What Just Happened?

Serious Flaws In Trump's Peace Plan May Be Deadly

President Trump Unveils a Plan for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement Between Israel and the Palestinians Source: WikiMedia Common

On June 9, 2017 Donald Trump gave a speech in the White House Rose Garden in which he called on Qatar to stop funding terror. He correctly asserted that “The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.”

On October 18, 2025, while aboard Air Force One, Trump said that the Emir of Qatar is “an amazing man” while saying that “Qatar is very brave” and that “Qatar should start getting some credit.”

When asked whether Qatar had changed since 2017 when Trump accused it of funding terrorism, the response of the President of the United States of America was: “I don’t know.” Then he called Qatar “amazing.”

So while Donald may “not know,” I do know. Qatar is a major funder of Islamic terror, and specifically of Hamas. They have been providing millions to Hamas for years. In fact, the only nation that was more instrumental in arming and funding Hamas was Iran.

Full disclosure: I voted for Trump twice. I did not vote for him the first time because he had been a lifelong Democrat, was unproven, and I doubted his ability to actually govern the United States. I vocally supported him throughout his first term, and both bids for reelection. So you can leave the stupid, intellectually lazy and pathetic, accusations of “TDS” at the door.

Al Jazeera, which spreads nothing but lies about Jews and Israel 24 hours a day, is also an arm of the Qatari government. Their malfeasance isn’t limited to terrorism, they are instrumental in the radicalization of millions who are now engaged in worldwide activities involving antisemitism and the denigration of Israel.

Yet in April of 2025, a year and a half after the genocide of October 7, 2023, the Trump organization made a deal with the Qataris for a multi-million dollar golf resort and eighteen-hole golf course. Because what better resort experience is there than catching some rays in the lap of the world’s second largest sponsor of terror?

The following month, Trump visited Saudia Arabia (where he is also building a golf course), Qatar, and Syria (where he praised the head of Syria, a former member of Al Qaeda). During that trip, it was announced that the United States government, headed by the Trump administration, would be accepting a $400 million dollar 747 from Qatar to be used as the next Air Force One. Trump defended the decision to accept the plane by saying “You know, we’re the United States of America. I believe that we should have the most impressive plane.”

So when I heard that Tump’s plan to “end” the war in Gaza included Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt as key players – I assumed that this deal would fail, and it would be so flawed that the ultimate loser in all of this would be Israel.

The most obvious positive of the deal was that, B”H, we got our hostages back. I am thrilled, and there is no denying that their return was an apex moment for Jews around the world, especially in Israel where friends and family of hostages are everywhere

But there are negatives, most obviously: Israel agreed to release 2,000 Arab prisoners, 250 of which are convicted murderers. I can’t believe that I even need to say this, but Israel made that same mistake when it agreed to a prisoner swap for Galid Shalit. That group of prisoners included Yahya Sinwar, the planner of 10/7.

I am not going to get into the debate over whether it is moral to release murders to free hostages, that is a decision for the rabbis to make, and I can see both sides. But when Israel has done this in the past, and not just in the Shalit exchange, thousands of Jews died as a result.

I don’t understand how Israel plans to stop hostage taking in the future when it has worked out so well for Arabs for decades.

While the current deal did not include the release of top scumbags like Marwan Barghouti and Abbas al-Sayed, it did include Imad Qawasmeh who was serving 16 life sentences for a 2004 attack that resulted in the murders of 16 Israelis in Beersheva, and Qassem Aref Khalil al-Asafreh, involved in the murder of yeshiva student Dvir Sorek, in Gush Etzion. Sorek was only 18. Sadly, there are many more.

As Joshua Hoffman insightfully pointed out recently, there is a much larger issue – “The West’s continuing failure to understand the ideological nature of its enemy….Islamist movements like Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood — and their patrons in Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran — do not see the world through the same lens as the West. They reject every value the West represents: democracy, pluralism, individual rights, compromise…Much of the West still clings to the fantasy that Islamist factions can be coaxed into moderation with incentives, recognition, or international oversight. But Islamists only see such gestures as weakness to be exploited.”

It is obvious to anyone who has lived through the rise of Islamism over the last 50 years that there is no such thing as negotiating with people like this. Which is exactly why I always found the slogan “Free Gaza from Hamas” so juvenile and appalling: did we miss the part about huge numbers of non-Hamas Gazans participating in 10/7, while electing, supporting, and standing by Hamas before, and especially after 10/7?

After Trump’s agreement was signed, which was technically a conditional agreement, not a final end to hostilities, many people asserted that the “war was over,” and even more absurdly (and childishly) that Trump had “brought peace to the Middle East.”

The Speaker of the Knesset even compared Trump to King Cyrus, which is absurd for multiple reasons. The least of which is that the Jews under King Cyrus had no homeland of their own, and he controlled their ability to return to Judea. Now we have a state, in our land: we are sovereign.

So, the hyperbole surrounding the agreement was massive. Predictably, the deal’s flaws became apparent very quickly.

