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President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly issued stark warnings to Hamas over the past few weeks, saying there will be “hell to pay” if the Israeli hostages are not freed by the time he returns to office on January 20. The announcement on Wednesday that an agreement between Israel and Hamas was close, which would provide for a temporary ceasefire and the release of 33 Israeli hostages, made it clear that “Trump Factor” played a key role in promoting this deal.
These 33 Israeli hostages who were belatedly freed under the deal, along with 65 others still held by Hamas in Gaza in inhumane conditions for the past 466 days, were abducted from their homes and beds on Saturday morning on the Jewish holiday of Simchat on October 7, 2023. Since that day their names and faces became one with the Israeli collective. Their stories became ours. Israelis are immensely grateful to President-elect Trump for his commitment and perseverance, as well as to the thousands of brave Israeli men and women in the IDF who risked life and limb to resurrect Israel after its horrific failure on that fateful day.
Memorials at the site of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, Israel, Monday, May 27, 2024. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The return of the hostages is both painful and joyful for Israelis traumatized by the war. The reunification of these innocent people with their families brings tears of joy to our eyes, knowing full well the torment, suffering, torture and abuse they suffer at the hands of Hamas’ ruthless and cruel captors. Yet it is also a stark reminder of the magnitude of Israel’s failure and the need to ensure that such an event never happens again.
Trump’s “hell to pay” was a clear message not only to Hamas, but to all rogue actors in the Middle East. It was a manifestation of the incoming administration’s clear moral vision and ability to distinguish good from evil, a vision that has the opportunity to herald a new episode in the future of this turbulent and volatile region. A clear line runs between this statement and January 2020, when, on the instructions of then-President Trump, the US military killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds.
Recently released FBI records prove that Iran is behind a potential assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
Soleimani was the architect of evil, responsible for the Islamic regime’s “ring of fire” doctrine, surrounding Israel with hostile forces including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as supporting other evil terrorist forces, such as the Houthis in Yemen. The killing of Soleimani caused a shock in the region and in the ranks of the leadership of the Islamic Republic, which promised revenge on Trump himself and senior officials in his administration.
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In launching the barbaric and brutal attack against Israel on October 7, the leader of Hamas, Yahya Al-Sinwar, hoped to see all elements of this “ring of fire” converge and attack Israel in a bid to change the Middle East forever. After 466 days of war, it is clear that the Middle East has changed forever, but in the opposite direction.
Iran and its proxies have suffered significant setbacks. Hamas in Gaza has been decimated. The Assad regime was overthrown in Syria, and a new president and prime minister were elected in Lebanon, both against the will of a weakened Hezbollah.
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Israel will go through an agonizing period of watching our hostages return from the darkness of Gaza while we eagerly wait for the others to return home.
Yet a new future looms on the horizon: one of “hell to pay” for the Middle East’s rogue actors, shrouded in hope for peace through strength.
