BLUF: Restoring “Peace Through Strength”

President-elect Trump’s political momentum continues to accelerate ahead of his inauguration on Monday. A slew of his nominees for key cabinet positions made their way over to Capitol Hill this week to sit before the Senate and make their case for confirmation.  In a predictably testy hearing, Secretary of Defense Nominee Pete Hegseth backtracked on some of his more controversial statements and doubled-down on his intention to inject a “warrior culture” into the Department. For their part, Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and nominee for Director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, both seem to have passed largely unscathed.

Meanwhile, Israel and Hamas are poised to strike a ceasefire and hostage exchange deal after more than a year of unrelenting conflict. Per Axios, the two sides may have finally unblocked the stop-start diplomatic efforts that will see the exchange of Israeli and American civilians held by Hamas with hundreds of Palestinians as well as the slow withdrawal of IDF forces from areas of the Gaza strip. 

In the wake of news of the agreement, President Trump went to Truth Social to repeat his unofficial foreign policy rallying cry: “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH.” In their confirmation hearings both Hegseth and Rubio reiterated the mantra, signaling the new administration’s determination to advance a foreign policy markedly different from that of the outgoing Biden administration.

Whether this strategy has already borne fruit remains to be seen. Uncertainty and distrust are certain to cloud future possibilities of peace in Gaza and the guarantee of permanent security for Israel and its citizens. As the world waits with bated breath to see whether the agreement will hold, any deal between the two sides has raised more questions than answers. 

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