EDITORIAL: Trump election moves needle in Middle East

The November election in the United States has had a remarkable influence on the chaotic Middle East. Thank Donald Trump’s victory along with Israel’s fierce determination to survive.

Last week, Hezbollah agreed to a cease-fire with the Jewish state after being pummeled by Israel’s might and sophisticated intelligence operations. The terror group, based in Lebanon on Israel’s northern border, is an Iranian proxy with deep ties to Tehran.

The timing is no coincidence. It wasn’t long ago that President Joe Biden warned Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu against hitting Hezbollah targets. And it was just a month ago that Iran’s supreme leader promised “a crushing response” against Israel for defending itself in the face of terrorist aggression. He also threatened American targets. But now, Iran has signed off on Hezbollah’s retreat and is rethinking its bellicose strategy.

“Iran’s swing from tough talk to a more conciliatory tone in just a few weeks’ time has its roots in developments at home and abroad,” The New York Times reported last week. Those events include the Nov. 5 election of the “unpredictable” Mr. Trump, Israel’s “decimation” of “Hezbollah — the closest and most important of Iran’s militant allies” and Iran’s declining domestic economic fortunes.

As a result, “several senior Iranian officials have publicly said Iran was open to negotiations with the Trump administration to resolve nuclear and regional issues,” the Times reported.

At the same time, the Hamas strategy of provoking a wider, deadlier war involving Iran and its client states is now in shambles. The group — which intentionally triggered the current conflict with its murderous Oct. 7 rampage inside Israel and its steadfast insistence that the Jewish state be eliminated — has now seen its closest ally move to the sidelines and become increasingly isolated. Not surprisingly, “Hamas said on Wednesday it was ready to go back to the negotiating table,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Its position, however, has been considerably weakened. “Egypt, the main mediator and the country with the most leverage over Hamas, has told the group” that many of its current demands “are no longer realistic,” according to the Journal. That could include the terror group’s insistence that Israel release hundreds of convicted Palestinian criminals in return for scores of hostages the group seized during its barbaric attack and still holds as innocent pawns.

Of course, Hamas leaders have held the group’s future in their own hands since they initiated hostilities at the expense of their own civilian population. Their best hope for survival is to cease hostilities, release the innocent victims they currently hold and acknowledge Israel’s right to exist. Clinging to dangerous and fantastical expectations has become an untenable path forward.

None of this is to imply that an end to the region’s long-term instability is in sight. But the election of Mr. Trump has clearly made an impression on the mullahs and triggered positive developments. And that’s a rebuke to the Biden administration’s policy of appeasing Iran and its terrorist proxies while constantly hectoring Israel for taking the military steps necessary to fend off its fanatical enemies.