Morning Joe - Breaking: All living Israeli hostages freed

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Breaking: All living Israeli hostages freed Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Good morning and welcome to morning, Joe, on this holiday here in the United States. It is Monday, October 13th. We're still awaiting President Trump's address to the Israeli Parliament. You can see there on your screen some of the other speakers. The president is in the room. We see Prime Minister Netanyahu there. A lot happening on a momentous day. Let's get you caught up on everything that has happened overnight.

Now, all 20 of the remaining living hostages in Gaza have now been. been released by Hamas. Seven of the hostages were released earlier today, escorted by the Red Cross. Photos of the first seven hostages showed them looking pale, but not as thin as some of those who were freed back in January. And then, hours later, the final 13 hostages were released. The Israeli military says those were also turned over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip. Now, later today, Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will attend a summit in the Gaza summit. President Trump also will be there along with two more than two dozen world leaders. We're watching now again, some applause for

the prime minister of Israel there in the Knesset. We're awaiting President Trump's remarks in the moments ahead. We will, of course, bring them to live. Some real applause there as we we can see there on your screen. Let's now bring in some of our best experts to help us sift through this important day. President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard Haas is here, U.S. Special correspondent for BBC News,

and the host of the Restis Politics podcast, Katty K, columnist, and associate editor for the Washington Post, David Ignatians, and Rogers Chair in the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, historian John Meacham. Our thanks to your all.

We'll be keeping an eye, of course, on these live events there in Israel, NBC's David and Road also joining us now, happy to say. But Richard Haas, let's start with you two long years to get to this moment. But we should just underscore where we are today, that moment of relief, of joy that so many probably never thought would get here for these families of the final 20 hostages now on their way home. No, absolutely. It's a political day, but it's also a human day. tremendous relief celebration as you see. There'll be plenty of time later for saying, could we have gotten here sooner? A lot of today is also going to be about where do we go from

here. The most interesting news of the day is not just who's coming to Egypt. And the fact that you're going to have the leader of the Palestinian Authority is a very interesting development because the Israelis have tried to sideline them. But again, this is an important day of accomplishment, but let's be blunt. What remains to be accomplished, Jonathan, is incomparably greater than where we are. But that said, none of that can or should detract from what has been accomplished here. Cudos to President Trump for essentially driving this, for driving this home. And again, the Middle East is not a part of the world. We tend to associate with good news. Let's be honest. We tend to measure the history of the Middle East and wars. Today is a rare day of

good news. We're seeing introductions there of speakers, dignitaries in Jerusalem. We also are seeing some live pictures in Tel Aviv, cheering crowds, waving flags. Certainly a moment of real joy there two years after the horrors of October 7th, the Hamas terror attack. Now, the final living hostages back in Israeli custody. David Ignatius, can you reset the stage for us, please, in terms of how we got here, these last handful of days, this last week or so, the pressure applied by President Trump. And to Richard's point, there's. definitely questions whether this pressure could have been applied earlier. But the pressure that now was brought forth by the White House that got us to this moment where we don't know yet if

there's going to be a long-term peace. We don't know yet about the subsequent phases of this deal. But in the short term, there is a ceasefire, the hostages back in Israeli hands. So President Trump's fair to say, got angry and impatient. He'd been talking about peace since he took office in January, and after the Israeli bombing of Qatar, which had been acting as mediator in this conflict, he felt as if the Israelis were closing the avenue for resolving this conflict, and that moved him into a different gear. And he began to gather a group of experts led by his own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who would work with Steve Kushner, Steve Whitkoff, and with other international officials,

to form the 20-point peace plan, which was the basis for moving towards this initial phase of a ceasefire and hostage exchange. And I think the basic thing to say about what President Trump did is he pushed and pushed. He really wouldn't take no for an answer from Israelis or any of the leaders gathered. Hamas essentially is being asked to surrender. Hamas under the terms of this deal will give up its weapons, its political problems. power. But it's the sign of the exhaustion that they feel and the pressure from Palestinian people themselves who want peace after these two terrible years that we're at this moment today where

