Morning Note

The president’s Middle East peace deal is taking effect.

Hamas released all remaining October 7th hostages on Monday, while Israel began freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and detained in Gaza since the attack. The developments appear to show that both sides are sticking to the Trump-brokered agreement, at least for now. Benjamin Netanyahu says he is “committed to this peace,” and Hamas released a statement saying the war is over last week. 

Trump addressed Israel’s parliament following the release, receiving a lengthy standing ovation before beginning his remarks. It was nice to see Israeli politicians cheering an American leader rather than the U.S. Congress thanklessly kissing the ground Netanyahu walks on like normal. 

Was securing the deal easy? No. Did Trump have to threaten Israel’s funding to get Netanyahu to sign on? Yes. But sparing American taxpayers from subsidizing the bloodshed was worth the effort. It’s hard to imagine a different president achieving such a feat.

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