Trump Is Greeted With Adulation Abroad

The Middle East and the wider world is unable to deny success — even if the war against Israel’s enemies is far from concluded.

AP/Evan Vucci
President Trump and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt on October 13, 2025, at Sharm El Sheikh. AP/Evan Vucci

The adulation that President Trump is receiving in the Middle East and beyond is something to behold. Underestimated for years at home and abroad, the president now charms and overpowers the Muslim world, Europe, and even Canada. Globalists might resent his ignoring some of their most cherished sensibilities, which for decades guided the world of diplomacy. Then again, too, they’re unable to deny success. 

Mr. Trump predicts that peace will soon bless the Mideast, which might remain a dream for a while. Yet as Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, once observed, “In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” On Monday at Tel Aviv’s formerly-called Hostage Square, elated Israelis experienced a miracle of which for two years they could only dream. Freeing all living Hamas-held hostages, for now, represents a war victory. 

Mr. Trump failed to heed an old saw that to get to peace America must pressure Israel, and its prime minister. Today he spoke to the Knesset of his admiration of the Jewish state. In a familiar mix of eloquently written words and ad-libbed asides, he said that his son in law, Jared Kushner, loves Israel so much “that my daughter converted.” He called on Israel to end the prosecution of Bibi, including for allegedly receiving “champagne and cigars.” 

Mr. Trump’s one-day victory tour seemed even more impressive later, as he presided over a summit of world leaders at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and signed the 20-point war-ending plan for Gaza. Known for his prickly style, the president magnanimously complimented most of the guests in the room, ensuring that they become stakeholders in his regional peace plan. He even name-called the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. 

Yet two words most often rehearsed as the sine qua non for resolving all Mideast problems were absent from Mr. Trump’s Monday speeches. The summit’s host, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, called for a Palestinian state. The American president, who envisioned the Abraham Accords by sidelining a creation of a 23rd Arab state in the Mideast, is ignoring France, Britain, and others that, at the United Nations last month, recognized “Palestine.” 

Although he skipped that supposed necessary stage for peace, world leaders flocked to Sharm to kiss the ring of the man who, unlike them, managed to end the war that dominated headlines for two years. Israel’s military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Qatar, and America’s help in devastating Iran’s nuclear program, catalyzed this moment. Mr. Trump recognized that, and leaned on Qatar and Turkey to force their Hamas client to cut their losses. 

On Monday, then, world leaders sought facetime and hand shakes with Mr. Trump on a stage decorated with the words “Peace 2025.” Is a “3,000-year war” over? Hamas is already violating the deal it signed, refusing to release bodies of murdered Israelis. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey reportedly threatened to turn back his plane if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the summit, showing hatred of Israel still dominates Islamist ideologists. 

Monday marks the two-year anniversary, according to the Jewish calendar, of Hamas’s atrocities on October 7. It is also Simchat Torah, the last day of the Sukkot holiday, in which Jews begin a new cycle of Torah reading. As in the Hebrew scriptures, many trials still await Israel. For a moment, though, as Israelis glimpse how world leaders gravitate toward Mr. Trump, almost their lone world champion, they dare to believe that even their haters might change.


The New York Sun

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