we see cheering on both sides, cheering in Gaza and sharing in Israel. We're seeing here live pictures, Secretary of State Marco Rubio just mentioned by the speaker. We just showed Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and now informal advisor, but playing an instrumental role here in getting this deal done. Katty Kay, let's also think about what today means for those in Gaza. The guns are silent. The bonds have stopped falling. There finally is a ceasefire in an enclave where, you know, the future of Hamas's role there is still very much in question, but for so many civilians, and we know there are tens of thousands, estimated 30, 40, 50,000 or more. Many of them, women or children, killed there in

the last two years. Today also brings a sense of some relief. Yeah, the latest estimates are about 67,000 Gazans have been killed during the past two years. And of course, as foreign journalists, we haven't really been into the strip very much. There have been the odd accompanied visits, but it'll be,

we don't understand totally the scale of what's been happening in Gaza, and maybe we will now get a chance to do that. There are some alarming reports. I was listening to Brett McGirk yesterday on television saying that he had been hearing reports of Hamas reasserting control, in some areas of Gaza, even executing Palestinians as a way of reasserting control in some

parts of Gaza. And I think that is just a reminder of how complicated this second phase is going to be. Gosh, the first phase is as every, as all of Joe Biden's team know, was incredibly complicated getting the hostages out. There have been many attempts that have failed to get the hostages out. That has been a very delicate process. They're now home. But this second phase is going to be complicated because the role of Hamas as an organized. in any form is obviously under dispute, and it's worrying when you hear they're already trying to reassert themselves in ways that are violent against the Palestinian population. But yes, I mean, hopefully this is a good day for Palestinians and particularly those who have suffered in

Gaza as well. Yeah, so many questions remain as to whether Hamas will indeed demilitarize, will they give up their weapons? There's a lot of skepticism about that. John Meacham, as we await President Trump, we expect his remarks. In the next little bit, here and we'll obviously keep watching the proceedings there in Jerusalem. Just your thoughts. It is a historic day. We don't know if it will be the first chapter of a longer story of peace for the Middle East. The president's trying to frame it that way. We simply don't know. But even just for what today means, give us your thoughts, your perspective. It's a terrific day for the hostage families. It's a terrific day for President Trump,

for our national interests. You're right. We don't know how the story ends, but stories are made up of chapters. As Richard Haas knows, he was very much in the arena, now 35 years ago at the end of the first Gulf War when there was a great conference in Madrid as we tried to reset the peace process. nine years later, President Clinton in the last hours of his presidency made a noble attempt at Camp David. We can go on and on about the various chapters, but we should make no mistake about this. This is a victory for President Trump and for those who wish that we can govern ourselves at home and around the world.

not simply by brute force, but by ideas and civilized norms. President Trump just mentioned there. He's receiving a thunderous round of applause in the Knesset in Jerusalem. He's soon to deliver remarks to the parliament. You can see him that president now acknowledging the well-wishes he's received with the Prime Minister Netanyahu. Many U.S. officials and dignitaries in the room, you can hear the chance now for Trump,

is enjoying as we await his remarks in the moments ahead. David wrote, obviously, this is a significant day for the president, but let's return to these hostages and their families. You have personal experiences to what it's like to being held captive. What do you think, as best you can imagine, what is it like for those who are now free and those waiting for them with open arms? Pure, unmitigated joy. Look, they face a tremendous, you know, a number of challenges health-wise, physically, psychologically, but they have survived for two years. If you saw the pictures earlier, the many who were released,

they were very pale, which suggests they were held undergrounds. Some of them weren't as malnourished as other captives who came out, but it's just an amazing day for these hostages and these families, and it's an amazing day for the 2,000 Palestinians that are going to be released and the many, many civilians that Katia was just talking about in terms of on the ground in Gaza. So it's extraordinary. It'll be amazing to see what happens in this speech also.

Some of the excerpts that we've already received have, President Trump is going to say to Israelis, you have achieved everything you could have hoped militarily. Now is the time to try diplomacy. Richard knows more about how that might go, but that sort of sets the stage for the progress, the joy of this day, but the enormous challenges that remain.

