The ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is not only an opportunity for the Jewish State to end the Iranian Islamic regime, but to seek peace with Saudi Arabia and work with the Sunni power to rebuild and deradicalize Gaza.
This is how longtime President Donald Trump ally Dr. Mike Evans explained it in an Monday interview with The Jerusalem Post at the Jerusalem Friends of Zion (FOZ) Museum, where the American-Christian Zionist leader was set to host a presidential inauguration reception that evening.
Evans, who said he was close to the previous Trump administration and was one of the Evangelical leaders that rallied support for the resurgent president in previous elections, described the Wednesday hostage and ceasefire deal in optimistic terms. While the deal mediated with help from the incoming Trump administration has been criticized by some wary of allowing Hamas to resume control of Gaza, Evans argued that it allowed Israel to build on its military successes to move on from the war and achieve greater strategic objectives.
“Israel has been very successful during this war,” said Evans, the founder of the Friends of Zion and the Jerusalem Prayer Team.
Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah had suffered its “greatest defeat yet” and ex-dictator Bashar al-Assad had fallen out of power in Syria, he said. The Israel Defense Forces had “broken the back of Hamas – its military is on life support,” but Iran still needed to be stopped.
Israel could collapse the Iranian regime’s economy by targeting its oil infrastructure, said Evans, noting that the 1978 oil strikes had been a major factor in the success of the following year’s Islamic Revolution. He argued that disrupting the Islamic regime’s source of revenue would allow the “beautiful people of Iran” to take back their country.
Evans said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to deal with Iran for decades but didn’t have the support from the United States of America, but by working with Trump he would have the backing to take action.
“Israel is going to have to deal with the head of the snake,” said Evans. “Israel needs the support of the US to do that.”
Freeing the hostages
TRUMP WANTED to end the war, Evans believed, and would give his full support to the fulfilment of a deal to release all the hostages and end hostilities. The American leader wanted to try to reach a long-term deal. While Evans said that the IDF had been militarily successful, the war had been a “public relations fiasco for Israel, though not because they did anything wrong.”
Evans dismissed the idea that the Trump administration had foisted an agreement on Israel, and believed that Netanyahu understood Trump’s benevolent intentions.
“I don’t think President Trump pushed a deal on Israel, I think he pushed a deal on Hamas,” he said.
If Hamas doesn’t hold to their end of the bargain or sought continued hostilities, then Trump would “have Netanyahu’s back” for the Israeli leader to do what was needed.
“Donald Trump will do everything in his power to make their lives a living hell.” said Evans. “Donald Trump is a strong man, and he won’t tolerate these little devils: He’ll smack them with a baseball bat.”
Evans argued that Trump already had experience in dealing with Islamist extremists like Hamas.
“Don’t forget that Donald Trump eradicated ISIS,” said Evans. “This isn’t his first rodeo.”
The FOZ Museum founder believed that Trump would use the threat of sanctions to prevent Qatar from funding Hamas to allow the terrorist organization to reconstitute itself in Gaza.
“I don’t think they will be getting funding anymore,” he said.
Evans said that while most of Hamas’s leadership was dead and its military units were ravaged, the Hamas ideology had a hold over the Gazan population – and an ideology that couldn’t be killed with bullets.
Gaza needed to undergo a massive reeducation process to deradicalize the population, a program that Evans said could be managed by Saudi Arabia. He believed that Trump would ultimately bring Saudi Arabia to help deal with Gaza “mess” and “drain the swamp.”
Israel-Saudi relations
EVANS SAID that he knew Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud as a man that had “zero tolerance for antisemitism” in his kingdom, and claimed that he was “more pro-Israel than many Jews.” Al Saud allegedly told Evans that “Palestinians are wasting our money.”
Trump would likely foster peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, asserted Evans, which would bring about normalization with the broader Sunni world. To convince Saudi Arabia, Trump would want to achieve a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, said Evans. He didn’t believe a Trump mediated deal would be “land for land, but peace for peace.”
“I don’t believe it will come at the expense of Judea and Samaria,” said Evans, noting that Trump had tapped former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel. Evans said that Huckabee was a supporter of Israeli sovereignty in the ancient Jewish heartland and disputed territory.
A final political settlement was in the long term, as Israel couldn’t be expected to give autonomy to a group that sought its destruction, but Evans suggested that the Palestinian future may see a “Puerto Rico Model.” The model detailed in former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s book One Jewish State: The Last, Best Hope to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict would give Palestinians autonomy but no voting in federal elections, like the US territory. Evans believed that such a solution would give Palestinians hope for a real future.
Trump did many great acts that benefited Israel in his previous term, and Evans expected that he would perform even greater feats in the next. The new administration was very pro-Israel, said the Christian leader, citing the presumed installment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary. Evans explained that Trump’s previous achievements that benefited Israel had been won despite friction with officials who were not friends of Israel.
“Donald Trump is the greatest president, in my opinion, for Israel,” he said.
Evans continued to say that he understood Trump to see matters of good and evil, and black and white, believing Israel to be a force for good and its enemies for evil.
“Donald Trump is a moral clarity president.”
International relations
THE RELATIONS between the American leader and his Israeli counterpart remained strong, said Evans, who denied reports that they were at odds.
“I know both of them extremely well – they both get along fine.”
Evans said that both Trump and Netanyahu were intelligent pragmatists, and the president admired Netanyahu’s political tenacity, allowing him to serve as prime minister for so long. To highlight the good relations, Evans noted that in December, Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, had dined with Trump at his West Palm Beach International Golf Course. Evans believed that Netanyahu would be one of the first world leaders invited to visit the new president.
When the Post visited the Friends of Zion museum, the facility had already been festooned with red, white, and blue balloons ahead of the inauguration celebration. A massive billboard of Trump hung across the building proclaiming “Congratulations President Trump, Israel loves you.” Evans explained that the event was aimed at showing the US leader that Jews, Israelis, and Christian allies were grateful for his support.
Evans said that Trump understood that Evangelical support was conditioned on his opposition to Roe V Wade, the now overturned court ruling that said the US constitution protected the right to abortion, and support for Israel. Many Evangelical Christians believed that the United States would benefit from a blessing from God for supporting Israel, with Evans citing Genesis (12:1-3): “I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you I will curse.”
With the return of hostages held by Hamas, and the inauguration of Trump as president, Evans had hope for the Middle East, saying:
“The future is bright for Israel.”