There are moments in world history when political posturing gives way to undeniable results, when facts on the ground speak louder than ideology. The recent Israel and Hamas ceasefire appears to be one such moment.
What makes it extraordinary is not just the ceasefire itself but the rare bipartisan acknowledgment it has drawn. Former United States President Bill Clinton publicly credited Donald Trump for his role in helping bring about this breakthrough, saying Trump and other mediators “deserve great credit.”
Even President Joe Biden, despite his differences with Trump, commended the outcome. Such recognition across party lines is not ordinary, and it signals something deeper: the validation of peace through strength as a principle that works.
From Cash to Courage: Two Contrasting Doctrines
To understand the magnitude of this shift, one must look back. During the Obama administration, the United States sought to moderate Iran through diplomacy, culminating in the 2015 nuclear deal and the release of 1.7 billion dollars in cash to Tehran to settle an old arms dispute. Critics rightly argued that the move strengthened Iran’s regime, emboldening its proxies across the Middle East rather than restraining them. The consequences of that approach are still visible today, from Hezbollah’s entrenchment in Lebanon to Iran’s deep involvement in Syria and Gaza.
What was meant as engagement turned into a potential empowerment of extremism. Trump’s arrival marked a complete reversal. His foreign policy was unapologetically results oriented, guided not by elite consensus but by instinct, leverage, and deal making. It was peace through strength rather than peace through appeasement.
The Trump Doctrine in Action Under Trump, the Middle East was transformed through decisive and pragmatic diplomacy. The Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, were historic. For the first time in generations, Sunni Muslim nations openly embraced Israel as a partner, not an enemy. It was not flowery rhetoric or moral lecturing that made it happen; it was mutual interest and strategic clarity enforced by American leadership. Trump made it clear that standing with Israel was standing with peace and progress. The result was a cascade of new cooperation in trade, technology, defence, and intelligence sharing across the region.
Even now, as hostages are exchanged and diplomatic channels reopen, it is that same architecture conceived under Trump that underpins today’s fragile but real peace.
The Sons of Abraham Begin to Talk For millennia
The descendants of Abraham, Jews, Muslims, and Christians, have shared a lineage but lived in enmity. Under the umbrella of the Abraham Accords, those Sons of Abraham have finally begun to speak to one another as partners. That in itself is historic. When one remembers that not long ago Israel faced near total diplomatic isolation in the Arab world, the sight of Arab and Israeli diplomats shaking hands openly is astonishing.
The very nations that once funded and fuelled anti-Israel rhetoric are now signing agreements of cooperation. That tectonic shift did not come from multilateral committees or soft persuasion. It came from firmness, moral clarity, and strength, the essence of Trump’s unconventional diplomacy.
India’s Evolution: From Hesitation to Partnership
For an Indian observer like me, this transformation resonates deeply. When I was growing up in India, a Hindu majority democracy, it was politically difficult even to acknowledge Israel as a friend. Cold War non-alignment, domestic vote bank politics, and over sensitivity to the Palestinian issue kept India distant. Formal diplomatic relations were established only in 1992, four decades after Israel’s founding. For many years, the partnership remained discreet. Yet over time, especially under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has evolved into one of Israel’s strongest partners in defence, agriculture, water management, and innovation.
This shift is not accidental. It mirrors the global realignment that Trump accelerated in the Middle East. The Abraham Accords opened diplomatic space for India to engage freely with Arab nations without alienating Israel. It created the foundation for new groupings such as I2U2, which brings together India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States as equal partners in trade and innovation.
India’s traditional balancing act between Iran and Israel continues, but it is now rooted in strategic autonomy, not hesitation. This balancing, when paired with the opening created by Trump’s diplomacy, positions India uniquely as a bridge between East and West.
Peace Through Strength, Not Appeasement
The path to this moment was neither accidental nor improvised. It was a carefully sequenced effort by Israel and the United States, executed with determination and clarity of purpose. The first phase began with Israel’s relentless campaign to neutralize Hamas and Hezbollah, pushing both to the margins through targeted strikes and the systematic dismantling of their leadership and weapons networks.
Parallel intelligence cooperation between Washington and Jerusalem ensured that Iran’s proxy forces were weakened from within and from without, losing their supply lines, coordination, and regional influence.
In the second phase, Israel, acting on joint intelligence with the United States, eliminated Iran’s top military and political leaders, crippling the command structure that had long orchestrated instability in the region. This was not simply symbolic retaliation; it was the strategic removal of those who directed proxy wars from the shadows. With its leadership eliminated and its military capacity severely debilitated, Iran found itself exposed and vulnerable.
