Australian Jewish leaders welcome Trump peace plan

US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza has been welcomed by Australian Jewish leaders.

Praise rolled in from around the globe for Trump’s plan on Monday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in a press conference at the White House that Israel had accepted the proposal.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the fate of Gaza was now “wholly in the hands of Hamas”.

“The flotillas, the UN inquiries, the musician death chants, the street rallies won’t save Gaza or a single human life but immediate acceptance of this plan will,” he said. “This is the moment to separate those who support peace from those who are willing to keep yielding up Palestinian lives to feed their own resistance fantasies.”

Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler said the plan was “a direct result of both military and Trump administration pressure on Hamas”.

“Israel has agreed to the plan, and we strongly urge all Western governments, including Australia, to put maximum pressure on Hamas to accept the deal, free the hostages, and immediately end the war and lay down their arms,” he said. “Now is the time for Hamas’ brutal reign of terror to end and allow Israelis and Palestinians to have a viable and secure future.”

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) called the plan “very hopeful”.

“The plan involves the immediate release of Israeli hostages within 72 hours, the disarming of Hamas, which will have no role in Gaza’s future governance, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the introduction of regional Arab and international forces to act as peacekeepers and facilitate reconstruction,” AIJAC executive director  Colin Rubenstein said.

“And even if Hamas refuses or creates delays, peacekeepers are to begin operating in those parts of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces even as the war continues to remove Hamas from the remaining 30 per cent or so it still dominates.

“The plan thus constitutes a clear end-game to the war – one which fulfils all of Israeli war aims of freeing the hostages, and disarming Hamas and ensuring it has no future role in governing, while also providing a path to a much better future for Gazans.”

He added, “It’s important to note how this plan is rooted in much greater realism than the grandiose statements from Western leaders, including Australia, that didn’t advance peace one bit by naively recognising ‘Palestine’ based on unlikely promises of reforms from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

“This plan proposes incentives and benchmarks to actually push the Palestinian Authority (PA) to undertake the reforms essential to creating the conditions for a viable two-state peace in future.”

The White House released the plan, titled “Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict,” shortly before Trump’s joint press conference with Netanyahu in which they both hailed its vision.

“Today is a historic day for peace,” Trump said. “I want to thank the leaders of many Arab and Muslim nations for their tremendous support in developing the proposal, along with many of our allies in Europe.

“I also want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for agreeing to the plan and for trusting that if we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years, decades, even centuries, and begin a new chapter of security, peace, and prosperity for the entire region.”

Netanyahu said, “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims. It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities and its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.

“Your plan is consistent with the five principles my government set for the end of the war and the day after Hamas,” he said. “All our hostages, both those who are alive and those who died, all of them, will return home immediately. Hamas will be disarmed. Gaza will be demilitarised. Israel will retain security responsibility, including a security perimeter for the foreseeable future. And lastly, Gaza will have a peaceful civilian administration that is run neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian Authority.

“I think this can be not only a new beginning for Gaza, I think it can be a new beginning for the entire region.”

Prior to the announcement of the plan, Netanyahu apologised in a phone call to his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani for the Israeli strike in Qatar on September 9. The call was made from the Oval Office with Trump present.

The 20-point plan, if accepted by both sides, will immediately put an end to the fighting and ensure that all remaining hostages are freed within 72 hours. Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence will be given amnesty, and those who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage.

Aid will then flow into the enclave, and a process of demilitarising, deradicalising, and redeveloping the Strip will begin.

A transitional government of Palestinian technocrats will be established, alongside an international advisory board chaired by Trump and including former UK prime minister Tony Blair. A temporary international security force (ISF) will be deployed and gradually take over from the IDF as it withdraws.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority will undergo long-demanded reforms until it is determined that the conditions are in place for a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

Hamas has yet to respond to the plan, although Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera reported that Qatar and Egypt had conveyed it to the terror group, and that the Hamas delegation promised to examine the proposal “responsibly.”

Netanyahu said that if Hamas rejects the plan, “or if they supposedly accept it and then basically do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself.”

Former British prime minister Blair said in his first public statement on the matter that it “offers us the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering.”

“President Trump has put down a bold and intelligent plan which, if agreed, can end the war, bring immediate relief to Gaza, the chance of a brighter and better future for its people, whilst ensuring Israel’s absolute and enduring security and the release of all hostages,” Blair said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer also threw his support behind Trump’s vision.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said on on X, “Hamas has no choice but to immediately release all hostages and follow this plan.”

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Qatar, and Egypt issued a joint statement welcoming Trump’s “sincere efforts” to end the war in Gaza “and assert their confidence in his ability to find a path to peace.”

The Palestinian Authority said in a statement that it “welcomes the sincere and determined efforts of President Donald J Trump to end the war on Gaza, and affirms its confidence in his ability to find a path toward peace.”

Meanwhile, Hamas claimed on Sunday that it had lost contact with two hostages during Israeli operations in Gaza City.

WITH TIMES OF ISRAEL