President Trump has left the entire Middle East on the “cusp of a sustainable peace,” Vice President JD Vance said Sunday.
Vance, 41, said he is “very confident” that Hamas will release the hostages to Israel as agreed — and credited Trump’s “non-traditional diplomacy” for the historic diplomatic breakthrough.
“It was a very tall task. He pursued a very non-traditional diplomacy with people who were not 40-year diplomats, but people who brought a fresh perspective to it,” Vance told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.
“I think that because he chose a different pathway, he didn’t just do what everybody else in the past had done, we are now on the cusp of a sustainable peace in the Middle East. It’s a great moment.”
Trump had unveiled his 20-point plan for peace between Israel and Gaza on Sept. 29. Hamas agreed to the terms on Wednesday evening, and the Israeli cabinet formally approved it the following day.
Now Hamas is expected to release the 20 living hostages either late Sunday or Monday and work towards returning the bodies of the 28 deceased hostages over the coming weeks.
Trump will touch down in Israel on Monday before heading over to Egypt to make the historic deal he helped broker.
Vance acknowledged that the US may have to grapple with some “hard feelings” in the region over the war in Gaza, but stressed that America will be safer because of the deal Trump helped strike.
“We’ve been laser-focused on eliminating the terrorist threat to the Israelis, while also ensuring that the innocent people in Gaza get the necessary humanitarian aid. That’s a difficult balance to strike,” he said.
“I’m sure [there’s] going to be some hard feelings from the last couple of years of war,” the vice president continued. “There always are. But if we can build a sustainable peace, I am 100% sure Americans will be safer because of it.”
The vice president also told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he views the breakthrough deal as the end of the Israel-Hamas war that raged on for two years.
“We’re going to have to do a lot of work to make sure that it stays ended,” Vance said. “This was very hard. This was a long time coming. It required a lot of work.”
“The president is not planning to put boots on the ground in Israel,” he said, saying US forces in the region will simply monitor the situation.
