Does Trump care more about the hostages than...

Any number of other people? (Fill in the blank as creatively as you wish.)

Sometimes when I am trying to quiet down to sleep at night I get hit with a sort of film version of suffering in the world. From that which is near me, in my own neighborhood, to that which is happening in the tunnels of hell in Gaza and in the hearts of Israelis as they watch their own come out starved and looking like Holocaust survivors.

I cuddle my beloved kitty, pray, and thank G-d for all the blessings I have. I ask for him to bring peace and somehow lessen the pain these people must be feeling. I try to calm down and get some restful sleep so I can live on to do important work in my tiny corner of the world, attempting to help those I can.

Yet I do not want to close my mind off to the pain that so many of my American friends seem to be completely unmoved by. Eli Sharabi who did not know for the entire time he was in captivity, October 7, 2023 to February 8, 2025, that his wife, two daughters and even the family dog had been murdered by Hamas. He was forced by Hamas to read a statement saying that he looked forward to being reunited with his wife and daughters. They laughed when they told him that his brother had been murdered while a hostage. The Bibas children and their mother are still not back, and we fear they are dead, yet somehow their father must go on. Brutal, carefully scripted and staged psychological torture is Hamas’ special brand, flanked by thousands of obviously not starving, obviously not so innocent Gazans.

I read a lot of Israel news and Israeli blogs. They definitely care. I also read a lot of American news and American blogs, Jewish and other. There is much that I don’t write about because I feel it’s already been either well enough said, said so terribly that I can’t even reason with it, or both. No need to keep repeating the same things.

I read a lot of outrage about Trump’s statements that he would take over Gaza. My friend Arnie in Israel responded to my text about this with, “Trump says a lot of things. Let’s see what he actually does.” This strikes me as wise.

Trump has said all hell will break lose if the hostages are not returned on Saturday. Do I think this will cause the hostages to be returned? I fear it will not. But it shows that finally an American leader is putting the interests of the Israeli hostages above appeasing Hamas and the radical leftist wing of the Democratic Party. He’s changing the terms of the dialogue, something he is very good at. I am not always happy at the terms he changes them to, but I note his ability to change the discourse, fast.

It’s about time someone prioritized the people who were kidnapped from their homes and tortured, watched their loved ones murdered (even the pets!), and starved for close to 500 days.

A short way to put Trump’s recent pronouncements may be, “A terrorist organization will no longer dictate the terms of engagement in the Middle East.”

Maybe he will be successful in ending the decades old violence, maybe not. I suspect he will make more progress than those who think that Israel being attacked by terrorists on a regular, constant basis is fine, status quo, and can continue indefinitely.

Again, I do not agree with or support much of what Trump is doing in this country. One can support a leader on some policies and not others.

I’m just glad to see that a world leader actually cares about the hostages. Which is more than I can say for… any number of other people.