Daly: A Great Day for Israel, the Middle East, the United States, and Donald Trump

The hostages are finally free.

Early this morning, the Hamas terrorist group released all surviving Israeli hostages kidnapped during the October 7, 2023 massacre. The videos of their reunions with family members and friends, after having been separated from them for over two years (while facing unspeakable fear and torture), are absolute tearjerkers.

The release was “phase one” of a long hoped-for ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, which included Israel’s release of nearly 2,000 Palestinians (many of them terrorists) detained over the last two years.

There’s real doubt that Hamas will comply with the other phases of the deal (the signs right now are that they won’t), but it can’t be underscored enough how huge and important of an accomplishment the hostages being freed is. It came after two long, hard years of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) racking up enormous wins against Hamas and Hezbollah, and — with the help of the United States — crippling Iran’s nuclear program. That show of strength and persistence brought a desperate Hamas to the bargaining table.

Despite all their public condemnations, Israel also had the support of key Arab countries in the region, who — having come to realize over time that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were an increasingly serious threat to them as well — quietly extended military and intelligence cooperation to Israel.

Someone who also deserves a good deal of credit is President Trump, and I would argue that those insisting otherwise today are either ignorant of the matter, or doing so out of spite. While it’s true that this is primarily an IDF achievement, the support of the United States absolutely mattered, and will continue to matter going forward. For all of his flaws, Trump has been a good friend to Israel dating back to his first administration. He should be hailed for the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities back in June, and he (along with Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, Marco Rubio, and other administration officials involved) should be applauded for being hands-on in the negotiations, and seeing this deal through its first phase.

Regardless of where things go from here, today was a great day for Israel, the Middle East, and the United States of America.