TEL AVIV, Israel — President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated warning that “all hell will break out” should Hamas not release all remaining hostages before he takes office is an example of how he “speaks like a Middle Easterner,” Israeli and Palestinian officials and experts told The Post — adding that they believe Trump’s leadership style will be effective in countering Iran.
Trump, 78, told reporters at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday that “it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone” should the Tehran-backed terror group not comply with his demand to let its hostages go by Jan. 20.
“All hell will break out,” the president-elect said. “I don’t have to say any more, but that’s what it is.”
Such brazen language — which often draws the ire of the left — is exactly what Iran and its proxies need to hear, Middle Eastern leaders and scholars say.
“When he said ‘all hell will break loose’ — he speaks like a Middle Easterner,” an Israeli government source told The Post. “He speaks in the way that the terrorists understand.”
Tel Aviv University Institute for National Security Studies senior researcher Kobi Michael told The Post that Trump’s re-election “might be a great opportunity” to bring about peace in the region following the widely acknowledged success of the Abraham Accords from the 45th president’s first term.
“We see the impacts of President-elect Trump before he enters the White House. We see what is going there with Hamas, when President Trump said that they will see ‘hell’ if they will not release the hostages — and see what is going there with the Iranians,” said Michael, former head of the Israeli National Security Council’s Palestinian division.
“They are in a huge confusion now, OK? In the worst strategic position in the last four decades. And I think that the vision of President Trump is the vision of weakening Iran.”
With Iran’s geopolitical position weakened following the decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, and the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Michael suggested that the time is ripe for Trump “to go for a deal with the Iranian regime to enable the survival of this regime.”
“He’s a businessman, and he will tell the Iranians, ‘You have the chance to remain in power. We will relieve the sanctions, but you will stop anything with regard to the military [or] nuclear.’”
Israel and the West have watched Iran’s nuclear development with apprehension for more than a decade, and Trump notably has not said whether he would oppose an Israeli strike on Tehran’s atomic facilities — unlike President Biden.
In contrast to Michael’s assessment, other Middle East observers — including Palestinian Authority leaders — predict that Trump will instead push for the total collapse of the Iranian regime.
“We see that Trump and the ruling government in Israel are planning to destroy Iran, so Hamas [followers] will have no other choice than to [surrender],” Fatah Secretary General Mohammad Hamdan told The Post in the West Bank.
“There has never been a better time to push Iran to a new deal or threaten them to use force,” Alex Mintz, founder of Decision Advantage AI, which specializes in national security and cybersecurity decision-making, told The Post in a Friday phone interview.
“They have never been as exposed to a real attack as they are now, because Israel bombarded [Iran’s air] defenses and [air]-defense missiles and the entire structure and system, so they are vulnerable.”
What’s more, Mintz said, Trump’s tough talk may finally push Iran to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.
“I think [Trump] has a lot of leverage here to get [Iran] to an important, much-improved nuclear deal than the one they signed in 2015, so definitely it’s the right timing,” he explained.
“This is the right time because there is no Hezbollah that can threaten Israel in retaliation to an Israeli attack, and the militias in other countries, except for Yemen, are not really threatening Israel right now.”
But in regard to Hamas in Gaza, Mintz had less faith in the power of Trump’s threat.
“What leverage or what instruments can Trump use against Hamas that Israel has not used? Israel has already tried everything, and [Hamas] still keeps at least 50 hostages that are alive out of 97 today,” he said.
“So I think in terms of the threat … it can push against the leadership in Hamas, which is outside of Gaza. But with regard to Gaza, I think that Israel has already tried everything, and they’re [Hamas is] still keeping the hostages as an insurance card for their own defense.”
Still, Mintz assessed, “Iran has the leverage on Hamas,” so Trump’s power play may force the mullahs to push the terrorists toward an agreement.
