Convicted felon. Insurrection instigator. Sexual abuser in the view of a civil court. Crypto grifter. And, now, the man who brought peace to Gaza. The foul and complicated story of President Donald Trump winds on and, where moral clarity and resulting condemnation were once obvious, it is now harder to categorise the man as hero or villain. The worst person you know didn’t just make a great point, he ended the slaughter of the Gazans and brought the hostages home.
As I write, Donald Trump is in the Knesset, applause washing over him, the speaker, Amir Ohana, having permitted the assembled politicians to clap and cheer. “Mr President, you stand before the people of Israel not as another American president but as a giant of Jewish history,” Ohana says. “One for whom we must look back two and a half millennia into the mists of time to find a parallel – Cyrus the Great. You, President Donald J Trump, are a colossus who will be enshrined in the pantheon of history. Thousands of years from now, Mr President, the Jewish people will remember you. We are a nation that remembers… What the world needs now is more leaders who are brave, resolute, strong and bold; the world needs more Trumps.”
Shortly afterwards, Netanyahu reaffirms: “Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House.” For all the talk of Biden bear hugs, it was Trump’s hard stance that forced the Israelis to negotiate. He moved the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He refused to recognise the illegality of West Bank settlements, and rejected the position that the West Bank is occupied territory. In Operation Midnight Hammer, in June 2025, the Americans dropped their most powerful bombs, hoping to pave the way for the Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme that followed.
These public displays of support seem to have permitted the Americans to take a far more forceful position on the Israelis in private. Netanyahu’s previous and short-lived acceptance of a ceasefire-for-hostages deal in 2024 was reportedly the product of pressure from Steve Witkoff. On 29 September 2025 Donald Trump was late to a press conference, his voice audibly hoarse after a private discussion with Netanyahu.
It appears that the singular nature of Trump’s key relationships in Israel and the Arab world led to a negotiated settlement. However, what is probably of greater importance is the material reality of the war. Gaza is a graveyard, both of humans and buildings. More than 67,000 Palestinians are dead, including over 20,000 children. Hezbollah’s leadership was assassinated, its operational capacity significantly reduced. The Iranian nuclear programme may have been set back by many years.
Whether by bilateral diplomacy or a higher tolerance for the IDF’s violence, Donald Trump has brought peace to the Middle East. If it holds, for that, he should be given the credit.
[Further reading: Has Netanyahu won the war?]
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