(Ken Silva, Headline USA) President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have reached a ceasefire and hostage deal—telling America that it took “months of intensive diplomacy.”
But according to both Arab leaders and the Israeli press, President-elect Donald Trump is far more deserving of credit than the outgoing Biden.
You did nothing https://t.co/s9zljBqnKe pic.twitter.com/DaeK6czBsn
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) January 15, 2025
Indeed, two Arab officials told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that Trump did more to sway Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a single sit-down than outgoing President Joe Biden did all year.
The Times of Israel was referring to Trump having sent his incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to negotiate with Netanyahu on Saturday. Witkoff told Netanyahu “in no uncertain terms that Trump expected him to agree to a deal,” Amos Harel, the Haaretz military analyst, reported on Tuesday.
“Witkoff’s blunt reaction took them by surprise. He explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of no interest to him. His message was loud and clear,” Haaretz reported. “Thus in an unusual departure from official practice, the prime minister showed up at his office for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.”
According to the White House, the six-week ceasefire will allow for negotiations to bring about a permanent end to the war. If negotiations take longer than six weeks the ceasefire would continue as long as talks continue.
Biden noted that his administration negotiated the deal but that Trump’s team will soon be charged with making sure it’s implemented. “For the past few days, we have been speaking as one team,” Biden said.
No, thank YOU, Mr. President! pic.twitter.com/I0eyJFMibG
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) January 15, 2025
The New York Times also gave Trump credit for brokering the deal. Columnist Bret Stephens warned that the pro-Israel right may soon become disenfranchised with him.
“Thanks largely to Trump, a deal demanded by the Israeli left and reviled by the right is about to come into effect. A year’s worth of diplomacy by the Biden administration is finally about to bear fruit on account of its political nemesis,” Stephens wrote.
“The far-right parties that are part of Netanyahu’s coalition may bolt the government. And Netanyahu is far more prepared to bend the knee to Washington than he was when there were Democrats in the White House,” he wrote.
“Donald Trump may have the soul of a bully, but he also has the instincts of a dealmaker — and a yearning for acclaim, including the Nobel Peace Prize he thinks he was denied for the Abraham Accords. Whatever else his next four years in power bring, it won’t conform to ideological type. Somewhere out there, the spirit of Richard Milhous Nixon is smiling.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
