Here is a one-word summary of how some American Muslims reacted to: news of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza: debt collection.
There was a heated discussion last year like many in the community turned against Democrats and supported Donald Trump, a Republican, in extremely high numbers – betting that he will succeed where Joe Biden failed and end the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas.
Their calculation has been questioned or even ridiculed, given Trump's party's unwavering pro-Israel stance and lack of evidence that he ever cared about the Palestinians.
But now some point to reports that Trump applied direct pressure to push through a long-delayed ceasefire agreement in the days before he took office. The Israeli government has apparently been squeezed by its most important ally in the world: the leadership of the United States Republican Party.
“At least in the short term, it appears that the community's calculations have paid off,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“It appears that President-elect Trump has made good on his words to the community.”
Walid claims he voted for Biden in 2020 but did not vote for Democrats in 2024 and refused to reveal his choice at the ballot box.
For her part, Samra'a Luqman has definitely crossed the political spectrum – as a Bernie Sanders progressive who remains a Democrat but voted for Trump in frustration.
“I'm thrilled that the one promise President Trump made to me came true before he was even sworn in,” a woman from Dearborn, Michigan, told CBC News on Wednesday.
“If I feel anything, it's anger that Biden himself couldn't have done this sooner and (offered) relief to the children of Gaza.”
It is undeniably early to make long-term predictions on key issues such as: Will this deal work? Will peace last? And most importantly, will it lead to a better future for the Palestinians? This will be analyzed in the coming days, months and years.
In the meantime, we may be witnessing the end of a disastrous war that has killed tens of thousands of people and destabilized the wider world.
A team effort, Biden says
For his part, the current president described it as a team effort. Details of the ceasefire agreement they are very similar in line with a long-delayed proposal his administration unveiled in May to exchange hostages for prisoners.
However, he appreciated the hard work of his team in arranging the deal and admitted that he had instructed them to engage the new administration.
“The Bible says, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' Many conciliators helped reach this agreement,” Biden said at the White House.
But he delivered mixed messages when it came to Trump's role. Biden celebrated that the current and future administrations spoke as one American team. But when a reporter asked if Trump deserved the recognition, he replied: “Is this a joke?”
US President Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday after Qatar's prime minister announced that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement to halt the war in Gaza and release the hostages. “Too many innocent people have died, too many communities have been destroyed,” Biden said.
Here's what we know.
This is reported by several Israeli media Trump's team kept the pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's government accepted the agreement, albeit reluctantly.
There was a colorful detail in one of the sockets. The Haaretz newspaper reported that Trump's Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, called from Qatar late last Friday to inform Netanyahu's advisers that he would be in Israel the following afternoon.
The newspaper reported that aides politely explained that Netanyahu would be observing the Sabbath but would meet with him later that evening.
They were shocked by the response of a secular Jewish developer from New York, appointed by Trump. Witkoff does not communicate in a typical diplomatic manner, Haaretz said, quoting a senior Israeli diplomat, and explained in “salty English” that the Sabbath “has no interest in him.”
The incoming administration was eager to take out the loan. The next White House national security adviser, Mike Waltz, attributed the breakthrough to the “Trump effect” on X.
Trump himself wasted no time getting credit.
“We accomplished so much without even being in the White House,” he wrote on his Truth Social website.
He promised to translate the pact into broader agreements, which seemed to allude to the possibility of a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
After months of negotiations, Israel and Hamas are closer than ever to reaching a ceasefire agreement. The National describes how the ceasefire unfolded.
“Sustained Uprising”
Now comes the difficult part.
The Biden administration has argued that long-term peace requires greater political self-determination for Palestinians, including a path to statehood.
Without it, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a speech this week that brutal attacks, including from a resurgent Hamas, will continue.
“What we are looking at (without Palestinian freedom) is a sustained insurgency that will bleed and exhaust Israel, and perpetual war,” Blinken said.
Trump will only truly deserve praise if he works for a better political future for the Palestinians, says Eric Alterman, a journalist and author who has been deeply critical of both the president-elect and Netanyahu.
This is because it is not yet clear whether Trump is interested in this. Alterman says he can continue to turn a blind eye while Israel annexes new areas of the West Bank, making a Palestinian state increasingly impossible.
In fact, he says, it's possible that as part of Wednesday's agreement, Netanyahu extracted some assurances from Trump to turn a blind eye.
“We'll see what the turnaround will be in the future,” said Alterman, who wrote the book book on the history of US policy towards Israel.
“I don't want to praise him yet. It's not even the first day (of his presidency).”
Alterman says it is unclear what derailed the months-long delay and inspired Netanyahu to accept an offer he had previously rejected.
It's also unclear whether Biden could have done much better. Many have argued that Biden could cut off Israel's weapons, but, Alterman says, it's unclear whether that would work.
He says Biden was afraid he would lose a head-to-head fight with Netanyahu – that the American people would side with Israel and Israel would continue its operations in Gaza anyway.
The bottom line: Biden was neither willing nor able to apply the pressure Trump exerted, in his opinion, and this is a lasting scar on the president's legacy, which includes several national successes.
As for Trump, Alterman said: “The world will understand it properly when Donald Trump comes and demands a deal – because that's what he wanted.”