Against All Odds, Hostage Square Has Now Been Renamed Freed Square

It’s the wee hours of Monday morning on the West Coast, middle of the night on the East Coast, and I should have turned in hours ago. I can’t sleep. Watching history unfold in front of your very eyes has a way of keeping the adrenaline running. 

Within 20 minutes of Donald Trump’s deadline of 8am local time in Israel, Hamas turned over the first of two tranches of living hostages. The first seven include: 

The first seven hostages are out of the hands of Hamas and safely with the IDF. Soon they will be in the loving arms of their families. 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/BgKtlgLICm

— JEWISH LIFE NOW-Your tribe with a new vibe (@JewishLifeNow) October 13, 2025

All seven were able to contact their families using their terrorist captors’ cellphones before boarding Red Cross vans to the drop-off point where they were transferred to the custody of the Israel Defense Forces. 

Moments after that transfer, the world was notified that all seven were able to walk under their own power, which is a very good sign. It was about this time that Air Force One was entering Israeli air space. 

As soon as President Trump’s plane was spotted from the ground, word came that the seven former hostages were now safely in Israeli soil for the first time in over two years. 

This is the moment that the first 7 living Israeli hostages released earlier today crossed into Israel by IDF convoy. Courtesy: IDF. pic.twitter.com/6Qojerie7L

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) October 13, 2025

This is just some of the celebrations shared online. 

Incredible footage from the Nova sitepic.twitter.com/uiZHPly1cn https://t.co/NQYrlGdi0P

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) October 13, 2025

I can’t even believe this. The mother of Matan Zangauker speaking with her son for the first time in 2 years. She keeps repeating “the war is over! You’re coming home!” pic.twitter.com/rUwTozn7W8

— Yael Bar tur 🤞 (@yaelbt) October 13, 2025

Listen to the cheer the moment it’s announced that 7 hostages are now in the hands of the IDF and on their way home to Israel 🥹💙 pic.twitter.com/h9KihEQI4r

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) October 13, 2025

Matan Angrest’s family in joyous singing when hearing he’s one of the first to be released. He was kidnapped from his tank near the border and brutally tortured and maltreated. Feeling their joy with them.pic.twitter.com/nkQR0oelDo

— Heidi Bachram 🎗️ (@HeidiBachram) October 13, 2025

TV news here says they had no idea if the other twin was dead or alive until this moment. https://t.co/LH28nL7SZ5

— Dr Brian of London 🇮🇱 (@brianoflondon) October 13, 2025

Remarkable. Today is without question the best day Israel has experienced since the terrorist attacks two years ago on October 7th. It is bittersweet for the 28 families of hostages that died in captivity, to be certain. And that goes as well for those previously murdered in captivity or in the original attacks. But this is a day no one in the world but Donald J. Trump saw as remotely possible. The euphoria on the ground in Israel is palpable. 

In an hour, the remaining 13 surviving hostages should be released, and the President will be ushered to a secure location to meet with some of the families of the hostages before heading to the Knesset to become only the 4th president in history to address Israel’s legislative chamber. He’ll receive their highest medal that can be presented to someone not an Israeli.

With two hours after his stop in Israel, it’s on to Egypt for negotiations with 20 other actors in the Middle East, along with Europe and Pacific Rim partners. Specifically excluded in this meeting is China and Russia. 

Make no mistake. Donald Trump is repairing a world order that global leftists for decades have tried to erode, one that saw the United States as the global glue after World War II that largely kept stability going among free countries. The United States is firmly back on the world stage enforcing that global order again, and it’s tremendously gratifying to see.

As Air Force One was descending into Tel Aviv, the pilots overflew what is now Freed Square so Trump could see what Israel put on the beach for the President. 

This is the message that will greet President Trump when Air Force One lands in Israel today. Photo Cred: Amir Goldstein pic.twitter.com/DOfOceDxbC

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) October 13, 2025

It’s a huge sign in the sand with the President’s silhouette, and a simple message in red, white, and blue: Thank you. Here’s what President Trump saw out the window. 

A VIEW FROM AIR FORCE ONE, flying over the beach front of the U.S. Embassy branch in Tel Aviv…

🙏🏼🕊️ pic.twitter.com/CA9EZ1R89f

— Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) October 13, 2025

If you’re an American, one that’s not poisoned with Trump Derangement Syndrome, you have to feel a huge sense of pride that American leadership is responsible for creating the conditions for a ceasefire that is not only holding, but one that released hostages the entire world in all practicality gave up for dead. Of all of the accomplishments of Donald Trump in only 9-plus months in office, and it’s a tremendous amount, nothing compares to this. 

There are some Democrats who have recognized the feat Trump has achieved thus far, even though there’s a long, long way to go in his 21-phase path forward for the Middle East. Former Secretary of State, and Trump’s opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to her credit, gave credit where credit was due. 

Hillary Clinton praises Trump for peace deal,

“It’s a really significant first step and I really commend Trump and his administration.”pic.twitter.com/wVFX7QeHkA

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) October 11, 2025

Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, of course, has been very good, as he has been since the October 7th attacks. And there have been at least a handful of Resistance media types that have had to tip their cap, albeit begrudgingly, to Trump for getting this far, like former Joe Biden speechwriter Jon Meacham and Washington Post national security and foreign policy reporter David Ignatius. 

Now for the rogues’ gallery of Democrats who saw Trump’s moment of triumph and treated it the way a man in St. Peter’s Basilica treated an altar over the weekend – by rhetorically peeing on it. 