Yeah, and Richard, let's talk about that. the president is going to use those words here. I mean, that's what the conclusion that many U.S. officials reached some months ago. That's the conclusion that many Israeli officials reached some months ago, that Israel had achieved every, all of its military objectives in Gaza. But so talk to us about this situation that Prime Minister Netanyahu is in now. You know, we know that his hold on power has had been somewhat tenuous. There's a lot of criminal investigations surrounding him. He will, at some point, you would think, faced real blame for what happened on October 7th. Israel had sort of delayed a lot of their

intel assessments as to what went wrong because the war was continuing. There had been long-held belief in Washington and other capitals that Netanyahu wanted to prolong the conflict to remain in power. Well, now that's over. So what's next? Well, it's going to be next to these immediate, you know, these meetings, perhaps some of the first steps of this plan. But then we're going to have Israeli elections. And you're not going to have an accounting on October 7th before Israeli elections because Bibi Netanyahu will still be prime minister. So he's going to run for reelection. My guess is sometime this spring, against the backdrop of having one defeated Iran and two now brought the hostages home, even though some Israelis will not forgive him for the delay.

My guess is he stands a pretty good chance. This is not advocacy. This is analysis. I think he's got a pretty good chance of getting the most votes. Then we'll see what's the political nature of the government reforms. Then we begin the new phase, which if you will, is open-ended, which is the question of what comes next. And the real question for President Trump is do we put on the table something that really begins to flesh out a piece? Because if you read the 20-point plan, the last two points deal with the political aspirations and trajectory of the Palestinians. They could not be more vague if you try it. They are essentially empty of content. And the question is, does the United States begin to fill out some of that content? And do we begin to push it?

And do we basically make the peace, if we have to, over the heads of a reluctant Israeli government? Do we begin to work with the Palestinians, the Arabs, to build an acceptable partner for Israel? Negotiations don't just happen at the table. All the work to get to the table is going to be up to us. It's going to mean stabilizing Gaza, rebuilding Gaza, coming up with an acceptable Palestinian partner, selling the Israeli public, which in turn will push the Israeli leadership. That's going to be on the United States. That's the history of Middle East peacemaking.

The question is, is this administration prepared to do that work? This would have to become one of the priorities, probably the leading or one of the two leading foreign policy priorities for this administration. And the question is, are they prepared to do it? Do you see signs that they might? Because one of the hallmarks of the President Trump's foreign policies, it's transactional, it's fast, it's quick, he moves on to the next thing. There's often not a lot of follow-through. And to your point, this would require an extraordinary amount of resources, attention, and political capital. Well, we haven't seen it yet. Let's just be generous.

Data be generous. We haven't seen it with Russia and Ukraine. We don't know where the China policy is going. The president's supposed to have a meeting later this month with Xi Jinping. He's talking about a summit next spring. We've had all the tariffs and so forth. We haven't seen that kind of sustained foreign policy push in any context yet. The question is, are they willing? Are they able to do it here? But that's what it's going to take. If you think about the history of what President Bush the father did at Madrid, you think about what Jimmy Carter did, what Bill Clinton tried to do, what Jim Baker often did, you are talking about trip after trip, meeting after meeting, phone call after phone call. This, again, has to become a centerpiece of Donald Trump's presidency of Marco Rubio's era and so forth. And the question is, are they willing to make that claimant? Because it'll be brutally difficult, given the history of this, Jonathan, you know you're going to have, shall we say, let's be generous again today, an imperfect Palestinian partner, a reluctant Israel.

Are we willing and able to push things? Because it's not going to happen without us. Yeah, we now see. We have some of President Trump's, we expect his remarks shortly. We have some excerpts here. We should note, to David's point, Israel has, the president is expected to say, Israel has won all that it can be. be won by force of arms. 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. And David Ignatius,

what more do you expect to hear from President Trump, particularly on that theme, saying the time for war has ended? And what sort of pressure do you think he'll put forth publicly in this speech, but also privately behind closed doors on Netanyahu to try to get us there? So Jonathan, President Trump has had a vision, sometimes naive, of a post-war Gaza that is a magnificent, modern, reconstructed area along the seacoast that is, is, joins in common economic activity with Israel, with the Gulf Arab states. That's been, that's been his idea, and I think he'll try to paint that future in his remarks, I'd be surprised if he didn't. The problem that he needs to deal with, and this is something

he's been mostly silent on, is what we have called for two years the day after. Today's the day of. Today's the joyous day of peace, as we've been saying, the guns go silent. But even today, there are reports coming out of Gaza of fighting, intense fighting in Gaza City, between different Palestinian clans, remnants of Hamas that want to control the ground as we move toward the next stage the day after. And so that day after, unfortunately, remains as murky as it did before. President Trump, I hope, will address that. He has a plan that he worked out with advisors, including Jared Kushner. That's actually a pretty solid one. He's talked to all the Arab countries. He's gotten support from them. He knows.

