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I’m sure that there is much discussion about the terms of the hostage deal. I just want to focus on one area: the prisoner exchange. Phase one is Hamas releasing 33 hostages.  Israel is set to release up to 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks and murder. 

Right after the October 7 massacre by Hamas, there were elected officials who went to Israel to show their support. Many of these elected officials were not Jewish. They put themselves in harm’s way to show their support. Then, at the Queens Jewish Community Council breakfast this past Sunday, I heard Governor Hochul tell a story that reached a whole new level.

Last week, I predicted that none of the Trumpians who you expect would disagree with the deal Israel made with Hamas would criticize Trump in the paper.  The closest we got to a comment was from Rabbi Schonfeld disagreeing with Trump’s assessment of this being a “great deal.” However, there was no admission by Rabbi Schonfeld that the deal happened because of Trump.

On October 20, 1973, President Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refused and resigned. Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus also refused and resigned. The next in line, Solicitor General Robert Bork, fired Cox. That became known as the Saturday Night Massacre. It did not work out too well for either Nixon or Bork. Nixon resigned as president ten months later and Bork’s nomination to be a justice to the United States Supreme Court was rejected by the Senate.

Imagine if President George Bush, in his first news conference after the September 11 attacks, had blamed them on President Clinton, President Carter, and DEI. The country would have been outraged. Trump did exactly that by blaming President Obama, President Biden, and DEI for the horrific crash that occurred when a military helicopter crashed into a passenger jet last week over Washington, DC. At the time Trump made his comments, they were still pulling the bodies out of the Potomac River. When questioned about his DEI claim, Trump admitted that he had no proof, but it was common sense. That is pure nonsense.

February 24 was the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Very few people gave Ukraine much of a chance. Ukraine’s success has been due to their ability and also because of military and financial support from the United States and Europe.