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Trump Addresses Israeli Parliament After Hostages Freed. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 13, 2025 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[07:30:00]

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new coalition of proud and responsible nations is emerging. And because of us the enemies of all civilization are in retreat thanks to the bravery and incredible skill of the Israeli Defense Forces and Operation Rising Light.

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Guys, central casting. Let's put them in a movie. Look at them. Great job, and my people loved working with you -- loved it.

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They worked so well together.

But many of Iran's top terrorists, including nuclear scientists and commanders, have been extinguished from this earth. And with Operation Midnight Hammer -- boy, that's a great name for that -- what we did last year.

The United States military flew seven of those beautiful B-2 bombers. They look so beautiful all of a sudden. They were always -- I thought they were pretty planes. I had no idea they could do what they did. In fact, we just ordered 28 more of them. A little update -- a little updated version. We ordered a whole pile of them.

And almost 100 other planes went with them, including fighter jets. And we had 52 tankers -- big, beautiful, brand new tankers that were loading them up four-five times. They traveled 37 hours back and forth. Think of that. But we had tankers all over the sky for all the other planes. We had the F-22s, the F-35s, F-16s. We had a helluva lot of planes.

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So we had 52 gas stations in the sky. That's what they call them. I'll tell you, I wouldn't want to be flying one of them.

We have our great Gen. "Raizin" Caine right here. General, stand up. This guy -- what a general.

(APPLAUSE) Thank you.

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And I asked Gen. Caine -- I said, "You know, we're having problems with ISIS." And I was in Washington, and I asked how long would it take to defeat ISIS? And my Washington generals told me three, four, maybe five years, sir. I said, "I don't get it. We've got the best equipment in the world. Why?"

So I flew to Iraq and I met with a man named Caine. I said, "What's your first name?" He said, "They call me Raizin, sir." I said, "Wait a minute. Your name is Raizin Caine? I've been looking for you for a long time. You got to be kidding."

So they told me three, four, five years to defeat ISIS. And I sit down with him, and I say, "Why is it..." -- I flew there. In the dark of night I landed. I'll never forget it. It was quite a trip. I'm glad I made it because I met him. I said, "Could I ask you, General?" I come down and he's sitting with another general and a sergeant. Everybody was -- it was like central casting. They could go into a movie right now. Between him and you guys over here we could rich making movies, OK?

But -- and they got along so great. That's the beautiful thing that your military and our military, Bibi, got along so great. But --

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But I was told by the television generals in Washington we have the best equipment in the world. Why is it taking too long? And they said four years. I said, "So let me ask you, Raizin, how long would it take you to defeat ISIS?" "Sir, we can do it in three weeks, but you'll probably have some time left over." I said, "You got to be kidding. What the hell are you talking about? They said four years."

He said, "Well, sir, uh look, it's not my place to say but you're asking me the question. What you have to do is you hit them from the west, you hit them from the north, you hit from the south, you hit them above, you hit them below."

I said, "So why didn't they do it?" And he didn't want to speak badly for his superiors, which is hard to believe they were his superiors. It should have been the other way around a long time ago because he's the one that did Operation -- it was flawless. It was flawless. It was absolutely flawless.

[07:35:05]

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And I said, "So you really think you can do it in four weeks?" "Yes, sir, 100 percent." You have to do it differently than they were doing it. They were using one base, and it was hundreds of miles away. And he says we have all these portable bases all over the Middle East and they didn't want to use them because they didn't want to offend the country where the portable -- they wouldn't have even known what the hell the planes were going up, right? They wouldn't have known.

But he said, no, they didn't want to defend anybody -- offend anybody -- but we can do it in four weeks. I said, "You sure about that? I'm going to call you back. I'll call you back on Monday. I'm going back to Washington. But you think four weeks?" "Yes, sir, I think we can do it in four weeks. We'll have time left over."

