The New Reality: Trump Now Controls Destiny of Gaza, Not Israel

Oct. 18—In the blurring whirl of events this week that saw the Hamas terrorists release all 20 of the remaining living hostages, and, so far, the bodies of 19 of the 48 dead that were held, as part of the implementation of the first phase of the Trump Peace Plan—and the architect of the plan, President Donald Trump's triumphant trip to Israel and to a summit with more than 20 Muslim and Arab nations in Egypt—there is a new reality that no one really foresaw: Donald Trump now controls the destiny of Gaza, not Israel. And if successful there, a makeover of the entire region in his image of peace through development and mutually shared prosperity.

Trump Declares the War Over in Knesset Speech

This was made clear by certain Trumpian pronouncements made during his Oct. 13 speech to the Israeli Knesset. Delivered with the skill of the entertainer that he is, Trump proclaimed that the "war is over," and that there should be no reason for Israel to revive it.

Similarly, he declared that further military actions against Iran are unnecessary, as the Iranians want to make a deal to end their nuclear weapons ambitions. He had already, in private conversations with the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, said that he would not support further Israeli attacks on Iran. Now, in his Knesset speech, he inveighed people not to pay attention to public remarks by Iranian leaders that no deal was possible now, after the attacks in the summer, since "I know they want to make a deal and we will have one" as soon as he could get to it, saying he intended to end the war in Ukraine first.

"Trump was laying down the law to the Israelis and everyone else," said a source with decades of experience in Middle East affairs. "'I am the new sheriff here. I make the important decisions and determinations. If I say the war is over, it's over.' People are going to point out that Trump also said that he could okay Israel renewing its murderous assault on Hamas if they violate the accords. But who determines that? Donald Trump, not Bibi, not Hamas, not anyone else."

Media Pushback and Provocations

That is being concealed by the media of the NATO war machine and its various Zionist outlets, including the New York 'Pissing' Post, which partners with the British cesspool Reuters, the Wall Street 'Urinal', so named for its publication of neo-con leaks, and the fake news CNN and MSNBC.

All of these started cranking out stories about Hamas reasserting its control over Gaza by disarming various militant clans who had worked with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against Hamas, while conducting criminal activity and other criminal gangs, publishing videos of gruesome public executions of some of their leaders. They would then seek out some of the Hamas officials who are known to have griped about the peace deal, and get them to say that Hamas would never disarm, and then ask some of Bibi's people to comment about Hamas breaking the deal—all with the intent of provoking Trump.

Trump’s Response to Media and Hamas Activity

Sources report that Trump was prepared for these efforts to undermine the peace deal by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and had his responses all ready. Hamas' leaders "do want to stop the problems, and they've been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time," he said. "You have close to 2 million people going back to buildings that have been demolished, and a lot of bad things can happen. So, we want it to be—we want it to be safe." The president added that while he thinks this will work out fine, no one can be certain. He was also unfazed by Hamas' execution of gang members operating under Israeli auspices. Those gangs "were very, very bad," he said.

As to the endless stream of statements from alleged Hamas "spokesmen" or "officials" dragged up by the media to say Hamas would never disarm, Trump brushed this aside, saying he had spoken to the Hamas leadership, and "I asked them, 'do you agree to disarm? And they said, 'Yessir, we do.'" 

Later, Trump tried to clarify that he personally had not spoken to Hamas (which no President had ever done before), but that his emissaries, like Witkoff, had. However, sources close to the White House report that when Witkoff and Presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke to Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and others during the negotiations to seal the deal for the Peace Plan, they had put the President on the speakerphone.

"That is why al-Hayya says that he has been assured that Americans will make sure that the plan is carried out to its full term, including to Palestinian statehood," said the source. "Because Trump had assured him."

Trump went on to say, several times during the week, that if Hamas refused to disarm, "We will disarm them. And it could get very violent," but that he did not think it would come to that.

That phrasing is important. Trump has previously implied that if Hamas failed to disarm, the IDF would be unleashed, which conforms to statements from Bibi. Now, sources say that disarming Hamas would be handled by someone else—by which he means the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which the sources report that Trump wants to have in place as soon as possible, likely by next month. That also gives an approximate timetable for Hamas disarmament, the sources say.

