48 | NOVEMBER 14 • 2024 
J
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F

or months on the campaign 
trail, Donald Trump has 
said he wants the war in 
Gaza to end — even reportedly 
setting a timeline for Israel to 
finish its campaign against Hamas 
in the Palestinian territory by his 
inauguration. 
He also warned at the Republican 
convention that if Hamas does not 
release its hostages before Jan. 20, it 
will pay “a very big price.”
But with Trump’s landslide 
victory and possible control of 
both houses of Congress, will his 
campaign vow translate into real-
world results? And will it deliver on 
the return of the hostages — one 
goal shared across Israelis and Jews 
of all political persuasions?
The answers depend, according 
to experts on Middle East policy, 
on specifics that Trump has not yet 
offered; on Israeli Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces 
pressures that extend well beyond 
Trump; and, to a certain degree, on 
the definitions of the words “war” 
and “end.”

Multiple analysts said they 
expected fighting to continue 
in some form despite Trump’s 
warnings.
Mark Dubowitz, the president 
of the Foundation for the Defense 
of Democracies, which favors a 
confrontational posture in dealing 
with Iran and its proxies, said he 
believed Trump understood that 
Israel would continue to engage 
militarily with its enemies. In a 
call with Netanyahu before the 
latest Israeli strike on Iran, Trump 
reportedly told the prime minister, 
“Do what you have to do.”
“I don’t think the incoming 
Trump administration is under 
any delusions that ‘ending the war’ 
essentially means no continued 
Israeli operations in Gaza or in 
southern Lebanon or against Iran,” 
Dubowitz said. “I think what 
[Trump is] talking about are major 
ground operations in Lebanon and 
major ground operations in Gaza.”
Shira Efron is senior director of 
policy research at the Israel Policy 
Forum, an organization that seeks 

the establishment of a Palestinian 
state alongside Israel. “The war in 
Gaza, the intensive fighting, ended 
months ago — what we have now is 
a counterinsurgency,” she said.
“Israel could say, ‘OK, we ended 
the war in Gaza, but we are staying 
here for, I don’t know, 10 years until 
we can hand it over to a trusted 
partner,
’” she said. “
And this is 
something that Trump might be fine 
with.
”
Efron noted that Joe Biden and 
Kamala Harris have been specific 
in outlining how they want the 
war to end. That solution includes 
a release of the hostages and a 
surge of humanitarian assistance to 
Palestinians in Gaza. In contrast, 
she said, “I’m not sure that we 
know where Trump and his folks 
are going to be,” Efron said. 

POSITIONS ARE UNCLEAR
Whether Trump would count the 
war as having ended if there are 
ongoing military operations in 
Gaza and Lebanon is unclear. As 
with many aspects of his agenda, 

Post-Election Speculation

Could Trump end the war and bring the hostages home?

RON KAMPEAS JTA

ELECTION 2024

I

sraeli President Isaac Herzog 
on Nov. 7 congratulated U.S. 
President-elect Donald Trump on 
his “overwhelming victory,” wishing 
him and his administration success.
The Israeli head of state “thanked 
President Trump for his longstand-
ing steadfast friendship and support 
for Israel,” according to a statement 
from the President’s Residence in 
Jerusalem. Herzog also “expressed 
his confidence that President Trump 
would continue to work tirelessly to 
promote peace and security for Israel 
and the broader Middle East.”
Herzog stressed to Trump the 
“urgent need” to secure the return of 
the 101 hostages still held by Hamas 
terrorists in Gaza for almost 400 days, 
including Americans, due to their 
“unimaginable cruelty and suffering.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
was among the first world leaders to 
congratulate Trump on his election 
victory during a phone call on Nov. 6.
The conversation, which lasted 
some 20 minutes, was described by 
Jerusalem as “warm and cordial.” The 
two were said to have “agreed to 
work together for Israel’s security and 
discussed the Iranian threat.”
Earlier that day, the Israeli premier 
hailed Trump’s “historic return” to 
the White House. The Republican 
candidate’s landslide win “offers a 
new beginning for America and a 
powerful recommitment to the great 
alliance between Israel and America,” 
Netanyahu said. 

Herzog Hails 
Trump’s Support

JNS

Then-President Donald Trump and then-
opposition leader Isaac Herzog at the Israel 
Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, May 23, 2017. 

HAIM ZACH/GPO/JTA

Then-President Donald 
Trump and Prime Minister 
of Israel Benjamin 
Netanyahu participate in 
a meeting in the White 
House, Sept. 15, 2020.

DOUG MILLS/POOL/GETTY IMAGES/JTA

