Thank You, President Trump — But the Arab-Israeli War Is Not Over

 

The twenty Israeli hostages you brought home are a triumph of courage and conviction. But peace cannot be declared while our enemies still dream of our destruction. 

As a proud Jewish American, I want to begin with gratitude once and again.

President Trump, thank you. Twenty Israeli hostages are home because of your direct intervention — because you refused to accept “impossible” as an answer. For that, families in Israel are lighting candles not of mourning, but of joy. You have done something few world leaders even attempted. The Jewish people will not forget it.

But gratitude does not blind us. And it must not blind you.

Mr. President, I say this with the deepest respect: your declaration that “the Arab-Israeli war is over” is dangerously premature.

The Middle East does not operate by the logic of Western diplomacy. It is not a problem to be negotiated — it is a century-long religious and civilizational struggle. The conflict is not about land; it is about existence. The Jewish state’s very being is the offense. Until that changes, there is no peace.

Yes, Arab leaders are weary. Many are pragmatic. They want trade, technology, and quiet skies. But beneath the suits and smiles, the sermons and the schoolbooks still preach the same message: Israel is a temporary evil. The Jews are tolerated, not accepted. The dream remains — to erase the Jewish return from the map of history.

You, Mr. President, above all should recognize that reality. You’ve seen how flattery in the Middle East can melt overnight into fury. Today’s allies can turn tomorrow when the winds shift in the mosques and the media. You’ve been in the deal business long enough to know: never mistake a handshake for a settlement.

Hamas did not kidnap those hostages to negotiate peace. Iran did not fund them to build coexistence. They acted to humiliate Israel, to remind the Jewish people that they are still prey in a hostile neighborhood. The “ceasefires” that follow each massacre are not peace — they are intermissions in a very old play.

History is uncomfortably clear on this point. The 1949 armistice wasn’t peace. Neither were Oslo’s White House handshakes. Every “new dawn” in the Middle East has been followed by rockets in the night. When Arab regimes have recognized Israel, it has been for survival — not reconciliation.

You have done more for Israel than any American president. You recognized Jerusalem. You stood firm on Israel’s right to self-defense. You saw through the polite hypocrisy of the “international community.” For that, you’ve earned Israel’s trust and admiration.

But even your closest friends must tell you the truth: the Arab-Israeli war is not over because the ideology that fuels it is not gone. That ideology cannot be appeased or reasoned with. It must be defeated — militarily, morally, and theologically.

The Prophet Jeremiah warned long ago: “They have healed the wound of My people lightly, saying ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Those words should hang in every foreign ministry and every Oval Office. False optimism can kill. It lulls the innocent into lowering their guard.

So yes, Mr. President — celebrate the hostages’ freedom. But do not announce the end of a war that has not yet been won. Do not ask Israel to relax when her enemies have not repented. This is not 1979 Egypt or 1994 Jordan. This is a region still haunted by 1400 years of theological resentment. The weapons may modernize, but the hatred remains ancient.

The Jewish people have survived Babylon, Rome, the Inquisition, and Auschwitz — not because we believed the world had changed, but because we prepared for the day it would not. Israel cannot afford illusions.

Your instincts — strength, clarity, loyalty — are right. Don’t let the diplomats and the dreamers around you turn a victory for twenty hostages into a delusion for ten million Israelis.

Peace will come one day. Jews pray for it daily. But it will come not from a press conference or a peace plan. It will come when the Arab world finally accepts that the Jewish nation is home, permanently and providentially, in the Land of Israel.

Until that day, let America’s friendship with Israel be not only warm — but wise.

 

 REPUBLISHED:

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/thank-you-president-trump-but-the-arab-israeli-war-is-not-over/

 *

Cc; President Donald J. Trump

The White House