This week, I had the opportunity to visit the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, to hear President Donald Trump speak. Trump, who had just brokered a ceasefire deal involving the release of all 20 living Israeli hostages from Hamas — without a full Israeli withdrawal, and with a stated commitment by Hamas, backed by erstwhile allies like Qatar and Turkey, to disarm — was met with ecstatic applause. Calling out his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump stated, “We’re not gonna go into a war, but if we do, we’re going to win that war like nobody has ever won a war before. We will not be politically correct … I think, you know, as you mentioned, Bibi, before, ‘Peace through strength.’ And that’s what it’s all about.”

Indeed it is.

Critics of the Trump administration have claimed that President Joe Biden’s ceasefire plan from 2024 was similar to the ceasefire achieved by Trump. That’s absolutely untrue. Biden’s plan involved a pullback of Israeli forces from “all populated areas of Gaza,” in exchange for an unspecified number of living hostages; phase two would involve a complete end to hostilities, which would involve the release of the remaining hostages. The proposal did not include the disarmament of Hamas. Trump’s plan, by contrast, committed Hamas and its allies to return of all hostages, living and dead, in phase one; Israel would not be forced to withdraw from all populated areas (in fact, Israel currently continues to militarily control some 53% of the Gaza Strip); only after phase two, with the demilitarization and disarmament of Hamas, would Israel pull back fully from Gaza.

In short, Trump’s plans contained immediate deliverables — and those deliverables came in the form of Israeli hostages, who were returned to their families. Those deliverables were made possible not only because of Trump’s negotiating acumen but because between Biden’s proposal and Trump’s, the situation on the ground changed: Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, and utterly decimated Hezbollah’s offensive capacity, including via the most highly targeted anti-terror attack of all time — the famed beeper operation; Israel’s destruction of Hezbollah capacities led indirectly to the collapse of the Syrian regime, which in turn made the Syrian border safer for Israel; Israel shattered Iran’s nuclear capacity, with the assist of Trump’s daring Operation Midnight Hammer; Israel performed continuing operations in Judea and Samaria to degrade Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s terrorist operations there; Israel made clear, by striking Hamas leadership inside Qatar, that it would target its enemies anywhere they were found. Much of that situational change between June 2024 and October 2025 was due to Netanyahu’s stalwart leadership and the extraordinary performance of the Israeli defense community.

But without Trump supporting the Israeli moves, it would have been difficult if not impossible to reach the end of the war in such victorious fashion. And that’s why Trump received a hero’s welcome in Israel.

Trump has always been a peace president, because the only way to achieve peace is strength. Geopolitics is an arena of force — and only the credible threat of its use can bring people to the table. The oft-repeated saw that peace cannot be won on the battlefield is just as false as it is hackneyed. Peace can only be won on the battlefield — because only through victory can the conditions for peace be achieved. A preliminary peace is no peace at all. It is merely a hudna, a waystation on the road back to war and terrorism.

So, what comes next?

Given Hamas’ attempts to reconsolidate control of the areas of the Gaza Strip from which Israel has withdrawn, it is doubtful that phase two will ever come into play. Will Arab and Muslim nations supply a peacekeeping force to make the Strip quiescent and finally stop Hamas’ murderous reign? If not, how will an interim government ever take power? These questions remain open. But one thing is certain: The same strategy that brought home Israel’s hostages will be the only strategy that ensures eventual prosperity not just in Gaza but in Ukraine and in other hot spots around the globe. That strategy is Peace Through Strength. And there is no substitute for it.

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