by Yoni Kempinski
Daily Wire co-founder tells Arutz Sheva he does not believe Trump would pressure Israel into allowing Hamas to remain in power and speaks about the special musical he created with his father, 'We Will Rise.'
Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro spoke to Arutz Sheva - Israel National News today (Wednesday) about the hostage and ceasefire deal reached between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, the role of President-elect Donald Trump in securing the deal, and 'We Will Rise' - the new musical he created together with his father.
"I think the fact is that the Trump Administration wants the hostages out, and I also think that they want a headline that is connected to the hostages being released," Shapiro said. "I think whether the deal ends up being a net benefit for Israel and for the United States or whether it ends up being a net detriment is going to be largely determined by whether it's seen as a ceasefire/end of war deal or whether it's seen as a hostage release deal. And it seems to me far-fetched to believe that the Trump Administration would cram down a full-scale ceasefire deal that allowed Hamas to remain in place given the fact that literally every Cabinet nominee who's spoken on this has said precisely the reverse."
He noted that yesterday, Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary, said that he supports Israel "in killing literally every member of Hamas." Likewise, Trump's pick for National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, has said that Hamas will not remain in power in Gaza.
"So any sort of deal that ends with Hamas in control, either titular or effectual, of the Gaza Strip, seems to be a non-starter. So what that actually means is that is probably best to be seen, if you going to try and game it out, as a way of guaranteeing that many of the hostages get out - hopefully as many as possible - and then a recognition that Israel is going to have to go back in and mop up the job," he said.
"I think the sort of take that this is an end-of-war deal as opposed to a 'free the hostages and then see where you are deal, I think that's probably mistaken," Shapiro said.
When asked if Trump's warnings to Hamas that there will be "hell to pay" if the hostages are not freed by his inauguration next Monday are still relevant after the announcement of the deal, Shapiro responded that he takes Trump "at his word on that. I think that the notion that Hamas is a trustworthy negotiating partner because they decide that they're going to release babies in exchange for murderous terrorists: I don't think President Trump believes that, I don't think anyone in his national security team believes that, and so I think that probably, what this is from the Trump team - as probably well as the Biden team - is to get as many hostages out as you can get out with the minimum possible immediate withdrawals."
"It's a painful deal," he acknowledged. "The question is how much pain, and I think that's yet to be seen."
Shapiro said that he "understands many of the concerns" of Trump supporters in Israel who feel that Israel has been pressured into a catastrophic deal. "It's only going to be determined how bad or good the deal is as it's implemented. I have enough trust in both the Netanyahu administration and the Trump administration to believe that it isn't a full-scale surrender as it's been portrayed by some."
He said that the "meaning for Israel" of Trump's inauguration on January 20 "is that the boot is going to be off the neck of the IDF and of Israel in general with regard to fighting terrorism and taking measures necessary to secure itself. That obviously wasn't the case with the Biden Administration that was slow-walking aid, that was preventing Israel from getting weaponry that it required."
"It's hard to tell at this point exactly what this looks like in terms of Iran policy," he noted. "If I had to ball-park it, my suggestion would be that the Americans are going to be quite friendly towards Israel protecting itself. You're not gonna have as much yelling and screaming about Israel doing the things that are necessary in order to protect itself. But, as I;ve been saying for a very long time, American interests and Israeli interests are not identical, nor should they be. They're separate countries with separate interests. The Israelis should use this as an opportunity to make themselves more independent of the entire world, including the United States, with regard to, for example, arms supply and foreign policy."
He criticized the view that Israeli policy should mirror the policy of whatever administration is in the White House. "That seems to me bad policy by any state, including Israel. I think that if Israel is hoping that President Trump is going to do the work for Israel, I don't think that's what he was elected to do. Nor do I think that's what anyone should expect President Trump to do."
"What they're going to get is an administration that is very friendly towards Israel, that wants to see Israel protect itself, that recognizes that Israel's enemies are indeed evil and seek its destruction, and is going to act that way," he said. "But again, no one can predict the future and no one even knows who's going to be president five years from now. I would always urge Israel and the United States to act as independent states in their own interests."
Shapiro also discussed the musical he and his father David Shapiro created together, "We Will Rise," which tells the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and connects that event to the post-October 7 reality.
"It really is via my father," he said. "I was a musician growing up. I started playing violin at the age of five. I was at one point a fairly world-class violinist when I was in my teenage years."
His father wrote music for film and television "and had always wanted to write for musical theater," Shapiro recounted. "He and I combined on this project. He wrote the music and the lyrics. I wrote the libretto, which is to say the plot and the dialogue."
"When we put it together originally ... it was a musical about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which is what 'We Will Rise' is about. We basically completed what we thought was a good round of that going into 2023, and then October 7th happened. And we really wanted to tie the messages that were very relevant from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to October 7th, to the modern-day State of Israel. And so the musical now opens with two soldiers from the IDF going into Kfar Aza and finding it burned out and realizing that one of the soldiers' grandmothers has been kidnapped into Gaza. And they find on the floor of her home a picture of a baby and her parents from the Warsaw Ghetto. We flash into the picture, and now we tell the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising," he explained.
Shapiro called the work "a musical about Jewish unity in the face of annihilationist enemies. It's a musical about the fact that no matter how much Jews may try to escape antisemitism, antisemitism will always come for them. And it's a musical about why the State of Israel is necessary to collective self-defense. The answer to 'Never Again' for the Jews was not just relying on the kindness of other nations, which, of course, Jews all over the world are still reliant on that. But also the establishment of the State of Israel as a homeland and protector for Jews everywhere. That's what the musical is really about in essence. I think that message was relevant before October 7th. I think it's even more relevant after October 7th."
In conclusion, Shapiro said that while Jews will not be able to change antisemites into people who love or are even indifferent to the Jewish people, antisemitism must still be fought. He also said that he found his recent visit to Israel inspiring because "the Israelis are an astonishing people."
"I'm very optimistic, a lot more optimistic than I was one year ago" because of the Cabinet Trump has chosen and because of Israel's strengthened security position in the region.
Yoni Kempinski
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/402357
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