To grasp the magnitude of this moment, it's worth recalling President Trump's previous visit to Israel.
That was in May 2017, just four months after he entered the White House for the first time. At the time, Donald Trump was under attack from almost every Western leader, derided as an unrestrained president avenging himself on political correctness. Most saw him as "a mistake of history," something democracy would "fix" after four years.
During that visit, following meetings at the President's Residence, a summit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a prayer at the Western Wall, Trump met in Bethlehem with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. In hindsight, that meeting is now seen as a last greeting from the old diplomatic conception, one Trump has since dismantled, brick by brick.
After returning to Washington, he quickly recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, moved the US Embassy there, and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights — three steps every previous US president had avoided and feared to take.
If in 2017 Trump was "a mistake of history," in 2025 he is history in the making. He is its driving force. Today, he leads every global summit as the head of the world's greatest power — a title that, only 11 months ago, was questioned in relation to the US. Now, every Western leader stands behind him, without doubt or debate.
Trump understands the spirit of the times, that compells us to establish a new social order, to adopt new concepts of politics, diplomacy, and pragmatism. He recognizes that the Western world, rigid and trapped for years in a cognitive maze, numbed by the fear of free thought, needs mirrors placed before it — so that perhaps it may finally realize that its own reflection is paralyzed and distorted.
Just direct truth
That is how one must understand President Trump's humor, his willingness to break every protocol, his disdain for ceremonial rules, his businesslike view of international politics, and his ease in speaking about everything — from his daughter and son-in-law's marriage to a potential pardon for Netanyahu. That is how one should assess the extraordinary personality of President Donald Trump: a man who understands that yesterday's answers are irrelevant in today's world. He knows there's no point in fighting over the past — the future must be shaped instead.
Only three weeks ago, Trump stood at the forefront of the struggle for Israel at the UN General Assembly — a disgraceful display in which the world spoke of a Palestinian state but offered nothing toward a new order in the Middle East.
At that moment, Trump did not hesitate to clarify that he was "on Israel's side," a direct response to the leader of the old conception, French President Emmanuel Macron. In Trump's diplomatic playbook there are no lies, no warped status quo, no euphemisms — only direct truth, for better or worse, and in practice, mostly for the better.
On the night of Simchat Torah, it seemed as though a masterful director had timed reality itself into a climactic moment: as Air Force One touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport, a split screen showed Israeli hostages emerging from the hell of Gaza. Exactly two years later, on Simchat Torah — the holiday we feared would become the saddest day on the Jewish calendar — it instead became one of redemption.
"Against all odds, we did the impossible," Trump said in his address to the Knesset. It is now clear that only those who believe everything is possible, can accomplish the impossible.
