As might be expected, President Trump did not downplay the significance of his achievement. “Blessed are the Peacemakers” he wrote on Truth Social, and left it to the readers to recall that this bit of Christ’s sermon on the Mount was followed by: “for they shall be called sons of God”.
"I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan... BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!" - President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/lAUxi1UPYh
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 8, 2025
But you know what? Trump deserves his own hyperbole. On its own terms, Trump’s peace plan to end the conflict in Gaza is a magnificent achievement. It brings an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, it will ensure the return of the remaining hostages, living and dead, from the Hamas attacks two years ago and the release of Palestinian prisoners, and it will lead to Hamas laying down their arms.
There are countless other issues that this leaves unresolved but in itself, the cessation of bloodshed and the return of hostages and prisoners, is good enough. This terminates, for now, unspeakable human suffering and a conflict that has cost the lives of at least 68,000 Palestinians. Blessed are the peacemakers indeed.
The Nobel Peace Prize has nothing to do with being a lovable personality, which is presumably why Barack Obama got it
Trump, on his own admission, longs for the Nobel Peace Prize. If it was good enough for Theodore Roosevelt who helped negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese war of 1905 and good enough for Barack Obama who got it for no very good reason anyone can explain, well, it’s good enough for the man who invested time and energy and credibility in this deal. Joe Biden couldn’t manage it, and more’s the pity, for if he had, thousands of lives might have been saved, but Trump did.
If I were the president of the Norwegian committee that decides who gets the Peace Prize, and it’s one Jorgen Watne Frydnes, I would right now be phoning whichever little-known worthy had been lined up to get the prize to say sorry, cancel the party, because it’s off; the prize is going to Trump.
The terms of the award have nothing to do with whether the winner is a lovable personality or universally esteemed, which is presumably why Barack Obama got it. It goes on the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will, to “whomever has done the most for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, or for holding or promoting peace congresses”.
It would, I grant you, be pushing it to suggest that the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas amounts to fraternity, and the reduction of a standing army doesn’t quite describe Hamas handing over its weapons; and the peace process here wasn’t exactly a congress, but to all intents and purposes, it is a peace that Donald Trump has brought about.
Giving a Nobel prize to the dreadful Recep Tayyip Erdogan would recall Tom Lehrer’s observation when it was awarded to Henry Kissinger, as the point when satire died
And if awarding the prize to the US president alone is more than the committee can swallow, they could extend it to the Emir of Qatar, who did much to impose the deal on Hamas, notwithstanding the Israeli attack on Hamas leaders on its territory. To do President Trump justice, he has gone out of his way at every turn to share the credit for the achievement with Qatar, Egypt, Turkey and, last week, Jordan. This was, he intimated, a group deal, and Arab credibility is invested in it as well as his own.
Mind you, it would be a bit much to include the Turkish president in the award; giving a Nobel prize to the dreadful Recep Tayyip Erdogan would recall Tom Lehrer’s observation when it was awarded to Henry Kissinger, as the point when satire died.
Alfred Nobel wanted the prize to go to an individual who has benefited mankind and that, in this respect, Trump has done
Awarding Trump the most coveted prize on earth would of course be disputed on the basis that it would reward a man who has done a great many things that right-minded people disapprove of – tariffs on trade come to mind here. But Alfred Nobel – inventor of dynamite – wanted the prize to go to an individual who has benefited mankind and that, in this respect, Trump has done.
This obviously isn’t to say that this peace deal is conclusive or comprehensive, that it comes anywhere near the achievement that was the Oslo Peace Accords – and it is the tragedy of the Middle East that this never came to fruition. Indeed, the plantation of the occupied territories by hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers since that time is the greatest single impediment to a political settlement.
But there is a parallel process for securing a long term peace under the aegis of the United Nations which is, in fact, taking place today in Paris. That deals with the so-called “day after” plans for the Hamas handover of weapons (not to Israel), the mandate and composition of an international peacekeeping force, the resumption of aid and a future link between the West Bank and Gaza as the basis of a future Palestinian state. Tony Blair will, quite rightly, be closely involved with the planning and implementation of that project. Plainly, the political process is what will make for a lasting peace.
But no such deal can take place without the preliminary cessation of hostilities, the resumption of aid and a hostage-prisoner exchange, and that Donald Trump has brought about. It is not the end of the peace process but its beginning. That is, though, a very big deal, and it deserves the reward he wanted. Donald Trump set out not to start wars but to end them; whatever else you can say about him, this is a noble aspiration. Blessed are the Peacemakers indeed, and this one deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
