One week after president-elect Donald Trump promised that “all hell will break out” if Hamas didn’t release Israeli and American hostages held in Gaza, a ceasefire deal has been agreed that appears to ensure just that.
For 15 months, Canada, the United Nations and much of the world have foolishly allowed the Hamas terrorists to dictate the turn of events, control the narrative and prolong the indescribable suffering of the hostages.
Hamas started this war with its barbarous attack on Israel on October 7 and then sacrificed its own citizens rather than release the hostages and end hostilities.
But the worldview — which Canada eagerly agreed with — was to appease the war-criminal terrorists and try to pressure Israel into a deal.
Trump, however, is cut from a different cloth than U.S. President Joe Biden or other world leaders. When he says all hell will break out, Hamas knows that he means it, even if they don’t know what he intends to do. That may be intentional on Trump’s part.
Trump likes the sound of his own voice. He talks — a lot. But no one should mistake what he says for bluster, he is not making meaningless threats. Whatever threat he makes will be followed by action.
At a meeting of the First Ministers with the prime minister on Wednesday to discuss Trump’s tariff threat on Canada, Scott Moe, the Saskatchewan premier, said it would be wrong to dismiss the president-elect’s statements as just talk.
Trump may not mean everything literally, said Moe, but we do need to take him very seriously.
Ranj Pillai, the Yukon premier, noted that it took one social media post from Trump for Canada to get serious about border security and drugs, particularly fentanyl, crossing over between the two countries.
In November, Trump posted on the Truth Social site that he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada unless we secured our border and dealt with fentanyl smuggling.
Within weeks, the Canadian government announced a $1.3 billion plan to deal with border security including an aerial intelligence task force to provide round-the-clock surveillance using helicopters, drones and surveillance towers, a joint task force to tackle criminal gangs and new technology to stop the scourge of fentanyl.
“In seven days we put together a $1 billion plan to deal with our border and fentanyl,” said Pillai. “Think of the tens of thousands that we have lost in this country in every province and territory for the last number of years and a tweet was the catalyst for us to actually come together as a country to deal with the problem that’s devastating our cities and communities.”
It’s not just Hamas and Canada that is finding out that Trump is going to be very disruptive. The world is paying keen attention to what he says.
The latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine has a whole slew of articles on “how countries are hedging their bets, rethinking their strategies, and looking for ways to survive — or even thrive — in the world of Trump 2.0.”
“They are reading the tea leaves of Trump’s rhetoric, trying to anticipate his plans for trade, alliances, and more,” says the magazine.
Part of the problem with trying to anticipate Trump is that he may not have a detailed plan — or any plan — to go along with his words.
Last week, he was asked to define what he meant by saying all hell would break out.
“Do I have to define it for you? All hell will break out if those hostages aren’t back,” he replied.
Was he hinting at possible U.S. military involvement in Gaza? Who knows. But the threat appears to have been taken seriously by Hamas who finally agreed to a ceasefire deal that will see the release of the 98 hostages in several phases.
In an unusual development, envoys from the incoming Trump administration joined Biden diplomats in securing the agreement. Biden said they worked as “one team.”
“This deal was developed and negotiated under my administration, but its terms will be implemented for the most part by the next administration,” Biden said.
Israeli politicians and hostage families also thanked Trump, as well as Biden, for securing the deal.
Even before taking office, Trump is influencing world events. His manner may be brash, aggressive, self-aggrandizing and unpleasant. But we need to ignore the tone and listen to the message.
Trump believes it’s his job to lead and that involves recognizing that you can’t negotiate with a bunch of terrorists. He wants to shock the world out of complacency and smugness, and, yes, to put America first.
We may not like being bullied by Trump into taking action on the border, but we can’t deny that we needed to do something.
That’s not to say that Trump is always right and we shouldn’t push back. There is a trade war coming and Canada needs to be strong.
But when Trump enters the White House on Jan. 20 we can expect him to become the great disruptor; upending established orders, re-writing fixed agreements, re-negotiating settled accords, changing the traditional ways and making waves where we hoped for smooth sailing.
It will not be the easiest of times, but it will certainly be interesting.
National Post