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Another Dubious Peace Deal

By Richard Palmer • April 17, 2026

Another Dubious Peace Deal

Another Dubious Peace Deal

By Richard Palmer • April 17, 2026

Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire yesterday, after their leaders spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump.

  • He posted to Truth Social: “It has been my honor to solve 9 wars across the world, and this will be my 10th, so let’s get it done!”
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With the ceasefire in place, Iran announced it would finally open the Strait of Hormuz for as long as the peace between Israel and Lebanon held.

  • Oil plummeted to $89 a barrel, and the S&P 500 rose to record highs.
  • President Trump said, “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again” but that the U.S. blockade will remain in place until the deal with Iran is 100 percent complete.

Is this the end of the war? Today’s Key of David program, “Why Can’t We Achieve World Peace?”, explores why humanity cannot solve its problems. It includes clips from President Trump’s unveiling of his Board of Peace in January:

Together we are in a position to have an incredible chance—I don’t even call it a “chance”; I think it’s going to happen—to end decades of suffering, stop generations of hatred and bloodshed, and forge a beautiful, everlasting and glorious peace for that region and for the whole region of the world.

Clearly it didn’t bring peace to the Middle East.

The ceasefire with Lebanon deals with awkward disagreements through vague language.

  • Today, Lebanon is claiming that Israel launched “several attacks” after the ceasefire went into effect. But were they “necessary measures in self-defense” and therefore approved by the ceasefire agreement? Or were they “offensive military operations against Lebanese targets” and banned? Could they be both?

The question exposes the absurdity in these approaches to peace. These are nations with conflicting interests and goals. Having them both sign a vaguely worded piece of paper, only to have them both disagree about what it means, won’t bring lasting peace.

It is disturbing that nothing that has happened since President Trump’s inauguration has dented his trust in his own ability as a peacemaker.

  • He has accomplished some good things. He’s had the guts to take on Iran like no other president in the history of the Iranian terrorist regime. Yet even here, he’s trusting in negotiations and compromise to ultimately “solve” the problem. He said yesterday that he hopes to go to Pakistan himself to sign a final deal with Iran.

It’s not just President Trump who has put up one failed peace initiative after another.

  • His failing Board of Peace follows his failing “solutions” in Cambodia versus Thailand, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo versus Rwanda.
  • These follow the failed United Nations, the failed League of Nations, the failed Hague Convention and an unbroken chain of failed efforts to establish peace across not only the entire globe but all generations.

Man does not know the way to peace. And until he admits that and turns to the only true source of peace, he will never find it—as today’s Key of David explains.

Will Britain’s Prime Minister Fall Today?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival today. Yesterday’s Trumpet Daily episode exposed the dire condition of the British military and its broken will. But that is not why Starmer is on the ropes.

Instead, Starmer’s crisis revolves around Britain’s former ambassador to the U.S., Peter Mandelson.

  • Lord Mandelson’s close ties to Jeffrey Epstein have been known for years, but recent releases of files on Epstein’s activities and associates have revealed more details about the depth of these relations and how Mandelson may have helped Epstein get rich by passing on insider government information.

Background: Starmer came under pressure in early February as critics said he should have known better than to appoint Mandelson. But chief of staff Morgan McSweeney took the fall, saying he took “full responsibility” for advising Mandelson’s appointment.

  • Starmer said Mandelson had gone through “security vetting carried out independently by the security services,” which has been his main excuse, and a weak one, throughout this scandal.

Yesterday the Guardian reported that even this is false. It said Mandelson failed that security vetting but was appointed anyway.

Starmer still claims he was completely in the dark, that no one informed him Mandelson failed. He sacked Sir Olly Robbins, the Foreign Office permanent undersecretary, blaming him for the failure.

  • Many remain skeptical of Starmer’s claim of ignorance. Even under his own version of events, he may be guilty of breaking the ministerial code. If a minister makes an “inadvertent error” in a statement to Parliament, it is of “paramount importance” that he correct the record “at the earliest opportunity.” He should have corrected the record when he last spoke to the house on Wednesday—at the very latest—rather than after the Guardian broke the story.
  • Starmer has previously led the charge in insisting that all those who break this same code must resign. Hence the calls, even within his own Labour Party, that he resign.

Britain has gone through five prime ministers in the last decade. Each has been mired in failure.

Isaiah 3 records this prophecy of the end-time nations descended from biblical Israel (verses 1-4):

For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away … The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.

