U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Monday.EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/AFP/Getty Images
The American Revolution hero Marquis de Lafayette of France made history in 1824 as the first foreigner to speak to the United States Congress. John F. Kennedy made history when he told members of Parliament in Ottawa in 1961 that “geography has made us neighbours. History has made us friends.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made history when he spoke in recent years to seven foreign legislative bodies in person and to three dozen others online.
But few, if any, speeches to a foreign legislature have had the weight of history that was carried by Donald Trump’s appearance at the Knesset Monday.
There he spoke to what he called “the cherished citizens of Israel,” was treated to a “Trump, Trump, Trump” chant that echoed through the parliamentary complex in the government compound in Givat Ram section of Jerusalem, and spoke of “the beginning of an age of faith and hope and of God.”
Winston Churchill’s three speeches to the American Congress were exhortations to victory in the Second World War and the Cold War. Mr. Trump’s address in Jerusalem after the tearful return of the Israeli hostages was instead a message about a nascent settlement, saying, “the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace.”
Not since Woodrow Wilson’s 1918 triumphal tour of devastated Europe at the conclusion of the First World War and Mr. Kennedy’s 1963 “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech at Rathaus Schöneberg has an American president been greeted with such enthusiasm, even worship, overseas.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday declared a 'historic dawn of a new Middle East' in a speech to lawmakers in the Israeli parliament.
The Associated Press
Mr. Trump, increasingly drawn to religious imagery, offered “Our deepest thanks to the almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and said, “The enemies of all civilization are in retreat.”
His remarks were preceded by a combative introduction, laced with allusions to Biblical heroes, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu employed to call Mr. Trump “the greatest friend the State of Israel has ever had in the White House.”
Mr. Netanyahu repeatedly issued variations that phrase and saluted him for having “brought America back again.” He nominated Mr. Trump to be the first foreigner to be granted the Israel Prize, the country’s highest civilian award.
In turn, Mr. Trump, in an extraordinary and apparently extemporaneous venture into Israeli domestic politics, called for a pardon of Mr. Netanyahu, who is charged with breach of trust, bribery and fraud. He denies the charges.
Israel celebrates release of remaining hostages as Trump declares ‘dawn of new Middle East’
This emotional moment came as a dramatic capstone to what Mr. Trump called “two harrowing years of darkness” that descended on “this sacred soil” but that appears to have ended with an American-brokered tentative and fragile but promising accord.
It brought a conclusion to fighting in the Middle East – the “spiritual and geographical centre of the entire world,” Mr. Trump said – that began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The regional crisis accelerated with Israel’s military response, which left Gaza in ruins, strained relations between Israel and its American patrons, undermined the Jewish state’s moral authority in the world and prompted a global surge in antisemitism.
Despite a brief interruption of protest in the Knesset chamber, Israel displayed to Mr. Trump a sense of national unity that the 47th president – the most divisive American leader in modern times – cannot replicate at home but earned in Israel.
It came through the release of the country’s hostages and the Palestinian prisoners that Mr. Trump helped win, some 9,500 kilometres from the continuing domestic political combat in Washington. One lawmaker in the President’s audience wore a bright red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
People watch U.S. President Donald Trump address the Knesset on a giant screen in Hostages Square.Chris McGrath/Getty Images
An angry political combatant suddenly transformed into a happy warrior for peace, Mr. Trump seemed to luxuriate in defying his critics (many of whom consider him a trigger-prone aggressive adventurer, lately provoking maritime confrontations off Venezuela) and his reputation (for preferring conflict over conciliation and for making “fight, fight fight!” his slogan).
Mr. Trump’s brief visit to the Middle East was more than a celebratory victory tour. It was another chance for Mr. Trump to issue familiar gibes against Barack Obama and Joe Biden – this time as unfaithful to Israel’s interests.
But it also was a rare instance of subtlety from Mr. Trump.
The President’s remarks were shaped to change the global narrative of the two-year Gaza war. His speech was an effort to focus global attention on the Hamas attack rather than on Israel’s response and the civilian toll it brought.
World leaders gathering in Egypt throw their weight behind deal to end war in Gaza
“Let us remember,” Mr. Trump said, “how this nightmare of depravity and death all began.”
In Jerusalem, and later at a signing ceremony at the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh, where days earlier the cease-fire took form, the President – already celebrated for acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, recognizing contested regions as Israeli territory, forging the 2020 Abraham Accords, and unleashing American firepower against Iran’s nuclear facilities – called for peace rather than issuing a call to arms.
Mr. Trump, not prone to understatement, said of Mr. Netanyahu, “He’s not the easiest guy to deal with,” and then added, to the applause of the Knesset, “but that’s what makes him great.” He also saluted Arab leaders who leaned on Hamas to grab this chance for peace.
People react as they watch a live broadcast of Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, in Tel Aviv.Oded Balilty/The Associated Press
The settlement was a result in part of pressure on Hamas from Egypt and Qatar, who warned the group that this proposed accord was its last opportunity to end the carnage in Gaza. Turkey chimed in, too.
At risk for Hamas was the safe harbour Turkey gave its leadership, which increasingly was isolated diplomatically as well as geographically. The benefit was humanitarian aid and the prospect of reconstruction and rehabilitation of Gaza.
The pact brought concessions, but it also reflected the fragility of the Hamas position, the prospect of a conflict without end, and the desperation of the Palestinian people Hamas was committed to serve.
Mr. Trump – who spoke of a “covenant between our two promised lands” and made reference to the “hope of Zion” – said in triumph, “Peace is not just a hope we can dream about but a reality we can build on.” He urged Iran to seek a peace agreement as well. And he reminded leaders around the world, “I make deals. I’m good at it.”