what the troops in the international security force, where they'll come from. But he needs to move quickly into that stage because what he's going to have immediately in Gaza is chaos. And that's going to have to be dealt with. It would be significant loss of life in the next days. So, Katty Kay, we actually have some news just now from NBC. President Trump had brokered an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to attend the the summit being held in Egypt a little later today.

Netanyahu's office now has declined that invitation. The prime minister is saying he thanked President, I just read here for the statement from the office. The prime minister thanked President Trump for his invitation, but said that he would not be able to participate due to the proximity of the holiday. There's Jewish holidays going on right now. The prime minister thanked Trump for his efforts around the circle of peace, peace through strength.

What is your analysis here? The Trump intervened, got Netanyahu in a seat at the table, and the Prime Minister said, no thanks. I think it speaks to the slight confusion that David was talking about of this moment, both on the ground in Gaza where there are reports of fighting already between Hamas and other clans and around the politics of this. We were reporting on the network just about an hour ago that Netanyahu had agreed to go along with representatives from the Palestinian Authority,

and that was being seen as a significant step, because without those two key players at this meeting in Sharmal Sheikh, the meeting has less weight. Even though you have 20 international heads of state there, it would make an enormous difference to have Netanyahu there and the Palestinian representatives there as they hash out the future of the Gaza Strip and of the region. The fact that he is not going, whatever the reasons, either there was confusion in announcing that he was going an hour ago, if it really is because of the Jewish holidays. Obviously, that is not a fact that has changed materially, so he would have known that an hour ago. Either there's confusion, and we haven't got the reporting yet, or he said he was going to go and then, for whatever reason, decided not to go. It does make the meeting in Sharmor Sheikh less weighty just in terms of who is attending.

My guess is the reason would be the fact that the leader of the Palestinian Authority is there, that this is something for Bibi Netanyahu, that it's a bridge too far. Israel, again, has tried to sideline the Palestinian authorities, coalitions totally against it. The peace plan is designed to reflect Israeli views on this. So my senses, the Israelis said, we're not doing it. John, I'm curious, if you were drafting the speech here for President Bush, what's the balance, President Bush, President Trump?

That's the balance here between, if you will, accomplishment but also work to be done. What would you sort of advise him on how to pitch the, sort of remarks he's going to make, not simply to Israel, but really here to the region and the world. I think if I were advising President Trump, the first thing we would do is see at what point we had entered the twilight zone. So we would check that out quickly. But I think, and I think he would wonder how the hell this conversation was taking

place. But I think one of the things about President Trump, which I think historians will be dealing with for a long time is, and I want to say this carefully, his words are in some ways secondary to his ethos. Does that make sense? What he actually says, is not to say that what he says doesn't matter. So for conservatives, calm down for a second. But he is an entire package. He's a communication force field, if you will. And so I think a lot of of this has to do a lot of what happens next to some extent happens with both what he says and how he says it. And to what extent is this a victory lap? To what extent is this about

the hostages and about the future? And as you know, Richard, this is one of the hardest things for principles in the language to get right anyway, which is how much do you claim credit, how much credit do you give, how much do you try to prepare public opinion for what is always, almost always a long and difficult road ahead. And so I think, you know, for a conventional president, what one would say here is we have,

won a great battle for peace, but the larger war goes on. And we must all be prepared to make sacrifices, because in an imperfect world, we are not, none of us can ever get all of what we want, right? That would be the message. And I think, ultimately, I think that what President Trump, the reason he is President Trump is that what people like me, and I don't want to drag you into it, but like you, grew up hearing President say somehow or another has not been commensurate to what the country and perhaps the world wants in this era. And so this will be a very interesting test case about conventional, the idea of conventional presidential rhetoric and the reality of the way President Trump is leading.

