Trump suggests Netanyahu pardon during Israeli parliament address

It was a speech unlike any other president Trump has ever given.

After freeing the Hamas hosts – a moment of pure joy – he spent most of his speech to the Israeli parliament praising others.

There was constant applause at the Knesset in Jerusalem yesterday as Trump invoked “the almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” and then greeted more modern figures.

Bibi Netanyahu. Marco Rubio. Pete Hegseth. Jared Kushner (mentioning that his daughter Ivanka had converted to Judaism to marry him). Various generals. And Steve Witkoff went on and on about the talents of his Middle East envoy and his four-hour meeting with Vladimir Putin.

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The president also said he had received invaluable help from Arab and Muslim nations as he envisioned “peace, God willing, for all eternity.”

All eternity is a long time, and while Trump didn’t exactly land on an aircraft carrier with a George W. Bush-style Mission Accomplished banner, he explicitly said he considers the war over.

Seeing the Israeli images of some of the 20 freed hosts tearfully hugging their families, it was impossible not to be moved. Even when they see it for the second or third time, given the ordeal they have endured. If your heart wasn’t stuck in your throat, you don’t have a heart.

When Trump relaxed and began to improvise, the message was clear: he was the one who had orchestrated this peace agreement. He was also careful to blame the war on the “atrocious” October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists, which caused the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.

Still, Trump couldn’t help but launch partisan attacks against Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

He actually went off script at the end of the hour-long speech by addressing Israel’s president and suggesting that he grant Netanyahu a pardon. Bibi is the defendant in a lengthy corruption trial that has been dragged out in part by the two-year war.

I was one of the first to note last week that Trump’s international peacemaking process stood in stark contrast to his refusal to negotiate with Democrats to end the government shutdown that stretched into its second week. Peace abroad but not at home. But right now the media’s attention is on the Middle East.

When Trump was running out of people to thank, he praised Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid. And he saw Miriam Adelson, the widow of billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and convinced her to stand up, as they regularly visited Trump on behalf of Israel.

You know who praises Trump? Hillary Clinton. Rahm Emanuel. Condoleezza rice. Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan. John Fetterman (You know who doesn’t mention his name? Obama, quoted by CNN).

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Trump even received applause on MSNBC from the likes of Jon Meacham and Ben Rhodes, at least for the short-term victory.

You can test a president from the other party, or from another ideological divide, and still applaud him when he does something that is good for America and the world.

Trump knows very well the difficulties ahead, which is why he left for Egypt to sign the agreement and conduct further negotiations with Arab leaders.

On CNN, on MSNBC, on Fox, which got an exclusive interview with Trump, the tone was pretty much the same: optimistic, festive, full of praise, but also cautious about what comes next, and those are fair journalistic questions.

Some former Israeli officials and journalists said this could have been achieved a year or 18 months ago, but that Netanyahu wanted to keep fighting. Trump agreed that Netanyahu wanted to keep fighting, calling him a difficult man to deal with and forcing him to accept the peace plan by threatening to withdraw. He even forced Bibi to apologize to Qatar for attacking Hamas leaders exiled there. Without almost breaking Bibi’s arm, none of this would have happened.

Look at this: Trump said in Egypt, “I want to thank the media, they’ve been so respectful,” that he had listened to several newscasts on Air Force One, and they had been “all fair.” Oh.

This was during an interview with Fox’s Trey Yingst, who has been my guest so many times. “You’re a real professional, not because it’s good or bad, you’re just really professional,” Trump told him. “It would be great if other people could do what you do because it puts a negative spin” on the news.

Among other things, Trump said he wants to reach a deal with Iran – which would horrify many Israelis – but spoke only briefly about the Peace Council, which he would lead and which would include Arab and European leaders. The United States would contribute 200 troops based outside Gaza.

Answering questions from the press to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Trump projected optimism about Phase 2 of the process. But he knows it’s not easy, to borrow a phrase from a Bush defense adviser, Ken Adelman, whose op-ed in the Washington Post said “A cakewalk in Iraq,” and the resulting quagmire turned out to be anything but.

The question of who will govern Gaza and whether what remains of Hamas will hand over its weapons is up in the air.

The strip has been largely reduced to rubble. What the region needs, more than military guarantees, is money from the richest Arab nations.

With 2 million Palestinians displaced or lost their homes, will housing construction be the top priority? Or will he build hotels to attract tourists? It’s hard to imagine many people vacationing there in the years to come.

Urging Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, Trump said: “Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?”

The prime minister has delayed the trial through delaying tactics and war-related diplomatic measures. He says this is all a left-wing plot against his right-wing government, if that sounds familiar.

Israeli prosecutors say he traded regulatory favors with media bigwigs in exchange for positive coverage, and 140 witnesses, including former aides, have charged him.

In one case, Bibi and his wife Sara are accused of accepting $260,000 worth of luxury items, including cigarettes, champagne and jewelry, in exchange for political favors.

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Urging Herzog to pardon Netanyahu, Israelis were stunned and said that could never happen because if such a pardon were to magically materialize, it would require an admission of guilt from the prime minister.

Look, the 47th president says and does a lot of things that are strange, self-serving, hyper-partisan, infuriating, or questioning the facts.

Here is an example from Truth Social:

“FBI BIDEN PLACED 274 AGENTS AMONG THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. If this is so, and it is, a lot of very good people are owed a big apologies. What a SCAM – TWO SOMETHING!!! President DJT.”

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The problem? There There was no Biden FBI on January 6, 2021: Trump was still president! It’s hard to see how he could have made that mistake.

Still, Trump talks about a “golden age for Israel and the Middle East,” which is a great goal. No other president could have accomplished this and he richly deserves the praise. But the broader goal, long-term peace in the volatile region, remains a dream for now.