This prophecy’s fulfillment is now painfully obvious in London.

Sadly, even if Starmer finally resigns and is replaced, the British people can’t hope for major change. A successor would likely come from the Labour Party and could be even worse. It truly is “Farewell Britannia.”

Strait of Hormuz: U.S. Pulls Back, Germany Sails In?

European leaders are gathering in Paris today to examine ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Germany is ready to help but only after a ceasefire is in place and approved by a global body like the United Nations.

  • France and Germany are at odds over whether there is a role for the U.S. in the mission. Germany says, “Yes”; France says, “No.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow—and crucial—waterway in the Middle East:

  • Before the recent war, a constant flow of 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas passed through it aboard civilian cargo vessels—and Iranians on its coast allowed it.
  • After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran, the Iranians used military-grade weapons to commit terrorist attacks on about 20 cargo vessels, causing serious damage as well as a few civilian deaths.
  • About 6,000 such vessels have therefore declined to cross over the past seven weeks. Now we’re dealing with major oil and gas shortages and higher prices around the world.

For all its power, especially naval power, the U.S. has been at a loss to ensure safe transit through Hormuz. But German officials say they could send special mine-hunting boats to clear underwater mines and reconnaissance ships or planes to watch the area.

  • Its naval base on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, just across the Arabian Peninsula, could support the mission.

Right now, Germany does not want to jump into the fight for the Strait of Hormuz. Doing so would strengthen America’s position in the Middle East. But it is planning for the day when U.S. forces pull out.

A prophecy recorded in Psalm 83 shows that the Gulf states will soon form an alliance with “Assyria” (Germany) against the nations of Israel, which include the United States, the British Commonwealth nations and the Jewish state in the Middle East. For a detailed explanation, read “A Mysterious Prophecy,” by Gerald Flurry.

IN OTHER NEWS

Russia hits Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles: From 7 a.m. Wednesday to 7 a.m. Thursday, local time, Russia conducted major drone and missile barrages against three Ukrainian cities, killing at least 18 people. The attack, which was one of the largest in months, involved 659 Russian drones and 44 missiles, according to the Ukrainian military. This is another example of Russia’s ruthlessness, which the Bible prophesies will get far worse.

Germany continues arms exports to Israel: Germany sent $7.8 million worth of weapons exports to Israel in the first four weeks of its war against Iran, according to official numbers reported yesterday by Deutsche Presse Agentur. This is a small amount but a contrast with the complete cutoff of weapons to Israel from several other major nations. Many German politicians are pushing for Germany to follow suit, yet Israel and Germany are working together on ballistic missile defense. Watch for this “friendly enemy” tension between Israel and Germany to result in the Israelis finally coming to trust their former World War ii enemies—to their own peril.

Most Germans dislike their government: A survey published today by broadcaster zdf shows that satisfaction with Germany’s governing coalition of the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union and the Social Democrats has dropped to 27 percent, down from 34 percent in March. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is even less popular, with 30 percent approval, as are Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil and Economy Minister Katherina Reiche. Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany, polling at 26 percent, has overtaken the cdu-csu, which stands at 25 percent. The German people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with their democratically elected leaders. Bible prophecy reveals that this will pave the way for another dictatorship.

Julius Malema sentenced to prison: Julius Malema, the head of South Africa’s far-left Economic Freedom Fighters party, was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison for firing an automatic rifle into the air during a 2018 political rally. The Economic Freedom Fighters is a Marxist group that advocates race war with white South Africans. Malema has publicly stated, “Kill the Boer” and “Our revolution will require us to kill.” Malema, who is appealing the sentencing, may be his movement’s biggest agitator, but imprisoning him won’t fix South Africa’s racial tension, and it just might make him a political martyr.

ICE sets goal of 1 million deportations per year: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has now made its bold ambition official. Its budget report, sent to Congress on Wednesday, announced plans to deport 1 million people each year in 2026 and 2027. The agency says it has the officers and resources to meet this goal. The agency carried out 442,637 removals in 2025, about 171,000 more than in 2024 under Joe Biden. A 2018 Yale study estimated 16 to 29 million undocumented immigrants were already in the U.S., and millions more entered during the Biden years. Even in perfect conditions, it would take decades to deport them all. But Bible prophecy warns this will not go perfectly. Instead, the “strangers” in the land will bring destruction and burn our cities with fire (Deuteronomy 28:52; Isaiah 1:7).


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