We will get those remarks from President Trump shortly. They're still doing introductions there in Jerusalem. We're going to sneak in a quick break and we'll be right back here on Morning Joe. Welcome back to MSNBC's coverage of breaking news out of Israel. President Trump landed there a few hours ago. He met privately with Prime Minister Netanyahu also met with some of the families of the hostages, those final hostages, those final 20 hostages, were freed from Gaza earlier today. Just a few hours ago. The president now, we were awaiting his remarks. A number of speakers lined up. We, of course, will be watching there in the Knesset. We'll hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu. We'll hear from President Trump in the very near future. We, of course, will cover that live.

as it occurs. David Rode, we want to go back to the breaking news of just a few moments ago. Later, after this speech, there's a summit on the future of Gaza being held in Egypt. And a lot of Gulf state leaders, Arab leaders, regional powers are going to be there. President Trump will attend. And ahead of the Palestinian Authority, Routabas, also slated to be there. A short time ago, the Egyptian president's office, they're the host of the summit, announced that Israeli Prime Minister Danyahu would be there. And the backstory was that President Trump,

had intervened and gotten Netanyahu an invitation that he'd be going. But now, just a few moments ago, we broke the news here that the prime minister's office has declined the invitation and won't be going. What does that mean? That's a major setback, in my view, in terms of what can't happen just today in Sharmal Shake. Again, we've got a very, very long road ahead of us. And I think there's going to be a lot of reporting done about what just happened. but there's a possibility that the Trump administration, I mean, one of the tactics they used in getting the ceasefire right now was essentially announce it to say to Hamas and also to Netanyahu, this is going forward, this is our plan, and they might have tried to sort of publicly announce that this meeting was going to happen, he was invited, and Beebe saying no. And it's an interesting sign of, I think, BB's political calculus in Israel, that he's so determined to stay away from Abbas and stay away from any idea of sort of, sort of,

legitimate or effective Palestinian leadership that he doesn't want to go there. So this is a setback right now at the very beginning of this trip for President Trump. It would be much better for President Trump to have Netanyahu at this meeting. And David Ignatius, let's get your thoughts on this in terms of the size of the setback, but also what this could do for the Trump-Nat-Yahu relationship. We know it's been up and down to say the least, though they've had nothing but warm words for each other the last couple of days. you know, how significant is it that Netanyahu has declined this invitation? So I think it's politically significant in Israel for the moment for Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition

to be in a photo opportunity with Mahmoudabas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, is unacceptable. And so I think that's why he's walking away. He doesn't want those photos as he heads towards elections. He's still a man who's rejecting the PA. I think for President Trump, this is a moment that he's obviously savoring as you look at him sitting there, getting a round of applause after round of applause. This is his moment. And for Netanyahu, for his own domestic political reasons, to mar it by not showing up at the event where leaders from across Europe, across the Middle East, will be gathered. I think we'll be painful for him and will reinforce some of his sense of distance from Netanyahu.

As Richard Haas and others have been saying, there is so much work to be done ahead, and it's crucial that Trump finds somebody who can work with the obvious political complications that Netanyahu is facing, illustrated by his staying away from the big event in Egypt, who can work with key Palestinians to begin to get transitional government, who can work with other militaries to get stability on the ground. There's already fighting in Gaza, even today, and we're just one day into this. So think of the list on the to-do list for President Trump. I'm sure he's disappointed that as he starts that process,

he's not going to have Bibi Netanyahu by his side for what, as I see, say, I would guess, are domestic Israeli political reasons. It won't destroy the meaning of today's gathering in Israel. That's going to be a grand event. But just you'll see so many kings and emirs and presidents. I'm sure President Trump will bask in that attention. But he'll be disappointed that a certain prime minister who's supposed to be his partner isn't there. Yeah, just an hour or so ago when news broke, that he was going to be attending, initially reported it was. It was rightly perceived by analysts as a huge deal. The Prime Minister's office now saying, no, he won't be going after all. So let's listen in now a little bit.

