Nearly two years ago, in the shadow of Hamas’s barbaric October 7, 2023, assault, I wrote about the unexpected opportunity emerging from that horror. Then, in June of this year, I described a turning point, Israel’s decisive actions against Iran and its proxies that I believed would realign the region. Those posts, offered a prediction: that Iran’s overreach would ultimately collapse its influence, strengthen the Abraham Accords, and open a path toward durable regional peace. What then was hope and optimism is now becoming history and I am profoundly grateful.
The Plan That Changed the Game
President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza War
has redefined Middle East diplomacy. Its first phase, securing the release of hostages, a ceasefire, and initial withdrawal, and release of some Israeli held prisoners, has been signed by both Israel and Hamas, with implementation
imminent.
From Riyadh to Islamabad, world leaders have hailed Trump’s blueprint as a
“bold vision for peace,” combining humanitarian relief, demilitarization, and
post-war governance.
This isn’t a symbolic gesture, it’s a structural shift. Hamas is militarily
broken, Iran’s proxies are neutralized, Iran is on its heals, and the Abraham Accords are expanding.
The cycle of perpetual war is giving way to a framework of mutual security and
economic growth.
Trump’s success in the Middle East stems not only from strength, but from fairness. He is trusted precisely because he has acted as a credible, even-handed broker, something few American presidents have achieved. Israel remains America’s steadfast ally, but Trump made clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu that there would be no annexation of the West Bank, preserving space for Palestinian self-governance. When Israeli operatives overstepped in their failed strike on Hamas leadership in Doha, Trump insisted Netanyahu issue a formal apology to Qatar, signaling that even allies must respect the rules of peace. That balance, firm loyalty to Israel paired with accountability and respect for Arab sovereignty, has earned him rare trust across the region. Leaders from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to Egypt view Trump as a negotiator who honors strength, keeps his word, and delivers results.
From Despair to Leverage
When Hamas struck in 2023, I argued that it was Iran’s
desperate gambit, a last-ditch attempt to derail the Abraham Accords. Tehran’s
Revolutionary Guards had poured some $700 million into Hamas that year, hoping
to ignite chaos and halt normalization between Israel and the Arab world.
Instead, it exposed Iran’s hand and unified moderate Arab states around a
shared enemy.
By June 2025, as Israel’s Operation Rising Lion obliterated Iran’s nuclear
sites and air defenses, the dominoes began to fall: Hamas shattered in Gaza,
Hezbollah blunted in Lebanon, the Houthis isolated in Yemen. Trump’s strategic
60-day window for Iranian compliance, followed by Israeli action, proved once
again that strength, not appeasement, compels peace.
Now, with the 20-point plan, the final act is unfolding. This is not another Oslo illusion—it’s a pragmatic roadmap that
replaces idealism with enforceable peace.
The End of an Era of Illusions
For decades, conventional U.S. policy produced only
funerals. From the Oslo Accords to the Obama and Biden-era attempts at détente with Tehran, America’s
political class traded strength for symbolism. The result was predictable: Iran
grew bolder, its proxies bloodier, and its ideology more entrenched.
Trump reversed the formula. He built personal and economic ties first through the Abraham
Accords, applied maximum pressure to Iran, and let Israel lead militarily while
he forged regional unity.
His visits to Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha this summer transformed what once
seemed a fragile coalition into a genuine peace axis. Hamas’s capitulation is
the consequence of that realignment, a peace built on strength, not
sentimentality.
The Challenges Ahead
No transformation comes without friction. Hamas’s remnants
may seek to preserve influence through politics or protest. Negotiations over
Gaza’s post-war governance will test all parties, and Iran, battered but not
dead, may lash out through cyber or covert means. Yet the regional momentum is
unmistakable. With Saudi Arabia poised to formalize ties with Israel and Iran
increasingly isolated, the architecture of peace is taking shape. The theocrats
of Tehran and their proxy warlords bet on fear and division. They are losing to
partnership and prosperity.
Beyond the Battlefield
This victory reaches beyond geopolitics. It exposes the moral bankruptcy of the West’s intersectional ideology, one that glorified Hamas as “resistance” while ignoring its Iranian masters. On college campuses, chants of “From the river to the sea” became the rallying cry of useful fools, those who confused liberation with annihilation. Trump’s success shatters that lie.
True peace does not come from protest slogans or moral posturing, it comes from confronting evil and defeating it. The loss of innocent life in Israel and Gaza was heartbreaking, but those who cry for peace without understanding the nature of the conflict forget that inaction can cause even greater suffering. Evil must be confronted, not appeased. The civilian deaths in Gaza were tragic, but they were not genocide, they were the unavoidable cost of dismantling a terrorist regime that used its own people as shields. If their deaths lead to the final end of this endless cycle of war, they will not have been in vain.
To my progressive friends who took to the streets in outrage, I say this sincerely: your compassion is admirable, but compassion without understanding is dangerous. Many of you were moved by images of suffering yet unaware of the history, manipulation, and deceit behind them. You were misled into defending those who despise the very freedoms you cherish. It is time for honest reflection, for empathy guided by truth, not emotion. Only then can compassion serve peace instead of prolonging war.
A Fulfillment Foretold
Two years ago, I closed my essay with the words of Jesus:
“Blessed are the peacemakers.” That blessing now takes form. For all his
disruptiveness, Donald Trump has proven to be the peacemaker his critics said
could never exist, redrawing the Middle East’s map without a single American
soldier on the ground.
The opportunity I glimpsed after Gaza’s horrors and the turning point I
heralded amid Iran’s fall have merged into a single truth: the dawn of a new
Middle East is upon us. May we nurture it together with courage and clarity.
Related Posts
The Opportunity After the Gaza War - November 2023
Predicted that Hamas’s October 7 attack would expose Iran’s hand and create an
opening for a new regional alignment built on the Abraham Accords.
From Ivy Halls: The Collapse of Moral Clarity and Truth on College Campuses - June 2025
Criticized American universities, especially elite institutions, that have nurtured a radical worldview that rebranded Marxist ideology through the lens of identity and justice that leaves students radicalized.
A Turning Point in the Middle East - June 2025
Explored how Israel’s strikes on Iran and Trump’s renewed diplomacy were
setting the stage for the most significant transformation in the region since
Camp David.
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