Will Trump’s popularity in Israel ensure the peace process isn’t abandoned?

Two tear-stained years have weighed heavy on Jojo Rabia. Nearly every day since his two sons were killed by Hamas-led militants, he has come to a memorial built at the site of a desert music festival where hundreds died.

“Every day is like this. The same,” Mr. Rabia said this week, his face grim.

But his expression changed when asked about U.S. President Donald Trump, who came to Israel last week as Hamas returned the final living hostages, who had been held captive for more than two years.

“Oh, he’s the man,” Mr. Rabia said with a wide grin.

“Look, he brought back all the hostages. It’s unbelievable. If it was someone other than Trump, I’m not sure all of this would have happened.”

Mr. Trump has grown accustomed to flattery, the language employed by friends and foes alike as they seek to gain favours and avoid his wrath.

But perhaps nowhere else on earth is the U.S. President as universally adored as he is in Israel, where his recent success in negotiating the release of the hostages has won him the ability to shape the future of the country like few other presidents – and heroic status.

At the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, he was lauded by Speaker Amir Ohana as “a giant of Jewish history,” a “colossus who will be enshrined in the pantheon of history. Thousands of years from now, the Jewish people will remember you,” he said, as Mr. Trump listened, nodding.

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For many in Israel, this was a fitting description, not hyperbole. Mr. Trump’s popularity has leapt across the deep political schisms that have riven Israeli society between those who favour Benjamin Netanyahu and those who have mounted street-filling protests against his agenda.

In Israel, Mr. Netanyahu is a mere politician. Mr. Trump is something else; a man who has shown that “when push comes to shove, he’s going to be there,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute.

The support of the U.S. has always been fundamental to the national interests of a Jewish state in a primarily Muslim region. A U.S. President who shows himself able to bring deliverance from hostile forces touches something existential, said Mr. Plesner.

“People feel it on a personal level.”

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But Mr. Trump has also established an unusual relationship with Israelis. He and his envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, lent an ear to those who suffered from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. They personally engaged with families of hostages when those families complained that they struggled to communicate with their own leadership in Israel.

“Trump, the most undemocratic leader in American history, provided a responsiveness to Israeli desires that its own government refused to do,” said Dahlia Scheindlin, a public opinion researcher and political advisor based in Israel.

Israelis have felt affection for other U.S. leaders before.

But the current love of Mr. Trump “gives him more leverage and influence in Israel than any U.S. president I’ve ever known. More even than Clinton, who was truly loved by centre and left, but not by right,” said John Lyndon, executive director of Alliance for Middle East Peace, an advocacy group.

With that comes the ability to have an effect on the future of the Middle East, if Mr. Trump so chooses. The U.S. President has used language that suggests he alone will dictate what future course of action Israel chooses in Gaza. “Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word,” he said this week, when asked what would happen if Hamas refuses to disarm.

“Here we are, basically handing over the reins over whether Israel can go to war or not to the American president,” said Ms. Scheindlin. “It’s rather remarkable that Trump gets to decide. But that’s the reality.”

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For Israel, one important question is how much Mr. Trump will continue to care. The release of the hostages was a dramatic moment. Seeking middle ground between Israelis and Palestinians, by contrast, is a problem that has resisted a satisfactory solution for many generations.

“The biggest parameter is what he wants, and whether he is willing to spend his political capital and attention on the issue,” Mr. Plesner said. “If he is, we can really witness a historic change in a positive way.”

If not, history holds numerous examples of other failed attempts. Yet for many Israelis, there is faith that Mr. Trump can do it.

“I think the guy’s a moron and in some respect, he might be,” said Ilan Cohen, a former Israeli official who now lives in the U.S. But, he said, “in view of what he did, I give a lot of respect to his skill.”

Benjamin Givon, a retired mechanical engineer who lives north of Tel Aviv, believes real change is possible if Mr. Trump keeps focus on the Middle East, although he worries about what will happen if the President turns to other issues.

“I know what will happen, which is that after a while, maybe two months, he will go on to the next thing. And we will have to stay here to solve the problem ourselves,” Mr. Givon said.

Still, he added, “we are lucky that the crazy guy is on our side.”