The historic Gaza ceasefire deal brought kudos from virtually all media anchors and correspondents from networks like CNN, Fox News, and ABC News covering it — with crucial caveats. These words echoed across the media landscape: “Emotional,” “incredible,” “historic,” and even “miraculous.”
President Trump took notice, singling out Fox News’ Trey Yingst, who scored the only one-on-one interview with him in Israel. “I watched your coverage, and I really appreciate it. You are a real professional.”
“This is an incredible day for the world, let alone the Middle East. So I just wanted to thank the media. They really treated it with respect.” He praised “everybody” in “fake news,” saying “it was so pleasant to watch.”
And he was right.
For the first time, Trump dominated the public stage with praise from almost all facets of the media. It was a welcome change from the constant barrage of criticism bashing the administration and its policies, not to mention corrosive personal attacks against Trump. But the press also raised uncomfortable questions after praising the deal. Hardly anyone failed to acknowledge what was a monumental deal first before turning to these legitimate points.
Israeli videos of some of the 20 freed hostages falling into the arms of loved ones brought tears to my eyes and became a constant staple of television coverage. Praise for the dealmaker who brokered their release poured in.
Even those from The View, which has been relentlessly critical of the president, weighed in.
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg didn’t praise Trump directly but acknowledged the positives of the deal. “The winners are now all the families.”
The lone Republican, co-host and onetime Mike Pence aide Alyssa Farah Griffin, applauded Trump and those involved. “I think everyone should be able to celebrate it. And listen, whether you like Trump or not, I think he, Steve Witkoff, and I think Jared Kushner do deserve credit for this deal.”
MSNBC’s Jon Meacham, a historian who quietly served as a speechwriter for President Biden, praised the broker-in-chief for the release of the hostages. “It’s a terrific day for President Trump, for our national interests,” Meacham said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Also on MSNBC, Richard Stengel, a State Department official under Barack Obama, criticized Trump’s style of negotiation, saying he says the “hell with the details,” and his strategy is to “wildly overpromise and force people to deliver.” He added that “we saw a lot of showbiz,” cautioning that next steps will be “behind-the-scenes hard work.”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer noted there are still “lots of questions” remaining, especially around what comes after Phase 1 of the agreement. He also treated the optimistic tone of Trump’s remarks with caution.
On Fox News, Bret Baier praised the president, saying that “his version of peace through strength” had worked. Martha MacCallum said it was impossible for people to believe that “President Biden could pull this off.”
Prominent Democrats gave credit where credit was due. On CBS News, Hillary Clinton, who famously lost to Trump, not only praised the deal but lauded what will come next. “I really commend President Trump and his administration—as well as Arab leaders in the region—for making the commitment to the 20-point plan and seeing a path forward for what’s often called the day after.”
Former President Bill Clinton praised Trump and his administration, saying they deserve “great credit” for the ceasefire and for “keeping everyone engaged until the agreement was reached.”
So did Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, who posted: “Credit to @POTUS for a breakthrough ceasefire of this awful war.” Other politicians, such as Democratic representatives Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Don Davis of North Carolina, followed suit.
Not every politician praised the president. On Chris Hayes’ MSNBC show, California’s Rep. Ro Khanna said, “I mean, I really don’t care, frankly, whether Trump gets credit, whether we get credit.”
While the media portrayal included widespread relief and praise for what has been achieved so far, questions on all the networks addressed deeper issues like statehood, governance, financial aid, and what the disarmament of Hamas looks like. What’s more, doubts surfaced about whether it will happen at all. Those are valid points that deserve intense scrutiny in the weeks and months to come.
President Trump didn’t address the future, saying, “The first steps to peace are always the hardest.” He believes this deal marks the end of conflict in the Middle East. “It will soon be a truly magnificent region.”
The terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel two years ago in a massacre that killed 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages. In retaliation, Israel has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians. There’s a reason why the media are framing the last couple of days as “bittersweet” and questioning whether this moment was simply a symbolic, temporary milestone.
I’m one of the skeptics, although I wish I wasn’t. In 1998, I covered the Wye River summit in Maryland between Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. An interim agreement was signed to stop fighting. Four years earlier, Palestinians had bombed and killed hundreds of Israelis. This, sadly, has been the bloody history of the region.
More than a dozen U.S.-based journalists were sent to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv for wall-to-wall coverage Sunday evening into Monday, including ABC’s David Muir, CBS’ Tony Dokoupil, CNN’s Blitzer and Kaitlan Collins, and NBC’s Tom Llamas. By mid-afternoon, coverage started to include other stories, including National Guard deployments, the government shutdown, and the January 6th insurrection.
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour felt compelled to apologize for her insensitive comments about Israeli hostages who were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan” after a major backlash.
It’s audacious and risky to declare peace, especially because previous efforts eventually fell apart. This will be a long road. In six months or a year, Trump’s accomplishments, as important as they are, may look very different.
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It seems to me that there days if your name is Donald Trump and you are under attack from the press, there are few places to hide..I surfed the net all day just to see what would be said about such a tremendously huge historically signifigant story and was not impressed. what may or may not have been said in the news I cannot verify because unlike the many negative articles on Trump that in many cases remain visible for days, all the “positive” reporting about Trump’s Mideast Peace Plan signing were taken down and replaced, on all of these news media outlets, with what could be classifies as corruption of the news to insulting levels. CNN has been the disgrace of the entire world working on saying what they want instead of stating the facts. when that isn’t enough to slandering our President , they resort to using hypothetical scenarios that don’t exist to tell you what poor moves trump might make if XYZ were to actually happen.Its.unfair politicalq war mongering at the expense of a great president, true patriot and a very thoughtful humanitarian.
Nice effort by Martha MacCallum and her crack about Biden. Just shows why she’s disrespected by real media for her maga partisanship. They just can’t get over their BDS to attack Biden whenever they can. I’m sure their petty lord and master loved it.