SHAPIRO: The will to win and Donald Trump carry Israel to victory

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It has been a long time since a Western country won a war.

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It can now be said that Israel won the war against Iran and its proxies in the Middle East with the help of the United States and, in particular, US President Donald Trump.

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On October 7, 2023, the genocidal terrorist group Hamas invaded Israel's borders and killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly Jews. They kidnapped 250 Israelis and took them back to the hellholes of their terrorist tunnel. These tunnels, as well as Hamas's vast arsenal of rockets, grenades and small arms, were built over 20 years with support and funding from countries in the region, including Iran, Qatar and Turkey.

On that terrible day, Israel did more than just confront Hamas. It faced a similarly genocidal and much better armed Iranian terrorist proxy on its northern border with Hezbollah, which had hundreds of thousands of missiles, tens of thousands of which were equipped with targeting technology. Over the next months, northern Israel will be cleared of civilians due to drone attacks and rockets sent from Lebanon. Israel also faces an ongoing terrorist threat from Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Judea and Samaria, the so-called West Bank; Syria, which was used as a route to deliver Iranian weapons to Hezbollah; Iran-backed Iraqi terrorist groups; Houthis in Yemen; and the Iranian government, which not only spread terrorism but also sought to develop nuclear weapons.

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Two years later, the world has turned upside down.

Israel destroyed Hamas, destroying its entire senior leadership from the Gaza Strip to Iran. Israel destroyed Hezbollah's effectiveness and killed its master of terror Hassan Nasrallah – and its attacks on Hezbollah were so effective that the Assad regime in Syria completely collapsed with little pressure from the Turkish-backed terrorist group HTS. Judea and Samaria calmed down thanks to the actions of the IDF. Iranian proxies in Iraq have also remained silent. The Houthis in Yemen have been heavily bombed – and while they remain a nuisance, they pose no real threat. And Iran's nuclear program was set back by years, if not decades, thanks to the courage of the Israeli Air Force and Trump's timely and bold intervention.

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And now Trump has struck an impossible deal to release the last 20 living Israeli hostages, while Israel maintains a secure position in the Gaza Strip; the possibility of a Hamas-free Gaza future with the support of regional allies; and the even greater likelihood of future Abraham Accords with countries such as Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

So how did this happen?

What happened is what always happens in the Middle East: decision-makers ignored conventional wisdom.

A common belief is that military action cannot guarantee security. It wasn't just wrong; this was catastrophically wrong. It was military action that destroyed the pillars of support under Hamas's feet.

Conventional wisdom holds that the United States should play a kind of neutral role between Israel and its genocidal enemies. It wasn't just wrong; it was idiotically wrong. The Trump administration's open support for Israel's military victory led to actual victory.

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Common wisdom holds that threatening to kill terrorist leaders abroad would be incitement; that was also wrong. It was Israel's willingness to kill the masters of terror in Iran and Qatar that led Qatar and Türkiye to seek the overthrow of Hamas using carrots and sticks under Trump's leadership.

For understanding the Middle East better than all the so-called experts – and the isolationists in his own party who wanted to reject Trump's restrained and rational “Peace through Strength” approach in favor of “Cowardice through Catastrophism” – Trump certainly deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who fought despite harsh criticism both at home and abroad for the greatest crime of seeking victory over those who wanted to destroy his country, also deserves exceptional praise. The greatest credit goes to the Israeli people, who mobilized in an unprecedented way to defend their nation and their civilization, and to the American people, who provided Israel with the support it needed to ultimately win, both in terms of material assistance and by electing Donald Trump as President of the United States.

Victory is indeed possible. It simply requires a desire to win, a willingness to win, and the insight to brush aside those who promote either dreamy millenarianism or obscure traditional wisdom that fails every time it is attempted.

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