So I call him on Monday. I say, "You think you can do it in four weeks?" I said, "Go ahead and do it." He did it. I'll tell you, he did it in four weeks -- less than four weeks.

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So General, stand up, please. Again, this is a real general. This is not a television general. He doesn't want to go on television.

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He doesn't want to go on television. I said the other guys love being on television.

So we dropped 14 bombs on Iran's key nuclear facilities. Totally, as I said originally, obliterating them. And that's been confirmed and everybody understands it. Together, we stopped the number one state- sponsor or terror from obtaining the world's most dangerous weapons.

And if you think about it, if we didn't do that and assuming we made the same deal that we have today, there'd be a dark cloud over this deal. And number one, it wouldn't happen because the other Arab and Muslim nations really wouldn't feel comfortable making the deal that we have now, right, if Iran had that nuclear weapon that they were about two months away from having. They would have had it in two months or maybe less than that.

They were right at -- this was our last shot. They looked at it for 22 years. This was out last shot. The pilots told me that. They said "Twenty-two years, sir" they looked at it. Our predecessors looked. They studied it. Three times a year would do drills on that exact attack. And boy, did they get it right.

But let's assume they didn't and let's assume there was largescale nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran. We couldn't be here today even if we signed the deal, which we couldn't do because a lot of people would not want to have anything to do with. We took a big cloud off of the Middle East and off of Israel.

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And it was my honor to help.

But isn't it true though that -- can you imagine the same -- let's assume, Bibi, the same documents. We had everything the same, but you had somebody out there that was in the opinion of everybody all powerful in the Middle East. They took a big hit, didn't they? Didn't they take a big hit? Boy, oh boy. They got hit from one side and from the other. And, you know, it would be great if we could make peace with them, and I think that's -- would you be happy with that? Wouldn't it be nice?

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Because I think they want to. I think they're tired. Somebody said, "Sir, they're starting their nuclear program again." I said, "Let me tell you something. They're not starting anything. They want to survive. The last thing they want to do is start digging holes again in mountains that just got blown up and start -- they're not doing -- they want to survive, OK?"

But I think we have a chance. Steve, you and I think Jared -- come on, I'll call you back for another one. We always bring Jared. When we want to get that deal closed, we bring Jared. But Steve, you and Jared and the general, and Pete, and Marco -- you'll get that deal done easy. I think that'll be easy.

But first, we have to get Russia done. We've got to get that one done. If you don't mind, Steve, let's focus on Russia first, all right? We'll get it done.

Eleven (PH) on the dagger of Hezbollah long aimed at Israel's throat has been totally shattered. My administration is actively supporting the new president of Lebanon in his mission to permanently disarm Hezbollah's terror brigades. He's doing very well.

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[07:40:00]

And build a thriving state at peace with its neighbors. And you're very much in favor of that, I know, and it's -- good things are happening there. Really good things.

And with this week's ceasefire we've achieved the most challenging breakthrough of them all. The most challenging breakthrough maybe ever. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. I've been involved in a lot of success. I have never seen anything like what's going on today all over the world. People are dancing in the streets not just in Israel. They're dancing in the streets of countries that would have never danced in the street about what's happening today. They're dancing in those streets.

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So this long and difficult war has now ended. You know, some people say 3,000 years, some people say 500 years -- whatever it is. It's the grandaddy of them all. And in an unprecedented achievement, virtually the entire region has endorsed the plan that Gaza will be immediately demilitarized. That Hamas will be disarmed. And Israel's security will no longer be threatened in any way, shape or form.

(APPLAUSE) So Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms. You've won. I mean, you've won. Now it's time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East. It's about time you were able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Mr. opposition leader -- he's a -- I say he's a very nice opposition leader. I think he's - no, he's a nice man. Bibi, he's a nice man. He knows what he's doing, right? No, a very nice guy.

Well see, now you can be a little nicer, Bibi, because you're not at war anymore, Bibi.

(APPLAUSE)

But only by embracing the opportunities of this moment can we achieve our goal of ensuring that the horrors of recent years will never happen again. You don't want to have to go through this again.

