A few weekends ago, honorable and sensible people celebrated as Israeli hostages were released from captivity in Gaza. Earlier that week, when it appeared that the ceasefire was unraveling, President Donald Trump made it clear that such delays by Hamas were unacceptable. As a result, three more Israelis returned to freedom on that Saturday. Through that joyous reunion in Israel, it is wise to recognize the lessons provided by dueling redlines – one that spectacularly succeeded and one that regrettably failed.
In March 2024 after vocalizing a redline against his own friends, President Joe Biden seemed naively surprised that he was unable to broker a ceasefire. In reality, his comments provided top cover for the Hamas terrorists and undercut Israel’s negotiating position. Both the Palestinian population in Gaza and the Israeli hostages were caught in the middle of this presidential blunder that prolonged the conflict. As a result, Biden’s redline comments counterproductively furthered human suffering and scuttled the pursuit of U.S. strategic interests. For the remainder of his presidency, Biden struggled to find a strategy to secure a ceasefire, but it was only a different redline from then President-elect Donald Trump that brought it to fruition.
In early December, weeks before his inauguration, Trump made clear that he expected a hostage-release regime to begin before he was sworn in – establishing a redline that was clearly directed at America’s adversaries. He tweeted that if his demands to release the hostages were not met: “there will be ALL HELL TO PAY.” The day before his inauguration, a ceasefire very similar in its terms to the one Biden grappled with for nearly a year went into effect and three hostages were released into the loving embrace of their families and received a warm welcome from the Israeli people. In a situation that paralleled the American hostage release from Iran on President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration day, Trump’s redline success provided a strong sign that an assertive America was back, and that the weakness of the previous four years was relegated to the rearview mirror.
Following an overwhelmingly positive meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump doubled down on those redline threats and demanded the release of all remaining hostages. After seeing the starved and abused hostages that had been released the weekend before, Trump was incensed by Hamas’ threats to stop the release schedule. This time the president provided a deadline that if missed, pending Israel’s ultimate support, would cancel the ceasefire and “let hell break out.” Like his previous redline comments, this one yielded results after Israel expressed satisfaction with a resumption of the original phase one ceasefire schedule.
Biden’s redline to America’s friends revealed an embarrassing moral bankruptcy and yielded abject failure. Trump’s redlines to America’s enemies provided stunning moral clarity and resulted in significant strategic successes. As the United States moves forward from a position of renewed strength, it is wise to consider this tale of two redlines – one reflecting the best of times and one displaying the worst of times.
Brig. Gen. John Teichert (U.S. Air Force, ret.) is a prolific author and leading expert on foreign affairs and military strategy. He served as commander of Joint Base Andrews and Edwards Air Force Base, was the U.S. senior defense official to Iraq, and recently retired as the assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force, international affairs. General Teichert maintains a robust schedule of media engagements, and his activities can best be followed at johnteichert.com and on LinkedIn. General Teichert can be reached at teichert@alum.mit.edu.
