WATCH VIDEO: Elated, Israelis also fear Hamas will blow up the deal, not release our hostages & not surrender – what does Trump know that we don’t?
Exclusive interview with Israeli journalist Yaakov Katz
DENVER, COLORADO — With all the breaking news coming out of Washington and Jerusalem and Cairo, Israelis are elated.
Some are literally dancing in the streets at the prospect that every single Israeli hostage – 20 living and 28 deceased – might really all be home by Monday or Tuesday.
But every Israeli also fears that something will go terribly, terribly wrong.
That Hamas will blow up the deal at the last minute.
That the Iranian regime – or Tehran’s other terror proxies – might find a way to derail the hostage release and rob the joy and relief that every Israeli desperately wants to feel.
To be sure, Israelis love President Donald J. Trump and they are overjoyed by how hard he’s been working to get the hostages home, force Hamas to surrender, and end this war once and for all.
So, they want to believe Trump’s 20-point peace deal is going to work.
After all, he’s has done so much for Israel, from being the first American president to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel – and keep his promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv – to brokering the Abraham Accords to brokering the last huge deal to release Israeli hostages in January to bombing and destroying the last three Iranian nuclear sites back in June.
Israelis believe in President Trump.
They trust Trump.
It’s Hamas they don’t trust.
It’s Hamas’ political and financial allies in Iran, Qatar, and Turkey they don’t trust.
That’s why Israelis are hedging their bets.
They’re simultaneously thrilled and worried, elated and anxious.
In this video, I interview Yaakov Katz – the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post.
Katz is also the author of the brilliantly reported and absolutely fascinating and must-read new book, "WHILE ISRAEL SLEPT: How Hamas Surprised The Most Powerful Military in the Middle East," to get his insider perspective on all this breaking news, the national mood back in Israel, and his assessment of whether Trump and his team can really deliver in the coming days.
I ask him about how Israel got into this ghastly war in the first place, the very premise of his book, and how Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu – who has always portrayed himself as “Mr. Security” – could have possibly missed all the signals and let Hamas launch the deadliest and most disastrous sneak attack in Israeli history.
I ask him if he thinks Netanyahu will run again when the war is over or whether he will retire on a high note.
Will Israelis forgive Bibi since he has led his nation to stunning victories over the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, and now Hamas?
I also ask Yaakov why he thinks Hamas has chosen to give up all the hostages – their only bargaining chip and source of leverage – at this particular moment.
It’s a wide-ranging and rich conversation – about the horrific mistakes Israel made that led to the war starting, and the shocking moves by Trump that just might bring this war to an end.
And I’m very grateful to Yaakov for his intriguing take on such a huge news day.
Joel C. Rosenberg is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media. A New York Times best-selling author, Middle East analyst, and Evangelical leader, he lives in Jerusalem with his wife and sons.
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