Eight years ago I came to this region on a very special first trip abroad as the President of the United States. I came here very early at your request. I addressed the leaders of the Arab and Muslim world gathered in Saudi Arabia and said that it was time to build a future free of the grip of extremism and terror.

And I'm -- interestingly, right now, as soon as I'm finished -- I'm quite late. You've kept me quite late between opposition leaders and Bibi's brilliant but very long speech. I thought it was going to run up here, make a speech, and then head to Egypt. It didn't work out though.

And you made a pretty long one too, Sara.

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But I liked what you all said. It could be worse. Suppose on top of it I didn't like what you said. That would no -- that would be no good, Ron, would it? Ron, you did a great job, by the way, Ron.

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So I'm going to be meeting -- actually, in a little while, I'm going to be meeting with the most powerful, the richest nations really in the world -- although now with the tariffs, the United States is by far the richest nation in the world, as you probably have been reading. But the richest nations, most powerful nations -- you know, tremendous -- headed by some tremendous people in many cases. In some cases I wouldn't say necessarily I would endorse. But I will tell you some incredible people that really helped us make this all possible.

So I'll be going there. I'll be quite late. They might not be there by the time I get there.

(LAUGHTER)

But we're going to give a shot. But the journey we started back then led to the crushing defeat of the

ISIS caliphate, to the monumental Abraham accords, and ultimately to the historic ceasefire this week in which many of those same nations really played a very pivotal role, I have to tell you. Steve will tell you that. Jared will tell you that.

Together we've shown that peace is not just a hope that we can dream about. It's a reality we can build upon day by day, person by person, and nation by nation. And because of that, the Middle East is finally ready to embrace its extraordinary potential. You have extraordinary potential in this region.

[07:45:12]

It should now be clear to everyone throughout the region that decades of fomenting terrorism and extremism, Jihadism, and antisemitism have not worked. They haven't worked. They've been a disaster. They've just killed -- they've killed.

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They've backfired completely and totally. They've just totally backfired. Everything that you thought, take it worst-case. It's turned out to be worse than that. They have not worked.

From Gaza to Iran, those bitter hatreds have delivered nothing but misery, suffering, failure, and death. They've served not to weaken Israel but to annihilate the very forces that did the most to foment this hatred. And it's really -- I mean, everybody that's tried it has become irrelevant.

Meanwhile, we've seen those nations that set aside their differences, reached across ancient divides, and pursued engagement are now among the most successful in the region. They're getting along with Israel and they're doing great. And I can tell you the four nations that joined the Abraham accords early on.

And you'd all be doing me a favor -- and I'm going to be saying this in a little while to some other friends -- we'd love you all to -- is this right, Jared -- join up in the Abraham accords. We have to join up and get together. You can have that whole thing filled out.

We had a very weak administration -- the worst president in the history of our country by far. And Barack Obama was not far behind, by the way.

(LAUGHTER)

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And they did nothing with this incredible document -- the Abraham accords. But now you can fill them up. Now you have peace.

You have people that really like Israel. I'll tell you what -- and they like Israel a lot more today than they did even five weeks ago. You've made a lot of -- you've come back -- you've come back strong because it was getting to be a little nasty out there in the world. And ultimately the world wins. You can't beat the world.

I would say to Bibi -- Bibi, it's now time -- and he understood it better than anybody because ultimately the world's a very big place. And I've said a lot. I've said this piece of land is very small. It's unbelievable, you know, that tiny -- you look at a map even of just not the world, the Middle East, and you have this little dot. And think of what you've done. It's incredible. It's incredible.

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But the world is loving -- the world is loving Israel again. And I said to Bibi, you know, the world is big and it's strong. And Ron, ultimately the world wins. And we don't have to worry about that now. But there was getting to be a period of time over the last few months -- you know, the world wanted peace and Israel wanted peace. Everybody did. Everybody did. And what a victory it's been, right? What a victory it's been.

