OPINION:
By Sunday, silence will descend on Gaza as the gunshots and explosions finally cease. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he had brokered a deal to end the brutal war that began with the Oct. 7, 2023, sneak attack on Israel.
The hostages taken by Hamas — 23 are still alive — will be released. This number includes two U.S. citizens that President Biden allowed to languish in miserable conditions for 15 months.
Israel’s bombing campaign has been merciless, exacting revenge for the murderous Oct. 7 incursion with a body count reaching 65,000, according to a new study in the Lancet. The violence would have continued had Mr. Trump not won in November.
The current administration had no coherent response to the crisis, and even the Democratic faithful began to notice. A new YouGov poll found 29% of voters who pulled the lever for Joe Biden in 2020, but refused to back Vice President Kamala Harris, were most upset over Gaza.
Mr. Trump introduced clarity to the situation by delivering this ultimatum to Hamas last month: “If the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be all hell to pay in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”
The message was received. Steve Witkoff, the incoming president’s Middle East envoy, delivered a separate communique to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both sides suddenly realized it was in their interest to strike a bargain early, rather than push their luck.
“We have achieved so much without even being in the White House,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Just imagine all the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House.”
There’s no need for imagination. Next up on the agenda is resolving the clash between Russia and Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of young men on both sides have given their lives over lines drawn on a map — a death toll far beyond that in Gaza. There has been no respite.
On Wednesday, Moscow launched a barrage of 43 missiles and 74 drones against the gas and energy infrastructure in western Ukraine in the hopes of crippling military production — but also leaving civilians without power or heat in the dead of winter. Kyiv the day before had provoked the Russian bear by striking one of the country’s largest oil refineries.
Candidate Trump had said on multiple occasions that the pointless cycle of destruction must come to a negotiated settlement. Keith Kellogg, the special envoy tasked with finding a solution, expects the warring sides will come together within 100 days.
Competence makes all the difference. In his first term, Mr. Trump achieved what many assumed to be impossible. The Abraham Accords normalized relations between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Several other nations, most notably Saudi Arabia, were on the verge of signing up.
The 2020 election result threw a wrench into the unprecedented breakout of Middle Eastern harmony. Mr. Biden’s foreign policy weakness invited agents of chaos — like Hamas and the Houthis — to run wild.
That ends on Monday, when Mr. Trump returns to finish what he started.
Making America great again means putting a stop to the endless foreign conflicts that drain our treasury and tarnish the U.S. reputation abroad. The MAGA agenda is attainable now that the adults are back in charge.
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