President Donald Trump hailed on Monday what he described as the beginning of peace in the Middle East in a speech to the Israeli parliament.
“This is not only the end of a war,” Trump told the Knesset in comments about the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“This is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God,” he said. “It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region. I believe that so strongly. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”
Trump’s remarks to the Knesset commemorated the implementation of the first phase of the historic peace deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas, which created a ceasefire in Gaza last week. The ceasefire remained in place over the weekend, with Hamas returning all 20 living hostages to Israel on Monday. In exchange, Israel is releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, with buses carrying dozens of them to the West Bank city of Ramallah.
ALL LIVING ISRAELI HOSTAGES OFFICIALLY FREED FROM HAMAS CAPTIVITY
Thousands of Israelis broke out in cheers, tears, and Hebrew songs on Monday as they gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to celebrate the return of the hostages.
Speaking to the Knesset, Trump thanked the “Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” for the return of the captives.
“After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families, and it is glorious,” he said.
Trump, who is set to travel to Egypt to co-chair a “peace summit” with regional and international leaders, told the Knesset he believes the Gaza peace deal is the beginning of a new age of peace in the Middle East.
“It’s an incredible triumph for Israel and the world to have all of these nations working together as partners in peace. And it’s pretty unusual for you to see that, but it happened in this case,” he said.
TRUMP TO GREET FREED ISRAELI HOSTAGES IN MIDDLE EAST VISIT, VANCE SAYS
“This was a very unusual point in time, a brilliant point in time. Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change, and change very much for the better. Like the USA right now, it will be the golden age of Israel and the golden age of the Middle East. It’s going to work together,” the president concluded.
He also urged Middle Eastern nations set to attend the summit in Egypt to sign the Abraham Accords, the historic agreement from Trump’s first term that normalizes relations between Arab countries and Israel.
“It’s my firm hope and dream, frankly, that together, the Abraham Accords will turn out to be everything that we thought they would,” the president said.
Trump said in a pitch for the deal that the four nations that have signed the accords have already seen “unbelievable” financial benefits and have chosen to stand by the agreement because it’s “really good business” being members.
“I hope that every one of the countries that we’re seeking join quickly. No games, no nothing. Just join. Get it. It’s going to be a great peacemaker. It’s really going to bring it together beyond anything you’ve ever seen,” the president said.
“It’s going to be a miracle, the miracle in the desert. It’s going to be amazing, and it already is, in a true sense, but it’ll be wonderful when you can spend time thinking about other than war and defense and offense,” he added.
Trump extended special thanks to several people he described as integral to negotiating the peace deal. Special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and businessman Jared Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, were named by Trump as “some unbelievably good people.”
