In his efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, United States President Donald Trump is taking some drastic actions and ignoring recent and troubling facts. He met Ahmed al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May, and this week, he hosted him at the White House. Ahmed al-Sharaa is a terrorist.

Sharaa joined al Qaeda shortly before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, fought for three years in the Iraqi insurgency, was captured and imprisoned for jihad by U.S. forces in 2006, was released in 2011 as the Syrian civil war began, rose to lead the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham confederation of jihadist fighters in 2017, forced out the secularist Bashar Assad regime at the end of 2024, was officially removed from the U.S. Specially Designated Global Terrorist list on Friday, and visited the White House on Monday.

President Trump wants to work with an al Qaeda terrorist to make Syria successful. In front of the press, Trump praised Sharaa as a “strong leader” and expressed confidence in him. “We’ll do everything we can to make Syria successful,” he said. When a reporter asked about Sharaa’s controversial past, the president responded, “We’ve all had rough pasts.”

To dismiss a lifetime of terrorism as a “rough past” such as we’ve all had is truly stunning!

Politicians have to be pragmatic sometimes and work with many different types of leaders. But al Qaeda is the organization that orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks!

Ahmed al-Sharaa split with al Qaeda in 2016, not because he no longer believed in its jihadist goals but because his ties with the organization were hampering his efforts to get international support in his quest to topple Assad. His strategy worked. Donald Trump now wants him to join an international coalition against the Islamic State. But just because the U.S. State Department currently considers the Islamic State to be a bigger threat than President Sharaa doesn’t mean that his Syrian regime is trustworthy.

In 1949, just as the Cold War was beginning, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote: “But while trusting, gullible Uncle Sam, always unable to see more than one enemy at a time, has been busy worrying about Russia, the real menace has been making diabolical and rapid headway—under cover—in Europe!” (Plain Truth, November 1949).

Well, “trusting, gullible Uncle Sam” has not changed much. He still cannot “see more than one enemy at a time.” America waged war against al Qaeda for years until the Islamic State rose to power. Now it is pivoting and trying to make peace with former al Qaeda operatives who also oppose the Islamic State. This strategy will not end well.

In a September 2012 Trumpet cover story, my father, Gerald Flurry, wrote, “The eyes of the world are fixed on this explosive hot spot. Bashar Assad will be ousted shortly—but then what? You can actually know the outcome!” He then predicted that Assad would be ousted because he was too pro-Iran. A prophecy in Psalm 83 foretells that the Hagarenes of Syria would join a German-led alliance of Arab states in a war against Israel. This meant that Syria would have to break its alliance with Iran and reorient toward Europe.

President Trump is now helping Sharaa ingratiate himself with Western leaders. But none of this means that Sharaa has repented of his terrorist past or abandoned his anti-Israel views. What it means is that the Trump administration is not as repulsed by Sharaa’s anti-Israel views as it should be. Germany and Syria will betray Israel in the very near future, and the Trump administration is helping lay the groundwork for this prophesied betrayal by inviting an al Qaeda terrorist into the White House.

I have made the point repeatedly that President Trump has “peace derangement syndrome.” His primary peace negotiator in the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, says that “anything can be solved with dialogue,” but that is only true when you are negotiating with reasonable people. Al Qaeda terrorists are not reasonable; they will lie to get what they want and then betray those foolish enough to trust them. This is why Isaiah prophesied that “the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly” (Isaiah 33:7). Their naive hopes are about to be dashed.

Hosea prophesied that the leaders of end-time Israel (which includes America and Britain) would be “like a silly dove without heart” (Hosea 7:11). The Hebrew word for silly implies gullibility or naivety more than stupidity.

America’s leaders today trust their own negotiating ability more than they trust God. They are in for a rude awakening. President Trump believes he can help Sharaa make Syria great, but he is only helping create the European-Arab alliance that will start the Great Tribulation when foreign armies surround Jerusalem.