EDITORIAL: Trump’s tough talk spurs a hostage deal in the Middle East

Donald Trump’s imminent return is already paying dividends on the world stage.

On Wednesday, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage deal. While details could change, reports indicate Hamas will release 33 hostages being held in Gaza. In exchange, Israel has agreed to give up 100 prisoners with life sentences, according to NBC News. Israel will also release 1,000 Palestinians prisoners who didn’t participate in the Oct. 7 massacre.

This deal comes at a major cost. Israeli officials believe that some of the 33 hostages are dead. The prisoner exchange rate Israel agreed to is high. It’s a massive injustice to exchange criminals for innocent civilians. Any ceasefire gives Hamas a chance to refortify its defenses and rally its beleaguered forces. Negotiating with terrorists incentivizes them to take hostages in the future.

It’s unclear what will happen once Hamas returns these hostages. The deal calls for continued talks over a more permanent end to the fighting. It’s worth remembering why this negotiation has been so contentious. Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the map and kill as many Jews as possible. After the unprovoked Oct. 7 attack, there’s a greater understanding in Israel that Hamas must not be allowed to reconstitute and govern the Gaza Strip.

President Joe Biden rushed to take credit for the deal, noting it was “the precise contours” the plan he laid out on May 31. It is the result not only of a “changed regional equation,” Mr. Biden said in a statement, “but also of dogged and painstaking American diplomacy. My diploma(ts) never ceased in their efforts to get this done.”

That spin isn’t based on reality. If Mr. Biden was responsible, this agreement would have happened last summer. But Mr. Trump has changed the incentives. He has said for weeks that “all hell will break out” if Hamas didn’t release hostages before he returns to office. That warning — and the certainty that Mr. Trump meant it — created obvious incentives for a badly weakened Hamas to take a deal now.

In fact, Israel is in a relative position of strength now only because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored Mr. Biden’s advice time and time again,

Mr. Biden and others in the Washington establishment fail to recognize that diplomacy is a tool, not the goal. And it’s a lot easier to have one’s opponents interested in diplomatic solutions if they think the alternative is their complete and utter destruction.

Mr. Trump has written extensively about leverage. It’s good the country will soon have a president who’s willing to use it. And if Hamas continues to hold hostages or power when this deal runs its course, Mr. Trump must once again turn the screws on the terrorists.