He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

Isaiah 61:1

These were the first thoughts I had when I saw the images and heard the news that a cease-fire had been agreed to between Hamas and Israel. The two-year war had come to an end. Finally, they can all go home.

I am very happy with these developments and proud of President Trump and the United States for being a big part of making it all happen. It seems to me he significantly leveraged the United States unique relationship with Israel along with an honest desire to end the suffering of the people in Gaza. We should celebrate this and be happy. Even if you are not a Trump supporter, Republican, or if you protested Israel or vehemently agreed with their prosecution of the war — regardless of your stance on things this is a huge deal that allows for things to get better.

From the beginning of this war, I have tried to look at it historically. One reality of history is Hamas brought this on themselves, and it is a culmination of generational hatred that goes back to the founding of the modern state of Israel. There is not time to repeat all the history here, but the way I read it, what we have seen for the last two years is primarily because the Palestinians refused to live side by side with Jews in 1948.

There was no way Hamas thought they could defeat Israel on October 7, 2023. Their hope, and their plan, was to initiate the tension with Israel and drag Iran, Hezbollah, Syria and other bad actors into the conflict into a regional war. It almost worked, but Israel withstood. One reason it withstood is Iran is incredibly weak now because it has overreached and its own population is near rebellion. Another reason it failed is because radical Islam is shrinking. People my age still stand in fear of damage that was done on September 11, 2001 and in many other terrorists activities for the last thirty years in places like Paris, the UK, and Copenhagen. And sure, they can still do some damage but they have no where near the power they had, say, in 2005, although I think they are in our head.

Hamas’ plan on October 7 was also to force something, anything, because Israel had been boxing them in, essentially putting all of Gaza in a giant open air prison. It caused desperation, and desperate people do desperate things.

Historically, as well, we must look at Israel. I strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself, yet we all turn in horror at the bombing of hospitals thinking of the terrible brutality, only to shake our heads that Israeli intelligence was right, and there were tunnels and supplies and weapons underneath those hospitals. Before the west, especially places like the United States, England, and France judge too harshly the Israelis, it must remember Dresden, Hamburg, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima where indiscriminate bombings of civilian populations devastated untold numbers. Egypt shares a border with Gaza and could have welcomed the refugees with open arms. They, in large, did not.

The very difficult truth is the Palestinians have made, right or wrong, themselves so odious to the international community no one wants them.

Nevertheless, history will judge Israel harshly for its zealous over-prosecution of the war, just as it has judged George W. Bush harshly for his zealous invasion of Iraq. It was too much of a response. Israel over-reacted, and many of its people know this to be true, which is why Israel herself is still divided. They wasted much of the goodwill the world felt toward them with the desire for revenge. Likewise, Hamas wasted a lot of the world’s sentiment that they were being ill-treated when, a year ago, it stubbornly refused to release hostages and end the war.

And that is what I hope ended with this cease fire, revenge. It is not until each side stops seeking revenge for wrongs or perceived wrongs that actual peace will be achieved. It is not until fathers love their living children more than they love their dead brothers or dead children, or until politicians decide to care about their nation’s future more than the slights of the past, not until the future becomes more important than the past will there actually be peace.

And now I think on peace. A good friend of mine texted me about this development, and my response was, ‘is it really peace, though?’ It feels more like surrender, because Hamas is not able to wage war, fight, or even plot. Actually, when I see video of the destruction that has happened in Gaza, it reminds me of the old Latinism from my college days.

‘Carthago delenda est’ – Carthage must be destroyed.

The Elder Cato.

Israel has sown salt and now calls it peace.

Without a doubt, Gaza is destroyed. Hamas is gone. What happens now? Can it last, or will a new generation of young, angry, Palestinians seek revenge? Will it last, or will Israel bring in the bulldozers and take what she has long coveted? Does the future hold a Trump Hotel and Casino on the shores of the Mediterranean as he famously celebrated with a gold statue AI video?

Things have changed, and right now they seem better. History, though, makes me cynical, for I remember Clinton and the Oslo Accords where Rabin, Arafat, and Clinton supposedly fixed all this in 1993. It was perhaps the most awkward handshake in history.

History never goes away. It doesn’t repeat itself either. Nor does it rhyme. What happens is that people forget history and they just keep making the same mistakes. History wants to teach us. Will we learn?