ISRAEL—On Monday, October 13, President Trump traveled to Israel for the release of 20 living hostages that have been in captivity since the attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
According to President Trump’s public schedule listed on, “Roll Call,” the President left the White House on Sunday October 12, at 3:30 p.m., and departing from Joint Base Andrews at 4:40 p.m., arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel on Monday, October 13, at 2:20 a.m.
On October 13, 3:45 a.m., President Trump attended the Israeli Parliament, and met with the hostage families in Knesset, Jerusalem. As he signed into the guestbook in Knesset, he wrote,
“This is my great honor, a great and beautiful day, a new beginning.”
President Trump made the following statement in Knesset, Israel:
“After two harrowing years in darkness and captivity, 20 courageous hostages are returning to the glorious embrace of their families. Twenty-eight more precious loved ones are coming home at last to rest in this sacred soil for all of time. And after so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace.”
“This is not only the end of a war. This is the end of an age of terror and death, the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God,” Trump stated.
At the end of his speech, President Trump publicly gave those present the idea, to give Prime Minister, Netanyahu, a pardon, to which the crowd responded with a standing ovation.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, spoke highly of President Trump and all he has done to achieve world peace.
“Donald Trump is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. No American President has ever done more for Israel than this one, and as I said in Washington, ‘It ain’t even close’.”
Peace talks with the Arab states began on Monday, September 29, with Arab and U.S. leadership unfolding a plan to end the war in Gaza and create a pathway for a Palestinian state.
President Trump met with governments of Qatar, Jordan, the United Araba Emirates, Indonesia Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan.
On September 29, Egypt released a joint statement backing Trump’s plan that was initiated at the White House with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The photographs of President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister’s press conference announcing the U.S. Peace plan for Gaza may be found in the photo gallery on the White House webpage.
In a joint statement, the Arab states stated that they, “Welcome President Donald J. Trump’s leadership and his sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza and assert their confidence to find a path for peace.”
And “The ministers affirm their readiness to engage positively and constructively with the United States and the parties toward finalizing the agreement and ensuring its implementation in a manner that ensures peace, security, and stability for the peoples of the region.”
Israel has also begun to release close to 2,000 Palestinians, 250 of whom, are believed to be terrorists.
