PEACEMAKER IN CHIEF: 20 hostages return to Israel as President Trump’s extraordinary peace deal unfolds
President Donald Trump has done something that many critics thought impossible – he has secured peace in the Middle East and ensured the return of Israeli hostages from Hamas
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | October 13, 2025
This week, President Trump did something that many people believed was impossible: he secured the return of 20 Israeli hostages, and he has spearheaded the negotiations that have led to the end of the Middle East conflict in Gaza.
On Monday, President Trump delivered remarks to the Israeli Knesset, heralding this historic moment as Israelis in the Holy Land begin to celebrate the end of a brutal, two-year conflict that has claimed many lives.
“After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families,” President Trump told the assembled Knesset.
It was a solemn moment – a triumph for peace for Israel and for the world.
“After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” President Trump continued.
The president also revealed that 28 more deceased hostages were coming home to their families.
“This is not only the end of a war, this is the end of an age of terror and death, and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God,” the president said. “It’s the start of a grand concord and lasting harmony for Israel and all the nations of what will soon be a truly magnificent region.”
Truly, what President Trump has accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary. He has brought peace, yet again, through a policy of peace through strength.
Blessed are the peacemakers
President Trump is a dealmaker and a peacemaker. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God,” Jesus said in Matthew 5:9.
The negotiations to secure the return of hostages and to bring peace to a region that has been plagued by war and bloodshed for thousands of years are miraculous. It has brought Arab and Muslim nations into harmony for a moment – something that, after the warfare that has raged in the Middle East for decades, seemed unlikely.
But President Trump made it happen.
“It’s an incredible triumph for Israel and the world to have all of these nations working together as partners in peace,” the president said during his remarks. “…Generations from now, this will be remembered as the moment that everything began to change…for the better.”
What a moment.
Celebration is in order
For those pro-Palestinian protesters who have accused Israel of inflicting genocide on Gazans, President Trump has done something incredible: he has stopped the killing in Gaza as well as in Israel.
War is unkind to all. It is a brutal and savage reminder of man’s fallen and sinful nature, and it is a divine kindness that God has allowed the United States to have a leader like President Trump to step into the gap and broker a cessation in hostilities that has claimed the lives of innocent people on all sides of the conflict.
As shouts of celebration and gratitude fill the air in Tel Aviv this morning and afternoon, the world is watching as President Trump has set the tone: peace, peace, and always peace.
This is an administration that is worthy of gratitude and admiration. This is an administration concerned with humanitarianism and fairness. This is an administration that took action to do what’s right. This is an administration that has allowed the United States to, once again, become a beacon of hope to the world, a shining city on a hill, as John Winthrop once envisioned.
The tireless work that has gone into achieving peace in the Middle East is impossible to overstate. This moment, this day, is worthy of celebration.
What’s next?
Following his visit to the Israeli Knesset, President Trump flew immediately to Egypt, where he secured the official signing of the Gaza peace plan.
“You are the only one who is able to bring about PEACE and achieve peace in this part of the world. Thank you, Mr. President!!” said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sis during a bilateral press conference on Monday.
As reported by LindellTV, more than 20 other world leaders attended Monday’s events in Egypt, including representatives from key countries like Turkey, Germany, Italy, and the United Nations.
The Egyptian president is correct: only President Trump could have achieved this unifying moment, because only he was brave enough to set these negotiations in motion.
For the first time in perhaps a century or more, the White House has a leader who is not perpetually warmongering the American people and looking for a reason to get into a fight overseas.
President Trump is truly America First. A world at peace is a world that fosters a welcoming environment for healthy trade and business. It’s a world filled with allies instead of enemies. It’s a higher-trust society, and it facilitates the conditions needed to solidify the “Golden Age” that President Trump so fondly talks about.
“Like the USA right now, [this] will be the Golden Age of Israel and the Golden Age of the Middle East,” President Trump said on Monday.
A Golden Age indeed – one that America and the world should be honored to be a part of.