If you would have gone on for three-four more years and keep fighting, fighting, fighting it was -- it was getting bad. It was getting heated. The timing of this is brilliant. And I said, "Bibi, you're going to be remembered for this far more than if you'd kept this thing going, going, going. Kill, kill, kill." It would be a-- it would not be the same.

And I just want to congratulate you for having the courage to say that's it, we've won. And now let's enjoy our lives and let's rebuild Israel and make it stronger and bigger and better than it's ever been before. You're going to do that.

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It took a lot of guts.

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And the choice of Palestinians could not be more clear. This is their chance to turn forever from the path of terror and violence -- it's been extreme -- to exile the wicked forces of hate that are in their midst. And I think that's going to happen. I've met some people over the last couple of months that want to see it happen very much. And after tremendous pain and death and hardship now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down. We don't want that to happen again.

[07:50:05]

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And the total focus of Gazans must be on restoring the fundamentals of stability, safety, dignity, and economic development so they can finally have the better life that their children really do deserve after all these decades of horror.

I intend to be a partner in this effort in the sense that we're going to help and we're going to do something that became unbelievably popular. Everybody wants to be on it. It's called the Board of Peace, OK? How about that? Is that a beautiful name? Like, a board of peace.

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The only bad thing from my standpoint, every single nation involved has asked me to be the chair. And I'll tell you, I'm very busy. I didn't count on that. But you know what? If we do it, we'll do it right. And we have unbelievable power and wealth because you're going to need wealth. You're going to need wealth to rebuild things. And they have wealth like few people have wealth.

I want to thank the Arab and Muslim nations for their commitment that they've made to support a safe rebuilding of Gaza and beyond. I have many Arab countries -- very wealthy countries that came up and said we'll put up tremendous amounts of money to get rebuilt -- to rebuild Gaza, and I think that's going to happen.

The power -- they want dignity. They want to come forward and they want to say. And I want to say who they are because what they're doing is going to be I think something that you're going to be very impressed with, Bibi, and you need that. You need the kind of economic power that they have and they want to see it work, and they want to see it be safe. And they want to see it be good for Israel, too.

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And as much money as it will be -- and it's a lot -- as you can see, it's a lot -- for these countries it's relatively little relative to their worth. It's really a lot of money -- like, money like most people could never even conceive. But for these countries it's not that much, especially because it ensures success and stability in the Middle East, which is what they want to see.

So, many of them will be with us in Egypt in a little while, I think. I'm not sure. They may be gone. They may have taken their Boeing 747s and left.

(LAUGHTER)

I said, "What kind of a plane do you fly?" "747." I said, "That's a large plane." No, they may have -- Steve, do you think they've left on their Boeing -- their brand new Boeing 747s or -- I don't know. We're going to find out soon. It's going to be a big story. There will be two people left, and they'll be the two poorest ones.

(LAUGHTER)

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But it will be the wealthiest and most powerful group of nations. So the group that we have assembled that's waiting for us is the wealthiest and most powerful group ever assembled at one time. There has never been a group like this. And they're only looking for good. They want good. They're going to do good.

And as those commitments are made, I'm going to let the world know who is doing it because they really deserve to get the credit. And some of them probably won't want the credit but they deserve it.

It's more obvious than ever that the productive and responsible nations of this region should not be enemies or adversaries. You should be partners and eventually even friends, and that's what's going to happen. I know it.

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Together you can stand against the forces of chaos -- yeah, you go ahead. That's an important point.

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Because you can stand against the forces of chaos that threatened all of your interests, and it's always a big threat -- always a big threat -- and unleash incredible prosperity and opportunity for all the people of these lands. And that's what's going to happen. You're going to unleash numbers and success the likes of which Israel has never been able to think of because you're so firm, and you should be. And you've done the right thing in defending yourself. You're not going to have to worry so much about it. You've won and now you can build, and you can do things that you never even thought possible.

