Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump traveled to Israel yesterday, so that he could personally affix his signature to the ceasefire agreement that his administration played a part in negotiating. He was given a hero's welcome as the gathered crowd cheered him lustily. He was also informed that he has been awarded Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor, which is that nation's highest civilian award. Trump loves, loves, loves adoration and awards, and so yesterday was likely the happiest day of his second presidential term, right?
Or... maybe not. He was Mr. Frowny Face through the entire signing ceremony, so it's not like the photographer just happened to catch him at a bad moment. Maybe he was having trouble adjusting to the time difference. Maybe the Presidential Medal of Honor is nice and all, but it's not a Nobel. Maybe he was very hungry for a bacon cheeseburger and was angry he couldn't get one. Who knows?
The good news is that all sides are (apparently) observing the ceasefire, and that all the hostages have (apparently) been released. Many Democrats offered congratulations to Trump, most notably Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, who know a thing or two about the challenges of diplomacy in that region of the world. Barack Obama didn't weigh in, but only because he offered his congratulations last week. Trump accepted their kind words with gratitude and humility, and modestly noted that he couldn't have done it without the groundwork that the three of them laid during their time in the Oval Office.
Wait, no. That is not what happened at all. Our mistake. Instead, Trump's underlings did much carping that Obama's message did not mention Trump by name. Meanwhile, during his speech to the Israeli Knesset, Trump took some potshots at Obama, Biden and Hillary Clinton, referring to Biden as "the worst president in the history of our country by far, and Barack Obama was not far behind," and then complaining that Clinton was not nice enough to him during one of their debates in 2016. Oh, well, that's just how it is—Trump gotta Trump.
Now that he's had his photo-op, Trump will hold a few more meetings, and then will head home. At that point, the hard work actually begins. The same thing that was true when we wrote this story up on Friday—newsworthy, but not newsworthy enough to be the lead story—held yesterday, as pretty much no outlet made this their 1A story. It's great that the hostages are released, and it's great that the killing and the suffering have stopped, at least for now. But some really thorny problems still exist, and it's hard to see a way through. Last week, for example, we pointed out that the plans for the future governance of Gaza were made without input from Hamas, and without input from the Palestinians. This is not a good starting point (has nobody studied their World War I/Treaty of Versailles history?).
Now let's talk about another problem, on the other side of the conflict. PM Benjamin Netanyahu really needs to stay in power, or else he has a high probability of going to prison for the rest of his days. To keep his razor-thin governing coalition together, he needs hardliners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who don't want to end this war until Gaza is Israeli territory, and there is no Hamas (and maybe no Palestinians). So, can the current Israeli regime actually accept peace, and stay together? That seems... dubious. Oh, and Israel's Minister of Defense Israel Katz has already announced that once the hostages are all returned (and, again, they apparently have been), the Israeli military will begin bombing Gaza again to try to get rid of the Hamas "terror tunnels." That's not how a ceasefire is supposed to work, obviously, and if Israel follows through (and they seem very likely to do so), it could easily shatter the very fragile peace. (Z)