Prime Minister Danielahu has begun his remarks there in Jerusalem. So I'll say words in English. President Trump, the Knesset welcomes you and your distinguished delegation to Jerusalem, our eternal capital. This is your first visit to Israel, since you recognize Jerusalem as our capital and move the embassy here. Thank you, President Trump, for that. Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you for standing up to the lies against Israel and the United Nations. Thank you for recognizing in your 2020 peace plan, our rights in Judean, Samaria, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people. Thank you for brokering the historic Abraham Accords.

Abraham! Abraham! Thank you for withdrawing from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal. Thank you for supporting Operation Rising Line and for your bold decision to launch Operation Midnight Hammer. Boy, is that – you got to hear this. This is the most fitting name ever named for a military operation. Because a little after midnight, you really hammered them.

My friends, this is only a partialist. But it's enough to affirm what I've said time and again. Donald Trump is the greatest friend that the state of Israel has ever had in the White House. No American president has ever done more for Israel, and as I said in Washington, it ain't even close. It's really not a match. Mr. President, today we welcome you here to thank you for your pivotal leadership in putting forward a proposal that got the backing of almost the entire world. A proposal, a proposal that brings all our hostages home. A proposal that ends the war by achieving all our objectives.

A proposal that opens the door to an historic expansion of peace in our region and beyond our region. Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace, and together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace. We've done it before. We've done it before in the Abraham Accords, and we'll do it again. Mr. President, today the Jewish calendar marks the end of two years of war. That war began on October 7th, on the jewel. Jewish Festival of Sibhatt Torah, you always tell me, and you tell the world, remember

October 7th. Mr. President, we remember. We remember the thousands of Hamas terrorists who stormed into our towns in Kibbutzim. We remember the 1,200 people, Hamas savagely slaughtered in cold blood, including dozens and dozens of Americans. We remember entire families burnt alive, burnt alive as they embraced each other. We remember the beautiful young Israelis brutally gunned down at the Nova Music Festival. We remember the hundreds of our citizens who were dragged into the dungeons of Gaza, including 12 Americans, men and women, young and old, babies, and elderly homes. Holocaust survivors, my friends, Mr. President, Donald, these monsters take babies as hostages. In response to this barbaric attack on October 7th, Israel did what it had to do.

With indomitable courage, we set out to defend our people, to defeat our enemies, and to release our hostages. Our heroic soldiers fought like lions. They fought on the front lines of civilization and barbarism. Israel achieved amazing victories over Hamas and the entire Iran terror axis. Sinoir, Dev, Khanea, Nasr, Assad, they're all gone. Iran's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program with your enormous help, Mr. President, roll back. Half the Houthi leadership wiped out. But the price of this victory, the price of these victories, has been heavy.

Nearly 2,000 of Israel's finest were lost. nearly half in battle. They're left behind parents, spouses, siblings, and children. Their love and laughter, their promise and potential were lost forever. To the families of our fallen fighters, many of them are here, I say, I know the depth of your pain. I know the inconsolable grief that will accompany you for the rest of your lives. The state of Israel bows its head in eternal gratitude to our fallen heroes.

Because of these heroes, our nation will survive. Because of these heroes, our nations will thrive. And because of these heroes, our nation will have peace. Mr. President, thousands of our brave soldiers were also wounded, suffering terrible blows to body and soul. Brave soldiers like Ari Speets. Ari is an American Israeli who was injured. Ari is an American Israeli who was injured in Gaza while searching for Hamas, terrorists, and weapons.

Two of Ari's comrades were killed in this action, and 10 were injured. Ari was presumed dead, but made a miraculous recovery despite losing three limbs. Ari, stand up for a minute alone. Stand up. There you go. There. Ari. Ari, you are the spirit of Joshua. You are the spirit of David.

You are the spirit of the Maccabees. You are the spirit of Israel. I salute you. We all salute you. Sabine Tasa of Kibbutz Nativa Asara is watching us today from the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles. Sabine lost her husband and her oldest son. On October 7th, she is the mother of three other boys. Two of them, Koran and Shai, witnessed their father jump on a Hamas grenade to save his two sons.