DISGUSTING: Kamala Harris ATTACKS Israel, accusing them of committing a genocide.

Eugene Daniels: “A lot of folks in your party have called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide. Do you agree with that?”

Kamala Harris: “We should all step back and be honest about it. Yeah.” pic.twitter.com/8F4I1eFMyb

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 12, 2025

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, still committed to shuttering the American government at least until the No Kings rally in D.C. next weekend, offered this lame tweet.

Trump wants to fly around the world like a king while Americans are getting hammered by his tariffs and paying more for healthcare, groceries, rent, and electricity.

I just put forward an amendment that would make sure NOT ONE PENNY of taxpayer dollars will go toward…

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 10, 2025

Flying around like a king? Where was he flying, Chuck? What was he doing, Chuck? 

Trump flew to the Middle East to oversee Phase 1 of a peace plan the likes of which the world has not seen since Israel became a nation again in 1948, then go to Egypt to hold a conference for how Phase 2 will be implemented, before returning to Washington to mock Democrats mercilessly for being stupid in public on the government shutdown. And, by the way, he’s working on putting the lid back on hostilities that broke out between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the weekend while he’s in the air. This is the kind of travel schedule that would have incapacitated Joe Biden for a month had his staff been so bold as to attempt it. 

Speaking of Biden, his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who for four years was as useless as a tick on a turnip on the world stage, said this. 

(6/12) It starts with a clear and comprehensive post conflict plan for Gaza. It’s good that President Trump adopted and built on the plan the Biden Administration developed after months of discussion with Arab partners, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It centers on…

— Antony Blinken (@ABlinken) October 11, 2025

It’s laughably absurd. So much so, in fact, that Trump reacted to it when asked by a reporter in a gaggle on Air Force One on the way over to Israel. 

.@POTUS: “Everybody knows that’s a joke. They did such a bad job. This should’ve never happened… Everything they did was the opposite of what you should’ve done.” https://t.co/NAJbjDO9qf pic.twitter.com/m27U4btgZf

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 13, 2025

Vice-President J.D. Vance stayed in Washington and appeared on four of the five Sunday shows to address both the peace deal and the Schumer shutdown. But it was his appearance on ABC’s This Week with former Bill Clinton campaign guru George Stephanopoulos that raised the most eyebrows. 

VP Vance destroys George Stephanopoulos: “Let’s talk about the real issues. I think the American People would benefit much more from that than from you going down some weird left-wing rabbit hole…”

Stephanopoulos cuts Vance off and goes to commercials 😂pic.twitter.com/9GJlt8m1Oy

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) October 12, 2025

For almost four months after this alleged “sting” video of Border Czar Tom Homan, even with a Biden Department of Justice already weaponized to go after Donald Trump and his team in any way possible, there was no decision to bring forward charges, because as a private citizen working as a rainmaker for his own security company, there were no laws broken. Yet Stephanopoulos went full gotcha mode over an issue that only Never Trumpers and partisans trying to change the narrative from Trump successes any way possible care about. When Vance flattened him, Stephanopoulos cut the interview short and went to an early commercial break. ABC is hopeless. Now compare that with CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. 

After spending the better part of the last two years as an advocate for the Democratic Party, Brennan brought on Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, and did something that caught everyone off-guard, including Murphy. She practiced journalism. 

“You have been critical in the past of the tactic of choosing to shutdown the government. You were in 2018, you were back in 2013 when it was a discussion over health care…Aren’t you doing today exactly what you were criticizing then?”

CHRIS MURPHY: Uhh, this is an “emergency” pic.twitter.com/7NLZdE6o6R

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 12, 2025

I call this the Weiss effect. Now that Bari has been installed editor-in-chief of CBS News, it seems pretty apparent that Brennan likes her job and would like to keep it for a while, even if that means doing something novel like pressing both sides and not letting anyone get away with talking point answers.

While American Democrats and their media partners largely remain engaged in small, petty, tactically stupid political stunts, Donald Trump just finished pulling off the unthinkable. In the time since I began this column, this news out of Israel from N12’s Amit Segal. 

As of 10:52am, October 13, 2025, there are no more living Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip.

— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) October 13, 2025

Just incredible. They have all been turned over to the IDF and are in Israel. As Trump climbed into the Beast for the trip to the Knesset to address Israel’s parliament, red hats began popping up. 

Many people attending Trump’s speech at the Knesset are wearing these red hats pic.twitter.com/g1qhOCg1sG

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) October 13, 2025

Trump The Peace President. Hard to argue with it. 

Yes, Hamas went underground when Israel went into the Gaza City. Once the deal was negotiated and implemented, Israel withdrew to the preassigned 1st withdrawal line. Hamas came out of the tunnels and immediately began to slaughter Palestinians. Right before the first batch of hostages were turned over to the Red Cross, there was a show of force. A line of about 20 masked Hamas terrorists, all armed, stood in a line in a demonstration of defiance. No shots were fired, and their line quickly dissipated. But Phase Two, getting Hamas to disarm, is not something the remnants in the Strip seem to want to do. They can’t kill Jews right now, they have no outside allies any longer, and they’re mad that Gazans are happy the war is over, so they’re killing Palestinians they believe to be traitors. There’s still a lot of hard work ahead.

But the same was said until this morning about getting 20 hostages freed after being abused underground for two years. 

The smart money? Don’t bet against Donald Trump. He’s on a one heck of a winning streak.