Between the hostage deal and the Abraham Accords 2.0

The declaration by President Donald Trump of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which will lead to the release of all 48 hostages, both dead and alive, could eventually bring an end to the war.

It comes almost precisely two years after Hamas' brutal attack on the Western Negev and the Gaza Envelope communities, which initially killed 1,200 Israelis while Hamas took another 251 hostages into captivity. The group’s invasion was followed by attacks on Israel led by the Iranian Axis – from the Houthis in Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran itself – along with a toxic delegitimization campaign against Israel and the spread of global antisemitism.

Israel emerged from the ashes, demonstrating societal and national resilience.

Despite paying a high price, and after moments of doubt, it ultimately succeeded militarily, striking each of its adversaries separately – including the head of the octopus itself, Iran – and forever changing the Middle East, which now stands on the brink of dramatic transformation. The fact that Hamas will release all the hostages while the IDF still controls half of Gaza in the first phase of the deal is a major achievement for Israel, which refused to surrender to the Hamas terror organization's demands throughout the war.

Israel’s enemies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, will apparently try to rebuild their power soon, but today’s Middle East will be much safer than it was prior to the war.

Trump’s 21-point peace plan is yet to be finalized in an actual manner. However, it may reshape the Middle East and expand the Abraham Accords, which withstood the test of war despite the initial expectations. Despite that Trump had not awarded the Nobel Prize, his ability, but his ability to bring most of the Arab world to pressure Hamas to agree to the deal – together with Israel’s expansion of its military operation in Gaza City and its threat to take control of the entire Gaza Strip (including the unsuccessful assassination of Hamas leadership in Qatar) – not only revealed again the failure of the United Nations, which was established to prevent wars and preserve peace, but also showed that the United States has not renounced its global leadership despite the so-called isolationist policy of the Trump administration.

The opposite is true: just as the US played the most important role in achieving the ceasefire between Israel and Egypt after the Yom Kippur War and the 1979 Peace Agreement, Donald Trump’s administration succeeded in halting military conflicts in Asia, the Caucasus, and now apparently in the Middle East.

The end of the war is expected not only to bring an economic boom to Israel – as happened after the Six-Day War – but also to create expectations that the agreement will reopen opportunities for public cooperation between Israel and the Arab world, especially with the Gulf nations and beyond. Countries like Indonesia, Oman, and perhaps Saudi Arabia might join the Abraham Accords 2.0, thereby unleashing, once again, Israel’s relative advantages in cyber, AI, quantum computing, innovation, technology, agriculture, health, and other fields – areas of regional cooperation that had been partially halted because of the war.

The hostility of the Arab world toward Israel may not fade, but this process could create bridges and economic growth across the region. These countries, which are investing heavily in economic and technological reforms to become regional and global hubs, also need Israel’s assistance in learning how to innovate and how to defend critical infrastructures and supply chains from cyberattacks.

The Abraham Accords 1.0 were not only about the Iranian nuclear and conventional threat, nor only about the desire of the Arab Sunni countries to reach the White House through Israel, but also about their growing understanding and perception of Israel as a valued partner – a real regional asset they could benefit from.

Against this background, we should also expect a renewal of cooperation in science and R&D, the development of dual-use technologies, defense technology, improved intelligence collaboration, and more. Importantly, the expansion of the new regional architecture will also bring a vision of victory for the moderate and advanced countries over the extremists and barbaric forces of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.

From the American perspective, the ceasefire will open opportunities to develop and leverage new trade routes from India to Europe through Saudi Arabia and Israel (namely the IMEC corridor), challenging China’s dominance in the region through the Belt and Road Initiative – an important layer in America's goal under Trump leadership to balance China.

Israel, which demonstrated advanced military, intelligence, technological, and social capabilities during the two years of war – despite the disastrous failure of October 7th – should not be illusioned.

It still lives in a dangerous environment that largely rejects its physical existence as the sole Jewish state. Therefore, Israel must avoid perceiving itself as a regional power – a perception that has long dominated the strategic thinking of its security establishment and political leadership.

It should approach its neighbors peacefully, but must not forget the lesson of October 7th and the priority of protecting the Jewish people in Israel and abroad, first and foremost. Israel will continue to be, despite harsh global criticism, Or LaGoyim (a light unto the nations) – a small country, which lives in a hostile environment but one that can still embody both Sparta and Athens.