We all saw the film of those two boys, crying out in pain, father is dead. Why? Why did God save me? Mr. President, my friend Donald, I've seen some very tough things in my life. But I couldn't bring myself to watch those boys suffering again. So I didn't see this film except once. Yet Sabine, their mother, has had the strength and fortitude to show this film across the the world. And my wife Sarah and I asked her, Sabina, how do you do it? Why do you do it? And she

answered, I do it to show the entire world the monsters Israel is fighting and the justice of our cause. This is what she's doing once again in Los Angeles. Sabin, you can hear me now. So I want to tell you on behalf of all of us, you embody the spirit of our biblical heroines, Deborah, Ruth and Esther, you too are the spirit of Israel, and we all salute you. Mr. President, you asked me on our many conversations during the 12-day war with Iran, you asked me, how are the people holding up? And I said to you, our people are strong. Israelis are a nation of lions with unlimited resolve to defend our country and secure our future. The people, the people give strength to our soldiers and the people give strength to me and to my colleagues.

The Jewish people have risen from the ashes time and again, but when we formed the state of Israel and the army of Israel, we pledged never again, never again, would be defenseless against our enemies. And that resolute strength not only assures our survival, it assures our future, it assures peace. We have paid, we have paid a high, price for this war. But our enemies now understand just how powerful and just how determined

Israel is. They understand that attacking Israel on October 7th was a catastrophic mistake. They understand that Israel is strong and that Israel is here to stay. And this, Mr. President, is the indispensable foundation of peace. Peace through strength. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a momentous day, a day of great joy as the remaining hostages come home. My wife Sarah and I have met with the hostage families many times. There were no words to describe their agony, only tears of bottomless sorrow and unimaginable pain.

At the beginning of the war, I promised to bring all the hostages home. Today, with the indispensable help, the determined and focused help, the unremitting help of President Trump as his team, and with the incredible sacrifice and courage of the soldiers of Israel, we are fulfilling that promise. It has been a long journey to get here. In the first week of the war, our brave soldiers put military pressure on Hamas and the international community put diplomatic pressure on them. This enabled us to secure the release of over 100 hostages.

In heroic rescue attempts behind enemy lines, Israel's special forces rescued eight live hostages and brought back the remains of a dozen more. But as time went on, we all know what happened. The diplomatic pressure was turned on its head. More and more governments bought into Hamas's false propaganda. More and more governments succumb to anti-Semitic mobs in their own countries. They just turned on Israel. They called for us to surrender to Hamas demands, just leave Gaza immediately, they said, end the war without committing to disarm Hamas, without committing to demilitarize Gaza.

Had Israel succumbed to those demands, not only would Sinwar, Nasrallah, Assad, and Iran's missile and nuclear program remained attacked. Not only that, because in no time, the Hamas killers would be back on the border fence, ready to repeat the horrors of October 7th again and again, as they vowed to do. But just at that point, just at that point of maximum pressure on Israel, a man named Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States. And ladies and gentlemen, overnight, overnight, everything changed. Everything. Mr. President, thanks to your unequivocal backing of Israel, we secured a second hostage deal within weeks of your election. And in the months that followed, we worked closely together to forge a path to bring the

remaining hostages home and end the war, end the war in a way that ensures the disarming of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza, and that Gaza would never again pose a threat to Israel. Two months ago, you fully backed my decision to send the IDF into the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza City. You shared my view that this military pressure would help free the hostages. And despite all the criticism, all the naysairs, we were right. Hamas caved in. And two weeks ago, you succeeded in doing something miraculous. You succeeded in doing something that no one believed was possible.

You brought most of the Arab world, you brought most of the world, behind your proposal to free the hostages and end the war. I want to thank Steve Whitkoff, Jared Kushner, and Ron Dermer for their great contribution to this effort. team. I believe that the close cooperation between the two of us, between our two nations, combining Israel's military pressure and President Trump's unmatched global leadership. I have to tell you, I've seen a lot of American presidents. I've seen them all in the time that I've been here, and I've been here quite a lot of time. I've never seen anyone more.

move the world so quickly, so decisively, so resolutely, as our friend President Donald J. Trump. With our military pressure and our military pressure and And President Trump's global leadership, we achieved this historic moment. It's a moment of indescribable joy as our nation embraces our sons who are coming home. Mr. President, this week, Jews around the world, Jews around the world are going to read the book of ecclesiastics, Kohelet, in the Bible. the Bible has many miraculous moments one of them

was your decision to bomb fordough I think it was a pivot of history because it wasn't meant only to bomb fordo that action and your previous action of taking out Qasim Soleimani the architect of death I think that changed the balance of power in the world

you brought America back again to the driver's seat now I said that we're going to read this week the book of Ecclesiastes it has it's not a book of action It's a book of meditations, of thought, a perspective on life and on death. And in this book we read the immortal words of King Solomon. To everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. At milchama and at shalom. A time for peace and a time for war. The last two years have been a time of war.

