President Trump’s perfect world | Israel National News

Dream on, was all I could say during the press conference between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu, pre-Yom Kippur….

…When our minds were mostly on the High Holy Day, and his message was taken half seriously by the Israelis, who have heard this song before.

In America, which means New York City, we believe…we believe…we believe the New York Yankees shall inherit the earth.

Netanyahu mostly listened as Trump put forth an ambitious and optimistic 20-point program to end the fighting in Gaza.

Sounds good, as good as Neville Chamberlain’s “peace for our time,” Sept. 30, 1938, when men of goodwill didn’t see what’s coming less than a year later.

I say, good, let the optimists prevail…until reality sets in.

Trump’s program begins with a direct message to Hamas…72 hours, to release all the hostages, starting Sunday evening.

They say okay, with conditions. Trump chooses to trust them, says they want peace.

Some of us, those of us who do not live in Trump’s perfect world, remain far more skeptical overall.

Anyway, haven’t we already watched this movie dozens of times over the past two years? it is called Cinderella.

My guess, as a realist; Hamas will come back with counter offers.

That is just my guess, though surely Trump knows better, from his belief in the goodness of humanity, for which he deserves heaps of credit.

It has gotten him far, this rosy approach to the world’s problems…though this time, I don’t know.

If Trump does get Hamas to comply with this first hurdle, the hostages, there are many more jumps to go before anyone can say mazel tov.

For this too is troubling. According to the plan, Israel is to release 250 terrorists that have been imprisoned for any number of dirty deeds against Israelis.

Did nobody else notice this?

Excuse me for saying so in polite company, but this is hot-damn outrageous and should have been a deal-breaker from the word go.

Absolutely no way should this have been acceptable. How did Israel get put on the spot as a beggar?

Since when does Israel owe Hamas anything…or the PA, or Fatah, or the PLO?

But that is an old Israeli habit…making concessions, if you remember…land for peace…terrorists for peace…even Jerusalem.

So here we go again, Israel the lesser among the nations, often through its own inferiority complex.

It gets no better…in this world where Israel usually gets offered the short end of the stick.

Because guess who’s coming to dinner?

Guess who’s coming, under the plan, to boss the Jewish State?

Tony Blair and other Brits and even other Europeans and even other UN members are slated to help Arab technocrats with the task of disarming Hamas.

In Trump’s perfect world, they will be coming to Israel as friends. No chance that they will be abusing Israel’s hospitality…in Trump’s perfect world.

What of Israel’s territorial integrity…Gaza a doorstep away, infiltrated by people who, in many cases, would rather be disarming the Jewish State.

Israel, then, is expected to stand back as people less than trustworthy trample its good earth.

On top of that, the Israelis are to leave Gaza, and never go back. The place is to be run by a group of international landlords.

Did I read that right?

If so, the same people who snubbed Netanyahu only a few weeks ago at the UN are expected to put their grudges aside and play fair.

Such is the plan likely concocted by advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Trump means well. Trouble is…the Israelis do not live in a perfect world.

Now available, a collection of Jack Engelhard’s op-eds, “Writings.”

Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. New from the novelist, the anti-BDS thriller Compulsive. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

From the esteemed John w. Cassell: “Jack Engelhard is a writer without peer, and the. conscience of us all.”