Two years after the Hamas invasion, the guns have quieted. The Trump-brokered framework has stopped the fighting, brought most hostages home, and reshaped the regional map—but it’s a TKO, not the knockout Netanyahu promised, and he knows it. The referee has called the bout in Israel’s favor, yet the combatants are still standing. The match is not over.
The memorial ceremony at Mount Herzl on October 16, 2025, was both solemn and charged with meaning. Two years to the day after the worst massacre in Israel’s history, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog stood together before grieving families, soldiers, and dignitaries to mark the cost—and the unfinished business—of a war that changed the nation forever.
Trump’s ceasefire plan has taken hold: the final 20 living hostages are home, and the remains of nine more have been returned. Yet 19 bodies still lie somewhere beneath Gaza’s rubble. For their families, and for a country still haunted by the images of October 7, closure remains incomplete.
Netanyahu’s words captured the tension between triumph and torment. “The struggle is not over,” he declared, “but one thing is clear today: anyone who raises a hand against us already knows he will pay a very heavy price.” He promised to bring back “every last” captive and to “complete the victory that will shape the order of our lives for many years.”
It was a statement of defiance—but also of restraint. The war, once total, now moves under the limits of a political framework shaped not in Jerusalem but in Washington. Or more precisely, in Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump Framework: Victory with Boundaries
Donald Trump’s return to power and his hands-on intervention in ending the war have rewritten the region’s script. His bearhug of Israel has been both strategic and constraining. The former president’s plan halted a grinding campaign that had already shattered Hamas’s military capacity, leveled its tunnel networks, and eliminated most of its senior leadership. Yet the deal also required Jerusalem to pause before the complete disarmament and demilitarization Netanyahu had promised.
The “Trump Framework,” as it has come to be called, trades total victory for strategic realignment. The U.S. has promised unprecedented support for Israel’s regional integration—expanded normalization with Arab and Muslim states, joint reconstruction projects under American supervision, and quiet cooperation with Saudi Arabia. In return, Israel has agreed to a phased de-militarization of Gaza under international oversight rather than through continued IDF operations.
Trump, in his address to the Knesset earlier this week, praised Israeli valor and promised that “no other ally has ever stood with America as Israel has.” Yet behind the warmth lies a message: keep the peace, for now.
Netanyahu understands this. He knows that Israel’s hands are partly tied—but also that the ropes are golden. With Trump in the Oval Office, Israel’s strategic depth and diplomatic cover are secure. With Biden or Harris, they would not be.
Netanyahu’s Balancing Act
At Mount Herzl, Netanyahu seemed to speak to two audiences: the Israeli people and the American president. “We rose to our feet as one,” he said. “We shifted the focus of battle into enemy territory; we struck it with crushing blows.” It was the language of a fighter who knows he has won on points, but not by knockout.
The prime minister’s tone alternated between pride and persistence. “Great challenges still lie ahead from our enemies who seek to rearm,” he warned—a thinly veiled reference to Tehran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. The airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June—coordinated quietly with the U.S.—were among the war’s most dramatic moments. They reminded the region that Israel’s reach remains long, and its deterrence intact.
Still, Netanyahu conceded indirectly that the “complete victory” he has vowed is not yet complete. “We will achieve all our objectives,” he insisted—but the meaning of “objectives” has evolved. Where once it meant the total elimination of Hamas, it now implies containment, deterrence, and rebuilding.
The Trump bearhug has made Netanyahu both stronger and smaller: embraced, empowered, but unable to move freely.
Herzog’s Call for Unity—and Accountability
President Isaac Herzog’s speech provided the moral counterweight. “After two years of war, we must begin to create a horizon for the future,” he urged. He spoke of the need for “a day after” both “inwardly and outwardly,” calling for unity as the nation heals.
But Herzog also demanded accountability. In a striking moment, he asked forgiveness on behalf of the state for its “failure” to defend its citizens on October 7 and called for a full investigation into the disaster. His words—“We must be worthy of your sacrifice”—landed like a quiet indictment of the political class.
The government’s reluctance to form a state commission of inquiry has drawn criticism even from within the coalition. The High Court’s recent statement that “there is no real argument” against such an inquiry adds pressure on Netanyahu, who would prefer to defer judgment until the wounds of war have further healed.
The Scorecard Two Years In
Israel’s achievements are undeniable. Hamas’s leadership is shattered. Its tunnels, command posts, and rocket factories lie in ruins. Gaza’s borders are now sealed under joint Israeli-Egyptian-American control. Iran’s nuclear program has been set back years. Hezbollah, sobered by the ferocity of Israel’s northern campaign, has retreated from the frontier.
Yet challenges remain. Hamas’s ideology endures underground, its remnants blending into Gaza’s civilian fabric. The families of 19 Israeli hostages still await closure. And in the international arena, Israel continues to battle accusations of genocide—charges Netanyahu called “antisemitic libels hurled at us by those who wish us ill.”
For Israelis, the war’s cost has been staggering: over 2,000 soldiers killed, thousands wounded, and entire communities along the Gaza envelope still displaced. The economic toll, though cushioned by U.S. aid and Gulf investment, remains heavy.
But unlike previous wars, this one has redrawn the regional chessboard. From the “valley of weeping,” as Netanyahu said, Israel has reached “the skies of Tehran.”
Round Ten of Fifteen
So—did Israel win the war?
In military terms, yes. In psychological and strategic terms, not yet. Hamas has been beaten but not buried. Iran has been bloodied but not broken. And Israel, victorious yet vigilant, finds itself under the restraining arm of its greatest ally.
The fight, in truth, is in its 10th round of 15. The referee—Donald Trump—has called a technical knockout. The bell has rung, the corner men are entering the ring, and the crowd is catching its breath. But the opponent still stirs on the mat.
Netanyahu knows it. He sees that full victory—complete demilitarization, enduring deterrence, and the safe return of every Israeli captive—remains just out of reach. Yet he also knows the alternative: a Biden or Harris presidency that would end the fight on Hamas’s terms, not Israel’s.
So Israel waits. Waits for the next violation, the next rocket, the next provocation that will give Trump reason to lift his restraining hand and whisper the word every fighter longs to hear: “Go.”
Until then, Israel will bandage its wounds, honor its fallen, welcome home returning hostages, and stay on its feet—still in the ring, still unbowed, ready for the next round.
Not, did not, unfortunately. Because of Mr.Trump, forceful intervention, who blocked the Judea and Samaria righful re annecting to Israel…
Hamas should be terminated 100%, not just 80….
The Job was not completely done; it will cause more pain in the near future for Israel.
History repeats itself…