Editorial: Trump merits accolades for remarkable accomplishment

Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Oct 15, 2025

Published in Op Eds

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The initial phase of President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan moved forward Monday as Hamas released 20 hostages who had been held since its barbaric attack of Oct. 7, 2023. The terror group also returned the bodies of four slain captives, while Israel completed a pullback of forces after a ceasefire went into effect Friday.

Trump spoke to the Israeli parliament and attended a ceremony in an Egyptian resort town to mark the historic occasion. But the looming question as the process proceeds remains: Will the peace be sustainable?

The president insisted that the deal will “hold.” History tells a more complicated tale. Hamas must still agree to disarm and repudiate its devotion to death and destruction. Will the group accept being pushed out of Gaza governance in the future? Still, Trump deserves all the accolades he has received from across the globe for moving things this far. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi even announced he’ll award Trump his state’s highest civilian honor for his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.

None of this would have been possible had Trump followed the formula preferred by his predecessor, Joe Biden, who opted to publicly rebuke and pressure Israel as a means of currying favor with the radical progressives now dominating the Democratic Party. That only alienated the Israeli leadership and exacerbated tensions. Trump, instead, put most of the heat on Hamas and its enabler Iran, even carrying out a daring and successful airstrike against Iran’s nuclear program.

The results speak for themselves. Iran has been exposed, its proxies overwhelmed. As a result, “the balance of power in the Middle East has shifted significantly,” the Wall Street Journal reported Monday, “creating the conditions for a breakthrough.” Hamas had little choice but to accept the terms offered by Trump.

Hamas also faced intense pressure to stand down from regional interests, including Turkey. While the terrorists banked that exploiting useful leftist idiots and civilian casualties would swing international opinion against Israel, they had once again grossly miscalculated.

Egypt and Qatar “pressed Hamas to understand that holding the hostages was becoming a strategic liability,” the Journal reported, “giving Israel a source of legitimacy to keep fighting.” Once Trump “got Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly agree to end the war, Hamas was cornered as the lone holdout.”

The result is hope and optimism rising from the ashes of conflict. It is truly a remarkable accomplishment for Trump and his foreign policy team.

_____