Cairo (Egypt): When Israel and Hamas swapped captives October 13, the day that was meant to be a moment of triumph, US President Donald Trump took the podium inside the Knesset, bathed in applause and camera lights.
“This is not only the end of a war, this is the end of an age of terror and death and the beginning of the age of faith and hope and of God,” he said, with his voice echoing through Israel’s parliament.
He called it “a historic dawn of a new Middle East”. His audience listened, half in awe and half in disbelief.
Trump spoke of ceasefire, captives and miracles. Twenty Israelis were freed by the Hamas. Two hundred and fifty Palestinian political prisoners were released by Israel. About 1,700 Gaza detainees returned home after months of disappearance. The US president claimed it all came from his “20-point plan” to end the war, a proposal as sweeping as it was vague.
After the speech, he flew to Egypt for the peace deal signing summit. Cameras followed him as he signed the first phase of his peace deal, watched by Arab and global leaders. Under the plan, a stabilisation force would enter Gaza. Hamas would hand over governance to a Palestinian committee, which will be monitored by a “Board of Peace” led by Trump himself, along with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
It was theatre, diplomacy and self-celebration in one frame. Trump called out his “brilliant negotiator” Steve Witkoff and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He praised Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and demanded a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Then came the familiar Trump flourish, attacks on his predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and stories of heroism that demanded a closer look.
Claim 1: ‘I Settled 8 Wars In 8 Months’
That line drew cheers. But the reality tells a different story. Trump’s ceasefire efforts touched several conflict zones – Israel-Iran, India-Pakistan and Armenia-Azerbaijan. Some calmed, some reignited. Others barely noticed.
In Africa, the truce he helped broker between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda quickly fell apart, with hundreds killed since June.
Even his “peace” between Cambodia and Thailand cracked within weeks amid border skirmishes. The Nile dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia remains frozen.
And in Europe, Kosovo and Serbia never actually reached the brink of war.
Experts say Trump’s claim of “eight wars settled” is fiction wrapped in diplomacy. The Gaza ceasefire may be real, but its endurance remains uncertain.
Claim 2: ‘We Dropped 14 Bombs On Iran’s Nuclear Sites, Obliterating Them’
It was the most explosive claim of the night. Trump referred to Operation Midnight Hammer, the secret US mission that targeted three Iranian nuclear facilities in June. He said, “We totally obliterated them. That has been confirmed.”
But no such official confirmation exists. Satellite images and leaked reports remain inconclusive. The Fordow site, one of Iran’s most fortified, shows signs of damage, but not destruction.
A New York Times report from August 20 said “significant damage likely occurred”, but it added that “with so many unknowns, certainty may never come”.
For now, Trump’s claim floats between fact and fantasy.
Claim 3: ‘The Iran Nuclear Deal Turned Out To Be A Disaster’
Trump’s favourite target was the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that took place during Obama’s administration.
Tehran largely complied with it. International inspectors confirmed it. The deal limited uranium enrichment and opened the country to scrutiny. In return, sanctions eased. It was not permanent, but it was working.
Trump walked away from it in 2018. He promised a tougher renegotiation, which never happened. It resulted into new sanctions, economic pain and Iran inching back toward nuclear capability. Experts say it was not the deal that failed. It was the withdrawal.
Claim 4: ‘Under Obama And Biden, There Was Hatred Toward Israel’
The sentence lit up social media and infuriated historians who called it “untrue”. They said both Obama and Biden strengthened Israel militarily and politically.
“Both administrations oversaw expansions in US military assistance and coordination with Israel,” they highlighted.
Obama’s 2016 pact sent $38 billion to Israel over 10 years, the largest package in history. The funds upgraded Tel Aviv’s air fleets and missile defences.
Biden continued that trend. Since the Gaza war began in 2023, US military aid to Israel has reached $21.7 billion. He also deployed US troops near Israel and Gaza and vetoed several UN ceasefire resolutions.
Hatred? Hardly. Policy? Absolutely.
Claim 5: ‘Obama And Biden Did Nothing With The Abraham Accords’
Trump’s attempt to claim credit for history missed its mark. Obama had already left office years before the Abraham Accords came into existence. Forged during Trump’s first term, the 2020 agreement brought Israel into closer ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. As the accord took effect, new embassies opened, regular flights resumed and trade between the nations began to expand rapidly.
Biden tried to extend it to Saudi Arabia. But after October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked and Israel responded with overwhelming force, the plan collapsed.
The idea of official Israeli-Saudi relations became much harder. Since then, Gaza has suffered unimaginable destruction – 68,000 Palestinians killed, most of them women and children. Ninety-two percent of homes turned to rubble. Two million people trapped in ruins.
No accord could survive that.
Trump left the Knesset smiling and waving, promising what he called “a world reborn in faith”. Outside the chamber, analysts examined his speech and tallied the half-truths and unverified claims that filled it.
Around the world, people recognised the familiar cadence of his words, grand in tone and steeped in divinity, but drifting far from reality. But in a region burning for peace, even myths can sound like salvation.