The coming years will hopefully be a time for peace. Peace inside Israel and peace outside Israel. I look forward to continuing marching with you on the path we paved together with the Abraham Accords. Under your leadership, we can forge new peace treaties with Arab countries in the region and Muslim countries beyond the region. Abraham's children will work together to build a better future A future that will unite civilization against barbarism, light against darkness, and hope against despair. And my friends, I believe that with President Trump's leadership, this will happen a lot faster than people think. As Prime Minister of Israel, I extend my hand to hold those who seek peace with us.

No one wants peace more than the people of Israel. Israel will always remain vigilant in defending itself, and Israel will always remain full of hope. Hope is our national anthem. Hope is our creed, hope is our strength. It is time, my friends, to realize that hope and expand the circle of peace. Mr. President, thank you for all you have done for us. I have submitted your nomination to be the first non-Israeli recipient of the Israel Prize. Israel's highest award.

As to that other prize, just a question of time, you'll get it. But I want you to get the Israel Prize, our highest award to our greatest friend. When others were weak, you were strong. When others were fearful, you were bold. When others abandoned us, you stood by our side.

On behalf of the government and people of Israel, I thank you for your extraordinary friendship. Thank you for helping bring our hostages home. Thank you for supporting Israel's march to victory. Thank you for paving a path to peace. Mr. McHubedin, the United States, President of the United States,

welcome to Israel, welcome to Jerusalem, welcome on this propitious moment. And blessed be those who have reached this momentous momentous moment. It's a prayer from the Bible. May God bless you and your family, Mr. President. May God bless America, may God bless Israel,

and may God bless the covenant between our two promised lands. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Did you see what I would have you said to him? We, of course, are watching a historic day in Jerusalem. Prime Minister Netanyahu just concluded his speech.

And now President Donald Trump, about to deliver remarks. The last hostages in Gaza have been freed, 20 last surviving hostages back in Israeli custody, a few hours ago. Now let's listen in, back to the Knesset here. President Trump's shaking hands. Looks like the opposition leader now. Yair Lapid is going to speak next. President Trump greeting him, shaking his hand.

Let's, we'll keep an eye on that. President Trump himself expected to deliver remarks in a short time. But Richard Haas, let's get some thoughts here as to what we just heard from Prime Minister Netanyahu, a speech full of lavish praise on President Trump. And as you noted, as we were listening in, one far more focused on the horrors of October 7th than the path ahead to peace.

No, absolutely. Focused on what Israel has done militarily in the region, particularly the weakening of Iran directly and its proxies. October 7th, the horrors. He used the word monsters several times, obviously, to describe Hamas. He used the word peace very limited at the end. I would say 98% of B.B. Netanyahu's remarks

were about what we've just been discussing, the military lead-up, the release of the hostages, he pension peace. And then when he did it, Jonathan, what was so interesting, there was no reference to the Palestinians. He talked about expanding the circle, if you will, of the Abraham of course, normalizing relations, obviously what they want with Saudi Arabia. He talked about countries beyond the region. I think he's thinking of Indonesia. What was missing was any reference whatsoever, again, to the last points of the 20-point plan of normalization between Israel and the Palestinians, and obviously zero mention of anything to do with Palestinian self-determination, statehood, what have you. What it was, again, is a reminder of just how difficult it's going

to be to move forward. You've got the reality of Hamas is still an actor, still a forceful player, disarming it's going to be a nightmare, I think impossible. And then you've got the reality of an Israeli government that has, at the moment at least, zero interest in setting forward a political that would lead to Palestinian statehood. That's the challenge the United States faces. We believe we're just a few minutes away from President Trump's speech there in Jerusalem. We're going to sneak in a quick break.