It's going -- when you put that genius into doing something else it's going to be something that's -- it's going to be a miracle. The miracle I the desert. It's going to be amazing. And it already is in a true sense. But it'll be wonderful when you can spend time thinking about other than war and defense and offense also.

[07:55:00]

To that end, it's my firm hope and dream, frankly, that together the Abraham accords will turn out to be everything that we thought they would. Those four countries were very, very brave in doing it. They did it at a very early point. And every single one of them benefits unbelievably financially. And if you noticed even in this bad period that we just went through they all remained a member of the Abraham accords. They've done unbelievably well. And I just -- and you know who you are, and I want to thank you.

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And they've stayed because of loyalty but they've also stayed because it was really good business. They've made a lot of money being members.

And you're going to all -- I think -- I hope that every one of -- I hope that every one of the countries that we're seeking, Jared -- I hope they join quickly. No games, no nothing. Just join -- get it. It's going to a great peacemaker. It's really going to bring it together beyond anybody's wildest dreams.

So instead of building fortresses to keep enemies at bay, the nations of this region should be building infrastructure to weave your commerce closer together because you've got to compete with a big world out there in commerce now. It's a different kind of competition. Instead of making weapons and missiles, the wealth of this region

should flow to schools, and medicine, industry, and frankly, the new hot thing, artificial intelligence. It's -- boy, it's a lot of intelligence you're going to have to be throwing off to make -- to pay back these sums of money that they're doing. But that's really the hot one.

And I might say that the United States -- a year ago, was a dead country. I say it to people. I heard it first from the king of Saudi Arabia. I then heard it from UAE. I heard it from Qatar. I heard it from many other countries.

A year ago, the United States of America was a dead country. Now it's the hottest country anywhere in the world. It is the hottest. There's no question about it.

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In fact, if you go back a year ago before the election -- although once we had November 5, we became hot because people got it. I would say November 5 was the time that we became really hot.

But once you go back a couple of years -- if I were in charge and the country was doing what they were, nobody was going to ask me to speak. Nobody asked Joe Biden to come up and speak, I guarantee you that. And if they did, he would have turned them down, I promise you. He didn't speak. He didn't speak and he didn't speak well.

But all of the countries in the Middle East could have -- what we're doing now, it could have happened a long time ago, but it was strangled and set back almost irretrievably by the administrations of Barack Obama and then Joe Biden. It was -- there was a hatred toward Israel. There was an absolute hatred.

The setbacks really started when President Obama signed the Iran nuclear deal. This was a disaster for Israel, and it was a disaster for everyone. And I remember that Bibi Netanyahu came to the United States and worked so hard to try and get Obama not to do that deal.

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He worked so hard. And -- but it was like talking to a wall. I remember him telling me it was like talking to a wall. They wanted to go with Iran. Those chose Iran, frankly, over a lot of other good nations but specifically, Israel. And that was the beginning of a very bad period of time.

You had Obama go out and the Iran nuclear deal turned out to be a disaster. And by the way, I terminated the Iran nuclear deal, and I was very proud to do it.

(APPLAUSE)

Yet, even to Iran, whose regime has inflicted so much death on the Middle East, the hand of friendship and cooperation is open. I'm telling you they want to make a deal. That's all I do in my life -- I make deals. I'm good at it. I've always been good at it, and I know what they want. But even if they said we don't want to make a deal, I can tell you they want to make a deal, all right? They do. They want to make a deal and we're going to see if we can do something because this is crazy what's happening and we're not going to have this anymore.

Neither the United States nor Israel bear the people of Iran any hostility. We merely want to live in peace. We don't want any looming threats over our heads, and we don't want to even think in terms of nuclear destruction. It's not going to happen. It never will happen.

There's nothing that would do more good for this part of the world than for Iran's leaders to renounce terrorists, stop threatening their neighbors, quit funding their militant proxies, and finally recognize Israel's right to existence.