Happy for the 20 Israeli hostages and thousands of Palestinians hostages who are released under this deal. But having your friend pulverize a dude until he's almost dead and then breaking it up before the actual death blow isn't exactly peace maker material. Maybe if he got us any closer to where Palestinians don't live in a state of perpetual occupation, I could give him some credit.
Trump does deserve credit for brokering this deal. Israel was acting recklessly and the strike in Qatar seems to be what prompted Trump to corner Netanyahu. Trump likes Qatar (free planes!) and they're an important regional ally. Israel had to be reined in and Trump did get this done. For all of the accusations that Israel controls our Middle East policy, the image of Trump forcing Bibi to apologize to the Qataris over the phone was powerful. Reporting suggests that Netanyahu didn't think Hamas would agree to the deal and was shocked when they did. But, think about it from Hamas' perspective: all of their leadership who was involved in October 7 is dead. Gaza is destroyed. They're just as tired of fighting as the Israelis. This gives their current inexperienced leadership a chance to regroup. The goal of "destroying Hamas" was never going to be accomplished because that's targeting branding. What's left of the group is a shell of its pre-October 7 self. What comes next will be huge. I'm not confident in anyone's ability to pull it off. But, yesterday was meaningful. If you know my posting history you know my feelings on Trump. But I'll give him credit here.
