For two years now, the suffering of the 251 hostages snatched by Hamas terrorists during the October 7th massacre in Israel has been a stain on the conscience of the civilised world. Now the first phase of President Donald Trump’s peace deal promises the speedy release of the 48 remaining hostages held in Gaza – up to 20 of whom could still be alive.
Their release will be a joyful day for former British hostage Emily Damari, whose family I tried my best to support whilst she was in captivity. If his confident prediction that they will all be released “very soon” is fulfilled, then President Trump will deserve huge congratulations and heartfelt thanks — not only from the hostages’ desperate families — but from everybody who wants to see an end to terrorism and war in the Middle East.
If this happens, President Trump will surely also deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. He has proved again that he is an instinctive peacemaker, not a warmonger like too many of his predecessors in the White House.
Before Trump US policy was dominated by neo-cons, from both the Democratic and Republican parties, who seemed all for foreign wars and launched disastrous military campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
By contrast, during both of his terms in office, President Trump has worked to bring peace to the world’s trouble spots, recently in Ukraine and now the Middle East again, aided by his great team.
Jared Kushner has done an outstanding job of encouraging Arab regimes to back the deal, just as he was instrumental in the groundbreaking Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term.
The new agreement of course only covers the first phase of President Trump’s proposed peace deal. There are still big questions to be answered. Most importantly, while the Israelis have committed to a withdrawal of forces from Gaza, Hamas has made no mention of disarming, which is a central part of Trump’s plan.
We will not forget that Hamas started the war by attacking Israel on October 7th 2023 – partly to wreck the Trump Abraham Accords – and has pledged to repeat that atrocity. As I wrote in the Jewish Chronicle this week, Starmer’s recent decision to recognise Palestine only emboldened the hate marchers in our capital city.
Eight years ago, in the European Parliament, I supported President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the Middle East. He clearly deserved it more than President Barack Obama, who was gifted the 2009 peace prize just months after taking office, without having made any peace deals at all.
If this Gaza deal truly leads to a full peace agreement, let’s hope that President Trump gets the recognition he deserves.
