In this solo commentary, Dennis Prager reflects on the recent Israel‑Hamas hostage exchange and the broader diplomatic context under President Donald Trump. He begins by asserting that, if evaluated by ordinary standards, Trump deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering the deal and for a series of other regional achievements (e.g., curbing Iranian nuclear ambitions, weakening Hezbollah and the Houthis). Prager then critiques the prisoner‑swap itself, noting that roughly 2,000 Palestinian militants were released in exchange for about 20 Israeli hostages, a ratio he argues incentivizes future kidnappings. He acknowledges Israel’s moral impulse to value every life but warns of the strategic cost. He observes that Hamas remains in power—though weakened, it has not been eliminated—contrary to any expectation of total defeat. Prager draws a parallel between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, highlighting their shared confrontations with domestic critics, legal battles, and perceived achievements against regional adversaries, while also noting how trivial controversies (e.g., alleged cigar gifts) can distract from substantive successes. He questions the Israel Defense Forces’ delayed response to the initial Gaza attacks, demanding accountability. Finally, Prager contrasts what he calls an Israeli “preoccupation with life” with what he describes as a Palestinian/Hamas “death cult,” citing online celebrations of violence on both sides and emphasizing that Western observers often miss this cultural divide. The commentary ends with a call for perspective over emotion.
Chapters
Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here, and I have been asked by a lot of people to offer some commentary on the return of the hostages to Israel. So here are some thoughts that I have on the issue, not in order of importance. Just in order of how they come to my mind. The first is that if the world had normal standards, Donald Trump would have won the Nobel Peace Prize well before the Israel-Hamas deal. But if he doesn't win it now, it should be obvious to everyone that it is a politicized prize and doesn't reflect reality. His achievement, whether it was Azerbaijan and Armenia and so many others, has been remarkable. Second is actually somewhat of a downer, but I have to be honest. Israel has given 2,000 terrorists that were in Israeli prisons, 2,000 for what is it, 20 or so? Living Israelis. All this does is tell terrorists around the world, and especially terrorists who are attacking Israelis, that this is a great way to get their people out of prison. And so there's no such thing as a long imprisonment for almost any Muslim terrorists. Look, this was learned with the Israeli soldier years ago. Who was returned by Hamas for, I think, something like 2,000 terrorists then. This includes people who murdered Israeli Jews and people who blew up buses and restaurants and so on. I totally understand. The deep desire of Israelis to value every life. This is a very Jewish thing to do. And that's what they have done. But it comes at a tremendous price. And the price is that they have taught their mortal enemies that they can get back the most heinous criminals just by taking an Israeli hostage. So there's no way to deny that fact. The third conclusion that I draw from this is also somewhat of a downer, if you will. And that is that Hamas has not been removed from power. To be honest, I never thought that that was a realistic game, that Hamas would stay in power in in Gaza and perhaps among the Palestinians in the West Bank or Judea and Samaria. That's the way it is. Hamas, it has not been destroyed. It has been weakened. but it has not been destroyed. Number 4 is the incredible parallel between Netanyahu and Trump. No matter what Trump achieves, those who hate him continue to hate him, but he is supervised the destruction of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the near destruction of the Houthis in Yemen, the overwhelming destruction of the nuclear plans and power in Iran, and the removal of the Syrian barbaric regime. He had all these fronts surrounding Israel and was able to extinguish nearly all of them. It's incredible. And, you know, people forget because they came, you know, one after the other. But for example, the, and the blowing up of the pagers, if you want to read of an incredible achievement, read what Israel did to get those exploding pagers into the heads of Hezbollah leaders, and then about the incredible ability to wipe out, to eliminate the, uh, the leading Scientists in Iran, just them, not a whole group of people around them. It's— these are amazing achievements. At the same time, he has to answer for the vaunted abilities of the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, and their inability to respond for hours to what was happening in Gaza. In, in, in southern Israel. I would like to know, frankly, why, why such a failure took place. Now, I was mentioning the parallels between Netanyahu and Trump. Trump, no matter what he has achieved, And it has been beyond belief. They continue— his haters continue to hate him irrespective of what achievements he has attained. And likewise, they both have these domestic battles. Trump had his with all these phony indictments. And Netanyahu has all of these in Israel for alleged crimes. I mean, I don't know. The Netanyahu battles like I know the Trump battles. But if I'm not mistaken, one of them concerned receiving Cuban cigars. I mean, the man that saved Israel and extinguished so many of its enemies And people are dwelling on his receipt, theoretically illegally, of cigars. If that is accurate, it's a shame. People lose perspective. Perspective is one of the key elements in life. And so many people just lose it because they're overwhelmed by it, by emotions. And their hatred is such that that's what matters, not an ability to to see the achievements of these two men. And finally, this entire process should make it clear, in case it hasn't, of a society that is preoccupied with life and a society that venerates death, or as Douglas Murray calls it, a death cult. I saw on the internet, aside from what everybody saw, the celebration of death of both Palestinians and Jews on the part of Palestinians and Hamas and the Israeli preoccupation, perhaps even over-preoccupation with the life of one Israeli. So that's clear. But in addition, the difference of celebrations. I saw a video of Palestinians ecstatically dancing and cheering the words, we will kill all the Jews. That was their celebration. And the Israeli celebration: we will save all the Jews. There wasn't a word about extinguishing Palestinians. That's the difference. As Hamas put it years ago, we love death as much as the Jews love life. They know the difference. It's the naive French, English, Americans, Australians who don't know that difference. But you and I should. Thanks for listening. Until next time, bye-bye.
