, who he has spent the last six weeks strong-arming into a negotiated settlement with Hamas, suggesting the Israeli prime minister deserved a pardon because “he is a winner.”
“The hostages are back. The hostages are back,” Trump said in his first stop on a quick eight-hour visit to the Middle East that will later include a stop in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the formal signing of the peace deal. “It feels good to say.”
Trump enjoyed a hero’s welcome that included chants of “Trump! Trump!” and a gigantic “thank you” sign on the Tel Aviv beach silhouetted with his profile — a visual reminder that while the ceasefire remains fragile, and negotiations over the future of Gaza are ongoing, the release of the remaining 20 living hostages alongside Israel’s retreat from Gaza City stands, for now, as a diplomatic triumph.
Even as administration officials remain cautious and privately work to temper expectations of a lasting peace, Trump’s top aides and allies have boasted for the last week that he achieved what the the Biden administration could not and appeared to delight in poking fun at the many media accounts that questioned the competency of Trump’s chief envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
“We have to remember this is a remarkable achievement from an administration that really chose a non-conventional path to diplomacy,” Vice President JD Vance said Sunday.
“This is my great honor,” he wrote in thick, black marker in the Knesset guestbook. “A great and beautiful day, a new beginning.”
“Israel has won all that can be won by force of arms,” Trump told the Knesset. “Together, we have shown that peace is not just a hope we can dream about, it is a reality we can build upon.”
Indeed, Trump suggested he wasn’t ready to stop with Israel. The president extended an offer to Iran, saying, “The hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”
“We’re going to see if we can do something,” Trump said.
Trump is the first U.S. president to address the Knesset since former President George W. Bush in 2008 during Israel’s 60th anniversary celebration.
POLITICO
