The last time an American president traveled to Israel, 11 days after the October 7 terror attacks, passengers aboard Air Force One received pocket-sized notecards describing how to behave should the motorcade come under rocket fire (“Do not exit the vehicle,” the tiny print helpfully read).
Ultimately, the air-raid sirens did not sound during then-President Joe Biden’s nine hours on the ground in Tel Aviv. Instead, Israelis watched calmly along the sparkling Mediterranean as his motorcade sped by, some of them playing beach volleyball on the sand, others taking sunset jogs under an apricot sky.
Almost exactly two years later, another president is making another last-minute trip to the country having accomplished what Biden, despite his best and often anguished efforts, could not: an agreement to release all hostages from Gaza, and a ceasefire many hope will lead to a permanent end to the Israel-Hamas war.
Many steps remain before that can happen, but President Donald Trump’s brief visit to Israel this week to preside over the Gaza truce he helped broker will nonetheless be a valedictory one, and a moment he’s been envisioning for months.
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