People react as they watch the hostage release live stream at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Oct. 13. Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump soaked in praise and outlined a vision for broader Middle East peace during a one-day tour of Israel and Egypt to mark the success of US-led mediation efforts to end fighting in Gaza.
Now comes the even harder part.
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Speaking in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Trump signed a Gaza agreement that he said had taken 3,000 years to reach. He then stood before more than a dozen leaders he’d gathered to the spot and gave a campaign-style speech, thrashing his predecessor Joe Biden and even some of them.
“You’re friends of mine, you’re great people,” Trump told the fellow leaders lined up behind him. “I have a couple I don’t like in particular but I’ll — I won’t tell you who.”
Setting aside Trump’s tone, even his critics and political opponents agreed it was a well-deserved recognition for a significant achievement, given he’d reached a peace deal that had proved elusive for other leaders present and for his predecessor, Biden. Fragile as the peace may be, Trump got Hamas to release the remaining hostages it held and persuaded Israel to stop its ruinous military campaign in Gaza.
The extraordinary gathering could in some ways be interpreted as a balm to any bruised ego Trump may have been nursing after he failed to win a Nobel Peace Prize last week that he had publicly lobbied for. At one point during the celebration on Monday, a jubilant Trump made light of the timing. “Oh, Norway, ay yai yai,” he said. “What happened, Norway?”
Trump was the center of attention, turning normally busy leaders from more than 20 nations and multilateral organizations into spectators, after persuading them all to travel to join a very short summit.
Israeli hostage Evyatar David arrives at Beilinson hospital near Tel Aviv, on Oct. 13.Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg
Beneath the surface-level imagery of the flags from around the world and the strained smiles of some of Trump’s peers, the goals he set out are formidable. As important as it was to get the deal for the release of the remaining hostages and Israel to halt its assault on Hamas, the next steps are likely to be more challenging.
In his speech at Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem, Trump proclaimed “the historic dawn of a new Middle East” and mused that getting a peace agreement with Iran -– a nation that Israel fought in a 12-day war in June before the US struck it with a dozen bunker-buster bombs –- will be “easy.”
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WATCH: President Donald Trump addressed the Israeli parliament on Monday, calling it “the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”Source: Bloomberg
“The president has long been prone to hyperbole, and we saw it come out today,” said Jonathan Panikoff, of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Program. “The challenges of a broader peace deal are incredibly difficult.”
Trump became the fourth US president to address Israel’s Knesset, and the first since George W. Bush in 2008. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced Trump by calling him “the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House.” Tens of thousands of people gathered in recent days in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square to cheer Trump, celebrating the hostage release and American support for Israel.
Trump in his speech in Israel seven times cited the Abraham Accords, the landmark agreements from his first term that normalized diplomatic relationships between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. Trump has long wanted to expand the accords to more nations, a goal actively pursued between Israel and Saudi Arabia before the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks.
Underscoring the lasting tensions that will be difficult to shake, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at one point balked at joining the summit in Egypt over the possible attendance of Netanyahu, whose government Erdogan has accused of genocide. In the end, Netanyahu didn’t attend because of a Jewish holiday.
Trump repeatedly gushed over Erdogan during and after Monday’s summit, framing their interactions along the lines of his long self-professed deal-making prowess.
“I don’t get along with the weak ones. I get along with the tough ones. I don’t know what that is, but Erdogan has been great with me,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One en route back to Washington. “You know, when NATO has a problem with Erdogan, which they often do, they call me to talk to him, and I’ve never failed in working it out like immediately,”
The ceremony on Monday was to mark a watershed moment of de-escalation between Israel and Hamas. Yet the path for implementing some of the most difficult points of Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza –- like disarming Hamas – remained unclear on Monday, even as Trump predicted that they will happen.
Trump also cast doubt on another point – having former British Prime Minister Tony Blair serve on the “Board of Peace” that Trump will lead. Trump on Sunday said that he needs to see if Blair is acceptable to everyone –- even though his name was included in the plan announced by the White House two weeks ago.
WATCH: Trump meets with world leaders in Egypt.Source: Bloomberg
Trump won’t need to wait long before he again faces a challenge that so far has resisted his dealmaking abilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to visit the White House on Friday as Trump seeks an end to the nation’s war with Russia.
Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to bring the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to a swift close. But peace requires agreement implementation and follow-through that goes beyond initial ceasefires and lofty declarations, said Brian Katulis, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
“You can’t just do that by making statements that are attention-grabbing,” he said. “You actually need to do the work.”
–With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy.
(Updates with history of US presidential addresses at Knesset, Netanyahu comment in 11th paragraph.)
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