Israel has been inundated with American adoration

Hostage Square, Tel Aviv – Donald Trump also arrived in Tel Aviv on Monday Take a victory lap in the Israeli KnessetOn the streets of this devastated city, it was a love fest for the American president.

Some Israeli conservatives may admire Trump, but for now, even those on the loyal left here have little praise for the man credited with saving the remaining hostages.

“Trump! Trump! Trump!” Thousands of Israelis chanted in the hostage square on Monday morning in the hours before the attack The last 20 hostages are alive They were transported across the Israeli border by the Red Cross and handed over to IDF soldiers.

Micah Doman, who works in the technology industry in Tel Aviv, paid NIS 100 on his way to the plaza for a large American flag that he waved during Trump’s speech.

“I am here to thank America,” Doman, 45, said.

Trump’s speech was broadcast on a giant screen in the square Huge crowds gathered Every Saturday night since the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.

“Peace is not just hope,” Trump said, prompting the crowd to cheer. “The Middle East is finally ready to embrace its extraordinary potential. Decades of fomenting terrorism, jihad and anti-Semitism… have been a disaster.”

Trump is a kind of unifier in Israel. Even Israelis who couldn’t imagine voting for conservative agreed He is the man of the hour.

“What he did is amazing. I don’t think there’s a Jew on the left who is grateful and doesn’t feel the importance of what Trump did.” said Nita Gover, 24, who votes Labor and believes Palestinians have “the right to their own country.”

“But I feel really weird rooting for him because, politically, I’m not on his side,” added Giuffre, a student and waitress.

“We love Trump!” gushed a Parisian woman named Jessie, 37, whose three-year-old daughter waved a joint American-Israeli flag.

Billboards bearing Trump’s smiling face have appeared all over Israel. One, on the other side of the government complex in Tel Aviv, shows the president in front of the American and Israeli flags and reads “Cyrus the Great Alive!” – A reference to the ancient Persian conqueror known for liberating the Jewish people from Babylonian captivity.

In the Carmel Market, in the heart of Tel Aviv, vendors chant, “Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump! Trump!” They say they are doing a brisk business selling kippahs with the president’s face.

“Trump saved our people,” said Lily Etgar, 58, a school counselor in Jerusalem, as she stood in the square. “We really thank the United States for helping us.”

In liberal Tel Aviv, some saw the Hostage Square rallies as de facto public accusations against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who they say is either unable or unwilling. He made a deal to return the stolen Israelis to their homeland faster. The bodies of only four of the 28 hostages who died or were killed by Hamas in captivity were returned on Monday.

In his speech, Trump spoke about the beleaguered Prime Minister, Praising Netanyahu — but also teases him: “He’s not the easiest person to deal with. But that’s what makes him great.”

These comments are unlikely to change opinions. Netanyahu is Marches were routinely booed In the hostage area, he was booed – albeit to a lesser extent – at Monday’s celebrations as well.

Taxi driver Zvika Attiya said that the weekly gatherings “are actually protests against Netanyahu… If it were up to me, I would change the entire Knesset.”

Attiya said that he belongs to the left, but he still believes that the international community is attacking Trump.

He said: “When we saw that they did not give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, we did not like that, because we believe that he deserves it – not only because he concluded the Abraham Accords, but now peace between Gaza and Israel.”

Elissa Frank, who divides her time between the Upper West Side and Tel Aviv, and walked through the square carrying a huge American flag and a red hat, said the president does not get the credit he deserves from Democrats in the United States.

“It’s shameful and disgusting,” said Frank, a voice actor.

“I don’t know if there’s anywhere in the world people like (Trump) so much,” said Jay Allon, 35, who works at a cyber defense startup and has attended every Saturday night rally for two years. “We knew that if anyone could bring them back, it would be the United States.”

But Alon had choice words for Netanyahu.

He said: “I think Bibi is responsible for the chaos, and I am from the right.”