by Lazar Berman and Sam Sokol at The Times of Israel
President praises Netanyahu for not ‘going kill, kill, kill’; says release of hostages marks ‘historic dawn’, urges Palestinians to abandon terror, prods Iran to open ties with Israel
US President Donald Trump declared “the historic dawn of the new Middle East” in a triumphant address before the Knesset on Monday, as the final 20 living hostages were released from Gaza under a US-brokered ceasefire deal.
Trump said it marked “not only the end of war, but the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God.”
He told the lawmakers that Israel had no more to achieve on the battlefield and must work toward peace in the Middle East, and said he would deliver a similar message to regional leaders in Egypt later in the day.
The president pressed Israel to look past the war, saying it had achieved all it could “by force of arms.”
“You’ve won. I mean, you’ve won,” he said. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”…
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