Cairo (Egypt): When Israel and Hamas swapped captives October 13, the day that was meant to be a second of triumph, US President Donald Trump took the rostrum contained in the Knesset, bathed in applause and digicam lights.
“This isn’t solely the tip of a warfare, that is the tip of an age of terror and loss of life and the start of the age of religion and hope and of God,” he mentioned, along with his voice echoing via Israel’s parliament.
He referred to as it “a historic daybreak of a brand new Center East”. His viewers listened, half in awe and half in disbelief.
Trump spoke of ceasefire, captives and miracles. Twenty Israelis had been freed by the Hamas. 200 and fifty Palestinian political prisoners had been launched by Israel. About 1,700 Gaza detainees returned house after months of disappearance. The US president claimed all of it got here from his “20-point plan” to finish the warfare, a proposal as sweeping because it was imprecise.
After the speech, he flew to Egypt for the peace deal signing summit. Cameras adopted him as he signed the primary part of his peace deal, watched by Arab and world leaders. Underneath the plan, a stabilisation drive would enter Gaza. Hamas would hand over governance to a Palestinian committee, which will probably be monitored by a “Board of Peace” led by Trump himself, together with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It was theatre, diplomacy and self-celebration in a single body. Trump referred to as out his “sensible negotiator” Steve Witkoff and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He praised Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and demanded a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Then got here the acquainted Trump flourish, assaults on his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and tales of heroism that demanded a more in-depth look.
Declare 1: ‘I Settled 8 Wars In 8 Months’
That line drew cheers. However the actuality tells a distinct story. Trump’s ceasefire efforts touched a number of battle zones – Israel-Iran, India-Pakistan and Armenia-Azerbaijan. Some calmed, some reignited. Others barely observed.
In Africa, the truce he helped dealer between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda rapidly fell aside, with tons of killed since June.
Even his “peace” between Cambodia and Thailand cracked inside weeks amid border skirmishes. The Nile dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia stays frozen.
And in Europe, Kosovo and Serbia by no means truly reached the brink of warfare.
Consultants say Trump’s declare of “eight wars settled” is fiction wrapped in diplomacy. The Gaza ceasefire could also be actual, however its endurance stays unsure.
Declare 2: ‘We Dropped 14 Bombs On Iran’s Nuclear Websites, Obliterating Them’
It was probably the most explosive declare of the night time. Trump referred to Operation Midnight Hammer, the key US mission that focused three Iranian nuclear services in June. He mentioned, “We completely obliterated them. That has been confirmed.”
However no such official affirmation exists. Satellite tv for pc pictures and leaked studies stay inconclusive. The Fordow website, one among Iran’s most fortified, reveals indicators of injury, however not destruction.
A New York Instances report from August 20 mentioned “important injury seemingly occurred”, however it added that “with so many unknowns, certainty could by no means come”.
For now, Trump’s declare floats between reality and fantasy.
Declare 3: ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal Turned Out To Be A Catastrophe’
Trump’s favorite goal was the 2015 nuclear settlement with Iran that befell throughout Obama’s administration.
Tehran largely complied with it. Worldwide inspectors confirmed it. The deal restricted uranium enrichment and opened the nation to scrutiny. In return, sanctions eased. It was not everlasting, however it was working.
Trump walked away from it in 2018. He promised a harder renegotiation, which by no means occurred. It resulted into new sanctions, financial ache and Iran inching again towards nuclear functionality. Consultants say it was not the deal that failed. It was the withdrawal.
Declare 4: ‘Underneath Obama And Biden, There Was Hatred Towards Israel’
The sentence lit up social media and infuriated historians who referred to as it “unfaithful”. They mentioned each Obama and Biden strengthened Israel militarily and politically.
“Each administrations oversaw expansions in US army help and coordination with Israel,” they highlighted.
Obama’s 2016 pact despatched $38 billion to Israel over 10 years, the most important package deal in historical past. The funds upgraded Tel Aviv’s air fleets and missile defences.
Biden continued that pattern. For the reason that Gaza warfare started in 2023, US army help to Israel has reached $21.7 billion. He additionally deployed US troops close to Israel and Gaza and vetoed a number of UN ceasefire resolutions.
Hatred? Hardly. Coverage? Completely.
Declare 5: ‘Obama And Biden Did Nothing With The Abraham Accords’
Trump’s try to assert credit score for historical past missed its mark. Obama had already left workplace years earlier than the Abraham Accords got here into existence. Solid throughout Trump’s first time period, the 2020 settlement introduced Israel into nearer ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Because the accord took impact, new embassies opened, common flights resumed and commerce between the nations started to increase quickly.
Biden tried to increase it to Saudi Arabia. However after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked and Israel responded with overwhelming drive, the plan collapsed.
The concept of official Israeli-Saudi relations grew to become a lot more durable. Since then, Gaza has suffered unimaginable destruction – 68,000 Palestinians killed, most of them girls and kids. Ninety-two % of properties turned to rubble. Two million folks trapped in ruins.
No accord may survive that.
Trump left the Knesset smiling and waving, promising what he referred to as “a world reborn in religion”. Exterior the chamber, analysts examined his speech and tallied the half-truths and unverified claims that crammed it.
Around the globe, folks recognised the acquainted cadence of his phrases, grand in tone and steeped in divinity, however drifting removed from actuality. However in a area burning for peace, even myths can sound like salvation.