President-elect Donald J. Trump’s unequivocal threat to Hamas is what led to the Gaza ceasefire agreement and the expected phased release of the hostages, an American evangelical leader said on Wednesday.
“Donald Trump is the reason the hostages are going home,” Mike Evans, founder of the Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem, told JNS. “He has succeeded in his objectives.”
Trump had repeatedly declared over the two months since his election that “all hell would break out” if the nearly 100 hostages being held by Hamas were not released by his inauguration on Monday.
The accord announced on Wednesday calls for the release of 33 hostages, both living and dead, over the next six weeks, starting on Sunday, the eve of the U.S. presidential inauguration. President Joe Biden bristled on Wednesday at the idea that Trump’s threats were what caused the agreement to take shape.
The conservative evangelical leader, who is a strong supporter of the president-elect, previously opined that Israel had a strategic opportunity in the months before Trump’s inauguration to attack Iranian oil fields and economically cripple their regime since he does not want to be a wartime leader.
“Trump will not go to war against Iran, because he is an anti-war president,” Evans said. “But he will 100% support an Israeli attack on Iran during his presidency as long as it is done quickly and doesn’t drag on.”
He reiterated his prediction that a historic peace accord with Saudi Arabia will be reached this year, as well as American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.
The Jerusalem museum honoring Christian Zionists is hosting an inauguration event on Monday evening.