Then came the most difficult and decisive stage, known as Operation Midnight Hammer. This was the moment when American power was brought to bear with precision and finality. Conducted under conditions of complete secrecy, Operation Midnight Hammer struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including the fortified facilities at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan. Using a combination of B2 stealth bombers and guided missile submarines, the mission targeted the deepest underground bunkers and silos with Massive Ordnance Penetrator munitions. The result was the complete neutralization of Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the destruction of its remaining deterrent capability. With its nuclear program disabled, its military structure fractured, and its proxies disoriented, Iran had no choice but to come to the negotiating table.
For the first time in decades, the balance of fear shifted. Instead of Israel and its allies fearing retaliation, it was Tehran that feared escalation. This was peace through strength in its purest form, a sequence of deliberate actions that redefined the cost of aggression and made peace the only rational option.
It was this chain of events that allowed mediators to finalize a lasting ceasefire and prompted even former critics such as Bill Clinton to acknowledge Trump’s success and credit the courage it took to make peace possible. Peace was not achieved by pleading or appeasing; it was achieved by restoring deterrence and by proving that when strength is used with moral clarity, it can compel even the most hostile actors to seek peace.
Freedom and Faith: Two Different Civilizational Models
There is also a deeper philosophical dimension, one that matters immensely to Indian immigrants like myself. In most countries, including India and across Europe, freedom is granted by the government, often defined, limited, or modified by the state. Citizens receive rights as permissions. In the United States, it is fundamentally different. Freedom is presumed to exist because it is granted by God, not government. The Constitution simply codifies those God given liberties. They are intrinsic and can only be restricted by explicit law. This difference explains the cultural gap many immigrants feel. In India, civility, conformity, and restraint are valued, often at the cost of individuality. In America, liberty is messy, noisy, and sometimes abrasive, but it is authentic.
Understanding Trump Through the Lens of Liberty
This distinction also explains Donald Trump’s political style. His directness, his unapologetic speech, and his refusal to conform to political etiquette are not flaws; they are reflections of America’s unique concept of liberty. Many immigrants, conditioned by more cautious political cultures, find such bluntness difficult to digest. They confuse it with arrogance or insensitivity. But in truth, it is the American way of speaking truth to power, raw, candid, and fearless.
It took me nearly twenty years to understand this cultural divide fully. Once I did, I could appreciate leaders like Trump without guilt. I could see that freedom includes the right to speak boldly, even offensively, as long as one acts within the bounds of law. That is what the First Amendment protects, and it is what defines American exceptionalism.
A Call to Indian Immigrants: Assimilate into Liberty
For Indian immigrants, embracing this mindset is essential to true assimilation. It means learning to judge leaders by their results, not their politeness; by their courage, not their conformity. Those still afflicted by the so-called “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, that reflexive rejection of anything Trump says or does, should reflect honestly on what fuels it. Often, it is not about policy but discomfort with his tone. Yet tone is irrelevant when results reshape history.
As immigrants who have chosen America as our home, we must think and act as proud citizens of this great nation, not as perpetual outsiders. We must learn to defend freedom with conviction, to see through media noise, and to align ourselves with principles that sustain the Republic: strength, fairness, faith, and truth. When we do that, everything else falls into place, and we will no longer be swayed by those who weaken America from within.
India, America, and the New Global Order
The impact of these shifts is not limited to the Middle East. For India, the emerging peace architecture opens vast possibilities. The India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor can now progress more securely. Energy routes become safer. Insurance costs for shipping through the Red Sea decline. Trade, technology, and tourism benefit when rockets stop flying. For America, this new landscape reaffirms its leadership in a multipolar world, not by occupying territory but by setting terms through power and persuasion. And for the world at large, it marks a rare instance when force was used not for domination but for peace.
Conclusion: Results Over Rhetoric
This moment, when even the Clintons praise Trump’s role, is more than symbolic. It is the vindication of a philosophy: that peace is sustained not by weakness or wishful thinking, but by clarity, conviction, and courage.
As an Indian who has lived the difference between government granted rights and God given liberty, I see this as more than foreign policy. It is a lesson in leadership and civilization. When the Sons of Abraham sit at the same table, when India rises as a confident bridge between old divides, and when immigrants learn to embrace American freedom in its raw and unapologetic form, we can truly say the world is moving forward.
Let us ensure that the world’s strong man is not a tyrant but a decent and democratic nation, one that stands for liberty, faith, and justice. That nation is America, and as proud citizens and friends of freedom everywhere, it is our duty to defend it.
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and not necessarily reflect the views of financialexpress.com.
Vinson Xavier Palathingal is an engineer, entrepreneur, exporter, and policy advocate based in Florida and Washington, D.C. He is Executive Director of the Indo-American Center and has been active in U.S.–India relations, education reform, and immigrant community leadership for more than three decades. In 2020, he was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the President’s Export Council.