Notably, despite the claim that Hamas was supposedly done as a fighting force (which was retroactively portrayed as the fulfillment of a war goal, when the goal was ALWAYS the utter destruction of Hamas), they have continued to fight, and again predictably, immediately murdered two IDF soldiers.

Israel’s response was the usual series of strikes, the predictable resumption of aid, and ridiculous statements that it had somehow restored the ceasefire. An agreement its enemies obviously have no use for, and no desire to abide by.

Hamas has also not returned the bodies of murdered hostages, a key feature of the deal. Instead of condemning it, the White House denied that it was even a violation of the deal.

Incredible.

A more key feature of the deal was Hamas’ agreement to disarm. Spoiler: they have not disarmed. At all.

In fact, only three provisions of the 20 point plan have been fulfilled: one was the return of the living hostages, but the other two, releasing terrorists, and agreeing not to push Gazans to emigrate, were wins for Hamas, and concessions from Israel.

Trump also granted permission, albeit supposedly temporary, for Hamas to police Gaza. Per his words, “because they want to stop the problems.” Giving them permission to “police” when they are supposed to be disarming is a dichotomy that even a five-year-old can understand.

The president has also issued MULTIPLE (at least 10) warnings to Hamas, particularly regarding their refusal to disarm, and their murder spree while reasserting power in Gaza. Hamas isn’t listening.

It was ALWAYS obvious that Hamas should have been forced to adhere to the deal before Israel conceded anything. Especially now that we know, according to Vice-President J.D. Vance, that the U.S. knew that there was no process in place to disarm Hamas.

Equally suspect, Hamasniks will apparently be given amnesty if they promise to be very very good boys. Only a fool would believe that a terrorist group responsible for the most vile crimes seen in centuries - would disarm because they said they would.

In fact Hamas, supposedly vanquished as both active fighting force and a threat, still has 20,000 members (to put that in perspective, Israel says that it has killed 20,000 throughout the entire war) and hundreds of missiles. Also, its leaders are not only living safely in Qatar, but will remain safe thanks to Trump’s executive order ensuring that the United States “shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.” So, while neo-isolationist Vance promised that no U.S. soldiers would ever step foot in Israel to defend it, it is now possible that they would do so to defend Qatar.

That is in addition to the announcement that Qatari pilots would be training on F-15s, utilizing a new facility being built specifically for them, at a U.S. base in Idaho. You can guess who the Qataris envision using that training against.

Moreover, the deal’s defenders claim that the deal also calls for Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to step in to destroy Hamas if they refuse to adhere to the deal. That’s like asking a wolf to keep a chicken safe by killing the fox trying to kill the chicken. In other words: this is absurd, and inexplicably naïve.

If those nations have personnel present to “destroy,” or even control Hamas, then how is Israel supposed to act militarily, if necessary, in those areas if the Arabs fail to do the job? The same is true for the civilian workers coming into Gaza to rebuild - each is essentially a human shield, making it less likely that Israel will be able to act.

How do we know that these forces, whether Turkish, Egyptian, Qatari or Gazan won’t be used against the IDF? If that does occur, will Trump claim it was not Hamas who attacked, and therefore try to block Israel from retaliating? Or, will the United States brand them “rogue elements,” and therefore not punish the perpetrators, as was the case when the two IDF soldiers were murdered.

Lastly, and possibly the most dire for Israel’s future is that Trump seems to have extracted an agreement from Israel not only to not annex any part of Gaza, but also not to annex Judea and Samaria. Democrats, who have been overwhelming hostile to Israel, especially post-10/7, are fully in support of that stance, and have encouraged him to “reinforce” that position.

Trump himself even threatened to pull all support from Israel if it goes forward with annexation. Do I even have to point out here that this is not, remotely, the act of a friend?

In fact, since the agreement was signed, America’s sole priority has been to preserve the ceasefire, not for Israel to emerge as the clear winner in this conflict. Examples have been common since the signing, but the most recent is America’s apparent pressure resulting in Israel agreeing to allow isolated Hamas terrorists to rejoin its main fighting force if they first give up their weapons. Which means, obviously, that they will potentially live to fight another day, and would merely need to acquire new weapons.

It is extremely short-sighted, and that is the kindest way that I can describe it.

None of this is descriptive of anything that resembles a “victory.” When the U.S. assisted Israel in its operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier in the year, Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” (while defending his order to Israel to not kill Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei). Iran obviously didn’t agree to anything resembling that in the end. Similarly, after two years of threats to “destroy Hamas” – it continues to exist as a fighting force, a threat, and as murderers of Jews. In fact, because the agreement contains provisions to rebuild Gaza, again by Turks, Egyptians and Qataris - their recovery seems well on its way.

The only way to end evil is to destroy it. How did we not learn that lesson EVEN after 10/7?

Never be afraid. Never give up.

Am Yisrael chai.

This article originally appeared in Orange County Jewish Life.

Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, former editor and current columnist for Orange County Jewish Life, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing, and dedicated to the principle of free speech.