Trump Promises ‘Eternal Peace’ for the Middle East

Good morning! Today, we look at War and Peace.

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is holding an unprecedented meeting of about 800 senior military leaders in Virginia today. He reportedly wants the “eyeball to eyeball” conference to help restore America’s “warrior ethos” and commitment to peace through strength. The tone of Trump’s military is a dramatic shift from the apologetic posture of his predecessors, which was a clear fulfillment of the prophecy of America’s pride in its power being broken (Leviticus 26:19). It’s remarkable what one determined leader can accomplish.

[BRIEF]

Meanwhile, the world awaits the results of President Trump’s peace offer to Hamas, the subject of our first story:

Trump promises ‘eternal peace’ for the Middle East: “Today is a historic day for peace,” President Trump said after jointly announcing his 20-point plan for ending the war in Gaza with Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House yesterday. “Let’s call it eternal peace in the Middle East.” Donald Trump likes to swing for the fences.

Optimists say this deal is a game changer. It has the endorsement of much of the Arab world, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as the EU, Turkey and others—though last-minute changes by Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly rankled some Arab leaders.

It isn’t asking for promises from Hamas—it is demanding that they turn over the remaining hostages and then vacate Gaza. Disarm and deradicalize or be dismantled. Trump has made similar ultimatums to Hamas before and failed to follow through. But those haven’t come with this much fanfare.

So—will Hamas agree? We’ll know by Thursday, Yom Kippur, when Trump’s 72-hour deadline ends. The terms are hard:

1. Give up all hostages and lose all leverage. Surrender and permanently lose military and political power in Gaza. Leave and regroup, probably in the West Bank.
2. Decide no, defy global consensus, and accept all blame for Israel scaling up its war. Hamas is in a corner.

More details of the proposal:

• Israel immediately ceases fire and begins a staged withdrawal even before hostages are released. It frees 250 prisoners serving life sentences, plus 1,700 Gazans detained after October 7—returning a lot of Palestinian murderers to the field.
• After all hostages are returned, a staged process of Gaza’s rehabilitation, demilitarization and political restructuring unfolds.
• The UN (thoroughly infiltrated by Hamas) resumes control of Gaza’s aid.
• Gaza is run by a Board of Peace chaired by Donald Trump and other world leaders, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They will oversee a temporary government by “a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee.” Hamas has no role. The board will hand Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority once it has shown sufficient reforms.
• The board will also supervise Gaza’s reconstruction, which includes a Trump-led economic initiative to turn Gaza into a zone of opportunity.

The deal also creates an International Stabilization Force, placing international peacekeepers in the Gaza Strip to train and support Gazan police. Because Israel must withdraw, the international force would be the ones to disarm Hamas.

Story continues below.

Will Hamas shift to the West Bank? If Hamas accepts this deal, it will represent not an end to their radicalism, but a tactical shift. The jihadis are not giving up their fight.

Their likeliest move would be to shift their operations to the West Bank, much more strategically vital than Gaza.

As Khaled Abu Toameh wrote at the Gatestone Institute, Iran and its Palestinian terrorist proxies have already started moving their operations there.

Recently, armed cells belonging to Iranian-backed Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (pij) have escalated their terrorist attacks in the West Bank against Israeli soldiers and civilians. [Israeli security] sources asserted that Iranian-linked elements were behind the scheme to turn the West Bank into a further battlefield against Israel. …

Even if the war in the Gaza Strip ends, Qatar, Iran, Hamas and pij will never give up the fight to destroy Israel and replace it with a radical Islamist state. The attempt to transform the West Bank into a second base for jihad highlights that ending the war in the Gaza Strip will not end the dream of wiping Israel off the map.

If the West Bank were to erupt in violence, confronting it would be much more troublesome for Israel and far more provocative of international outrage than the war in Gaza.

Bible prophecy shows that the hottest Arab-Jew conflict is due to erupt in Jerusalem, the contested heart of the country. Zechariah 14:2 describes half of the city being taken and that violence sparking a broader war, Gerald Flurry explains in “Jerusalem: About to Explode,” Chapter 3 of Jerusalem in Prophecy.

The immediate outcome of President Trump’s latest peace effort will be better understood in the next few days and coming weeks. But the notion that it will produce “eternal peace” is entirely wrong. God promises that the “City of Peace” will enjoy eternal peace—but only when it is governed by the King of kings.

IN OTHER NEWS

Speaking of negotiating with terrorists: Afghanistan’s Taliban released U.S. citizen Amir Amiri on Sunday, the fifth U.S. citizen they have released this year. This comes as the Taliban and the U.S. are allegedly in negotiations to normalize relations. President Trump reportedly hopes to include the U.S. regaining Bagram Air Base, which it gave up amid the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban have stated an American military presence in Afghanistan is out of the question. But Amiri’s release during ongoing negotiations suggests they may be bearing fruit. The Taliban would be the last regime in the world one would think the U.S. would want to normalize relations with. This is the same regime that sponsored the 9/11 terror attacks. There is no reason to think the Taliban have reformed their views.

Russia may be preparing China to invade Taiwan by selling amphibious assault vehicles and parachutes, according to documents obtained by a hacking group. This could be Russia returning the favor to China for supporting the Ukraine war. The strengthening of Russia and China’s relationship fulfills Bible prophecies regarding an Asian power bloc called the “kings of the east.”

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million after settling a lawsuit relating to the suspension of President Trump’s YouTube account after the January 6 protests. Most of it, $22 million, will go into a trust to help fund the White House ballroom renovation; another $2.5 million will go to pro-Trump organizations. This adds to Trump’s haul from Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, $25 million, and Twitter/X, $10 million. The radical left were powerful enough to shut down even the social media accounts of a president. That dominance has now been destroyed. Truly a miraculous turnaround.

Super Bowl halftime show to defy America’s “religious resurgence”: While the Trump movement becomes more religious, the media seems determined to rub people’s noses in perverse weirdness. A Puerto Rican “musician” called Bad Bunny will perform the show. His real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio. He protests President Trump’s migration policies, and has performed in a dress, in full “drag” and alongside dancers dressed as demons. This is what will be broadcast to America on what is typically the most-watched annual television event in the U.S. “They display their sin like the people of Sodom and don’t even try to hide it,” says God in Isaiah 3:9 (New Living Translation). “They are doomed! They have brought destruction upon themselves.”