Israel Is Being Betrayed
by Richard Moss, M.D.
It is painful when defeat is snatched from the jaws of victory as occurred on Jan. 15, 2025, some five days before President Trump’s inauguration. Israel was on the verge of a strategic triumph over the Muslim Brotherhood/Iranian axis in the Middle East, brought about by its unparalleled military superiority and audacity. That victory is now in question.
The chain of events began with the unprovoked massacre of 1200 Israelis by Hamas and the taking of some 250 hostages on October 7, 2023. In the war that followed, the “seven front war,” between Israel and Iranian proxies, the Middle East was being transformed before our very eyes with the fall of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and Hamas in Gaza. New regional alignments were emerging in the face of Israeli victory and hegemony. All this despite the best efforts of the Biden administration to thwart and hamstring Israel.
Many supporters of Israel looked forward to the Presidency of Donald Trump, a known ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel, and the force behind the “Abraham Accords,” which occurred in his first term: the unprecedented normalization of relations between Israel and four Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Trump also recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel and moved the American embassy there.
No one anticipated that Trump would steal this historic victory at the last moment, undercutting much that Israel had accomplished singlehandedly by forcing Israel into a damaging ceasefire that restored, in effect, the status quo, and reinstated, incomprehensibly, Israel’s greatest enemy, Hamas: an organization formed in 1987, that is committed to the genocide of Jews worldwide and the destruction of the state of Israel.
Phase 1 of the ceasefire deal, required the cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, with massive rebuilding and aid to Gaza (600 “aid” trucks a day: more than double current levels). Lasting 42 days, it frees 33 hostages (31 Israeli, two American), 25 living, eight deceased, in exchange for the release of some 1700 Palestinian criminals, including many terrorists with Israeli blood on their hands. Israel will withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor in Rafah between Gaza and Egypt through which much of Hamas’s weaponry and supplies is smuggled. It also requires a withdrawal from the Netzarim corridor, which divides northern from southern Gaza.
The deal, however, leaves Hamas intact and arguably stronger, flush with the status of having withstood the onslaught of the “Zionist Entity,” and now able to rebuild. Indeed, they are celebrating their “victory” as we speak.
The key goals of the war as outlined by Netanyahu after Oct. 7, 2023 were: eliminating Hamas, securing the release of Israeli captives in Gaza, and ensuring that the Palestinian enclave would not pose a threat to Israel’s security. None of these goals have been achieved. The ceasefire deal ensures they never will be.
Although severely weakened, Hamas can now reconstitute itself. Israel loses control of the Philadelphi corridor, thus allowing Hamas to rebuild their war machine. The deal doubles the amount of aid to Gaza. Controlled and sold by Hamas at great profit, it solidifies their hold on power. They can recruit soldiers to restore their capability. Surrendering the Netzarim corridor allows Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. If fighting breaks out, they will have to evacuated again, a pubic relations nightmare. It is a return to pre-October 7 with none of the war goals achieved. Worst of all, Hamas has been legitimized as a negotiating partner.
The release of some 1,700 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, many with Jewish blood on their hands, is also problematic. The now deceased Yahya al-Sinwar, former leader of Hamas and architect of Oct. 7, was one such prisoner released in a prior prisoner deal of more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners in 2011 in exchange for a single Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas. The mass release of Palestinian terrorists and criminals can be expected to result in the shedding of more Israeli blood.
Then there is Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, a real estate mogul and friend of Trump, with little experience or knowledge of the Middle East. He had negotiated this deal with the Prime Minister of Qatar. Witkoff pressured Netanyahu to accept it. Issues that had been life and death for Israel seemed to disappear. Witkoff, furthermore, has questionable allegiances. In 2023, the Qatari Sovereign Wealth fund, bailed him out by purchasing the swanky Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan for $623 million. Qatar is the chief funder of Islamic terror, including Hamas, and should be nowhere near such negotiations. Nor should Witkoff.
Perhaps Trump recalled the return of the 53 U.S. hostages from Iran, with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan on January 20, 1981. Reagan achieved this historic return without firing a shot or giving up a thing. The return of the hostages from Gaza bears no resemblance to this. Perhaps Trump wanted to avoid a “kinetic” war during his time in office. But this war did not start under his rule and he bears no responsibility for it. The current war in the Middle East occurred under Biden as a direct result of Biden’s policies of appeasement and enrichment of Iran and its terrorist proxies.
Did Trump simply want to take a victory lap for returning the hostages before his inauguration? It appears so. Trump, through Witkoff, forced Israel to agree to the very same deal that Biden (and Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken) had been pressuring Israel to accept since May 2024. Was Donald Trump so anxious for a peace deal that he would destroy the single greatest opportunity Israel, the U.S., and the world have ever had to put an end to the Muslim Brotherhood-Iranian bloc in the region?
Israel had resisted Biden’s efforts to accept the very same deal since May 2024. They did so because they were waiting for Trump to get in. They assumed, mistakenly, that Trump would support their war efforts and goals.
By pressuring Israel, to accept this horrible deal, President Trump has given Hamas a new lease on life. He has rewarded the Palestinians for starting the war. Gaza will now be rebuilt and they will receive tremendous amounts of aid and investment. Did they deserve this? Furthermore, Hamas could have ended the war at any time: through unconditional surrender, laying down of arms, and acceptance of military occupation by Israel over Gaza – as occurred with the Allied occupation of Nazi Germany and Japan at the end of World War II.
The emphasis on the hostages is also frayed. They (and their families) are victims, cruelly captured, tortured, with many killed, and now used as pawns to further Hamas’s cause and manipulate Israel, the U.S., and the world. But is their suffering greater than that of the more than 400 young Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza and their families, or the more than 15,000 wounded in that war, many with disabling and permanent injuries.
This ceasefire deal is a victory for Joe Biden, the Democratic party, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Qatar and their many anti-Semitic supporters around the world including in western cities and college campuses. Hamas now is celebrating this unexpected gift from a leader generally and properly regarded as a friend of Israel, a modern-day Cyrus, the greatest friend that Israel and the Jewish people have ever had. This war should have secured Gaza, ended the terrorist threat, returned Gaza to Israel, with a full military occupation. Ideally, the Palestinians should be resettled elsewhere, as occurs often in war.
Israel and its supporters expected more from President Trump. The disastrous ceasefire is a strategic defeat for Israel at precisely the moment that should have been their greatest victory. The irony is tragic. As Israel was expecting strong support by Trump in their titanic struggle against Islamic terror, they were handed, in effect, Biden’s deal. It is also Hamas’s deal. And now it is Trump’s deal.
We appreciate the many good things President Trump is doing for the country and the world, including sealing the border, deporting illegal aliens, restoring the economy, dismantling the deep state, ending lawfare, winding down the war in Ukraine, and eliminating DEI, among many other things. We respect his courage and incredible comeback to win the presidency a second term against a hostile and corrupt bureaucracy, legal system, and media, and against all odds. While we appreciate the many good things President Trump is doing for the country and the world – we note that this is not one of them. This is a betrayal of Israel and the Jewish people.
Dr. Richard Moss, a physician in the town of Jasper in Dubois County, is the author of “A Surgeon’s Odyssey” and “Matilda’s Triumph” available on amazon.com. Contact him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