Recovery Efforts and Next Phase of the Plan

In the last few days, these same media sewers have taken up the issue of the slow pace of the recovery of the remains of the dead hostages, citing Israeli sources that this constitutes a violation of the agreement. Trump has taken a more textured response, saying that these recovery efforts are difficult, complicated by the ruined state of Gaza created by the Israeli bombardment. While urging Hamas to speed up its efforts—which it has, to little real effect—Trump has also put an international recovery team on the job, with Israeli involvement, and he has offered rewards for civilians who provide remains or information.

But Trump also warned the Israelis to halt their retaliation for the slow pace of the recovery by slowing down the flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip. Israel, citing improvement in the Hamas effort, removed those restrictions, which would have only led to more suffering and death for innocent Palestinians.

By week's end, discussions on the implementation of the next phases of the Trump Plan got underway, with many issues to resolve. The Israelis had wanted to delay them until all the remains had been returned, but Trump overruled Bibi on this.

"It should be clear to everyone," said the source, "that the final arbiter on Gaza is Donald Trump, along with other crucial policy matters for the region."

Recognizing the New Reality

Some sane analysts understand what has happened and how the circumstances for Bibi and Jerusalem have changed.

The astute Amos Harel writes in Haaretz today:

"The messages arriving in Israel from the United States in the past two days are abundantly clear: Trump is determined to continue implementing the agreement and sees himself as the final authority for deciding whether the sides are meeting their obligations. 'In the new reality,' an Israeli security source acknowledges, 'the tools remaining to us for wielding pressure are limited. The administration is making it clear that there's a new man in and he's the one who will decide the pace of the progress. The train of the deal has left the station; it's roaring ahead full-steam, without looking back.'...

"Hamas' potential to cause military damage is not great at the moment. The organization was badly battered, most of its high command was killed and it is now bent on regaining control of Gaza and on attacking its domestic rivals. But the long war, as one of its leaders says, 'reloaded the magazine of revenge in Gaza for 100 years at least.'

"From the viewpoint of the Palestinians in the Strip, the account is still open. A more responsible government in Jerusalem would concentrate now on two goals: taking advantage of the diplomatic opportunities created by the war's end and closely following Hamas' military buildup in order to prevent its regeneration."

A Hamas Political Party?

Sources report that Trump is considering an even more nuanced approach to Hamas, if it agrees to disarm to his satisfaction. If its leader renounced the use of "revolutionary violence," might not they be acceptable to participate as a political party in the future governance of Gaza and Palestine, if its people desired?

Writes Ziv Ba'rel in Haaretz two days ago:

"That's because the permission Trump gave Hamas to use force to maintain security in Gaza, even if only temporarily, not only grants the organization legitimate status, but also turns it into an integral part of Gaza's administration in practice, even though officially, it won't be part of the territory's civilian government.

"It's also important to remember that just as Israel's cease-fire agreement with Lebanon didn't require Hezbollah to disband as an organization, Trump's plan for Gaza doesn't demand that Hamas be dismantled. Rather, it leaves an opening for the organization to become an unarmed political movement.

Will Bibi Try to Blow Up Deal?

Consequently, Israel must be prepared for the possibility that just as Trump signed agreements with the Taliban in Afghanistan, legitimized Al-Sharaa's terrorist militias and didn't demand that Hezbollah disband, he might well view Hamas, too, as a 'deserving' organization if it just agrees to lay down its arms."

The possibility of this has no doubt sent Bibi and his crew of lunatic messianic Kahanists in his coalition into rug-chewing fits. This has led some intelligence specialists to speculate as to whether Netanyahu might try some false flag or other provocation to try, at this late date, to blow up the peace process and to return to his bloody crusade to exterminate all Palestinians. They further add that the Israelis have "several" operatives inside the leadership of Hamas, an organization that Netanyahu paid for and promoted as a bloc against Fatah and Palestinian statehood.

"I would not try any crazy things, if I were Bibi," said the experienced Middle East source. "Trump is too conspiratorial not to see through it. He would not have survived so far, if he wasn't. Trump is offering Israel peace. Only he could do that. Only a fool or a truly evil person would not take him up on that offer."