The two-year war that Hamas began on Oct. 7, 2023, is over. As with the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025, the United States backed its ally, called time on the fighting, and shaped a decisive victory. Israel fought a war on seven fronts and achieved all of its war aims: the return of its hostages, the destruction of Hamas as a military force, and international agreement on excluding Hamas from Gaza’s postwar governance. President Donald Trump has restored American primacy in the Middle East. The U.S. is once again the regional arbiter in the center of the global chessboard.

“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,” Trump told Israel’s parliament in Jerusalem on Oct. 13. “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. I believe that so strongly. This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East.”

While Israelis celebrated the recovery of the last 20 living hostages from 738 days of torture in Hamas captivity, and Palestinians in Gaza celebrated the release of 250 terrorists serving life sentences and another 1,700 post-Oct. 7 security threats, Trump flew to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh for a press conference called the Peace Conference.

Most of the peacemakers had provided material or political support to Hamas during the war. Turkey and Qatar had openly backed Hamas and negotiated on its behalf. Apart from Prime Ministers Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Viktor Orban of Hungary, the European states had disgraced themselves. Britain, France, Canada, and Australia had sanctioned Israel for defending itself, abetted a global campaign of delegitimization by deferring to the kangaroo verdicts of international courts, and then, when it was clear that Israel was going to win, recognized an imaginary Palestinian state. 

The prize for unhinged grandstanding to a domestic audience goes to Pedro Sanchez of Spain. The corruption-wracked socialist prime minister regretted his country’s inability to threaten Israel with nuclear weapons. Sanchez was among the 27 representatives who hurried to Sharm el Sheikh and avowed their love of peace. They included leaders from eight Muslim states (Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan) plus Mahmoud Abbas, the addled kleptocrat who leads the Palestinian Authority. The major and minor Europeans were there, as well as unelected nonentities such as the head of FIFA, the global soccer federation, and a small gray man who claimed to be the prime minister of Canada. 

Only Trump can convene so many leaders at short notice. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not there. Rumor had it that he was invited that morning, then disinvited at Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s insistence. Netanyahu’s people insisted that he wasn’t going anyway: The summit overlapped with this year’s Simchat Torah, and Israeli prime ministers avoid travel and work on religious holidays. Another key player in what happens next, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was also missing.

That left Trump as the only winner. He enjoyed his victory lap. After the........

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