Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to end the world’s open conflicts and push back against America’s adversaries. The American people elected him convincingly, and his presence was immediately felt in the Middle East, months before Inauguration Day.

ISRAEL While campaigning in July, Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I did encourage him to get this [war] over with,” Trump told the media after their meeting. “You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop; the killing has to stop.”

Trump’s comments suggest he is giving Netanyahu a green light to finish destroying the Hamas terrorist organization once and for all. Doing this on a short timetable has been Netanyahu’s goal all along. Trump is apparently fine with him taking the necessary drastic actions to defeat Hamas faster.

On November 11, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that Trump’s election means Israel can proceed with annexing the West Bank. On November 12, Trump nominated Mike Huckabee—who has said Israel “already owns” that land and has “title deed” to control it—as U.S. ambassador to Israel.

HAMAS Trump’s blanket support for Netanyahu doesn’t mean Hamas will back down. At the time of writing, no ceasefire has been agreed to and Israel has yet to eradicate the group’s last vestiges of power in Gaza.

Trump may have to take matters into his own hands. In his speech at the Republican National Convention in July, he said: “We want our hostages back. And they better be back before I assume office, or you will be paying a very big price.”

This indicates Trump may intervene directly in Gaza to fight Hamas and free the hostages or, at least, degrade Hamas’s finances and offices abroad. Either way, America will surely pressure Hamas much more heavily than under Joe Biden.

IRAN During his first term, President Trump unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal that Barack Obama used to empower Iran’s radical regime. He applied a “maximum pressure” sanctions policy and ordered the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s most infamous terrorist mastermind. There is every indication that Trump will continue the same foreign policy. Brian Hook, a member of Trump’s transition team, suggested to cnn the maximum pressure campaign would restart. It appears that Trump has a mind to put radical Islamic terrorism in its place, and Iran knows it.

What the Bible Says

When Trump worked together with Netanyahu, both the U.S. and Israel experienced a geopolitical resurgence. Trump in his first term was inexperienced and struggling to fend off political attacks at home. Today, Trump knows the game much better. He knows who his friends and enemies are. He knows more about the power he can wield.

Trump’s first term was a golden age for Israel-U.S. relations. This time around, at least in the short term, the Trumpet anticipates an even stronger relationship.

Our expectation is based on a passage in 2 Kings 14. Verses 26-27 discuss a time when ancient Israel is suffering “bitter affliction,” to the point where an enemy almost “blot[ted] out the name of Israel from under heaven.” As Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in his free book America Under Attack, this passage is a prophecy for modern America. It is a forecast of severe trouble for America and then God saves the nation in a specific way: “by the hand of Jeroboam.” Mr. Flurry has identified the modern fulfillment of this man as Donald Trump.

But the prophecy doesn’t concern America only. Verse 28 says this Jeroboam “recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah.” “The indication is that Jeroboam reclaimed something to help Judah, the Jewish nation,” Mr. Flurry wrote in 2022. “This verse ties the politics of the U.S. and Judah together. …

“From the time of Joe Biden’s inauguration, I predicted that we would have more Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel because of the change in leadership. That is exactly what began to happen. Anybody should be able to recognize why! … It appears Mr. Trump may have to recover some of Judah’s freedom” (Trumpet, September 2022).

Trump isn’t inaugurated yet, but the world already feels the rumblings of an imminent resurgence for the State of Israel. This will be temporary. But after His people learn some lessons, God will save them permanently. Israel will then enter a real golden age.