Trump’s Middle East Victory Lap

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Israel and Egypt, Haiti, Italy and Ireland.

President Trump received a hero’s welcome when he landed in Israel this week, following his central role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal. He also flew into the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh, where he declared ‘an historical turning point’ to the gathered world leaders. Tom Bateman travelled with the president on Air Force One.

Mr Trump was short on detail when it came to how peace will proceed over the coming weeks, months - and years. That leaves the question: what happens next? Jeremy Bowen reflects on this moment in the region's long history – and wonders if there will ever be reconciliation.

In Haiti, armed criminal gangs still have a firm grip on the capital's impoverished neighbourhoods. On a recent visit, Jasmin Dyer saw the ruined communities the gangs have left in their wake, and met some of the young victims of their brutality.

Last month a London-born boy became the first millennial saint. Carlo Acutis died of leukaemia aged 15, but in his short life he built websites documenting miracles as a means of spreading Catholic teaching – and became known as 'God’s influencer'. Isabella Redmayne met pilgrims in the hilltop town of Assisi.

And it’s perhaps a bit of a cliché when travelling to the US for locals to boast of their ancestry – part English, part German, part Scots and, more often than not, part Irish. On a recent visit to Ireland’s south coast, James Helm bumped into some trans-Atlantic travellers and learned more about the country’s enduring international appeal.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production Coordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, today, while the ceasefire takes hold in Gaza, we consider the long-term effects of two years of war.
0:13.8	In a Sisi in Italy, we meet the pilgrims queuing to pay their respects to the first millennial saint.
0:20.7	In Haiti, we hear how criminal gangs are
0:23.0	still in control of the capital, Porto Prince. And finally, many people around the world embrace
0:29.1	their Irish heritage and dream of a return home. We're on the south coast of Ireland to hear
0:35.0	more about the allure of the Emerald Isle.
0:38.3	But first, President Donald Trump received a hero's welcome when he landed in Israel this week,
0:44.1	following his central role in brokering the Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange. During his whirlwind
0:50.9	trip, he also flew to the Red Sea resort of Shamel Sheikh, where he declared
0:55.6	an historical turning point to the gathered world leaders. Mr. Trump even suggested
1:01.3	everlasting peace in the region, though we're short on detail on just how that might proceed
1:07.0	over the coming weeks, months and years. Our US State Department correspondent,
1:13.0	Tom Bateman, was on board Air Force One with the president as he flew into Tel Aviv.
1:18.7	If journalism is a front row seat to history, I got 3,000 years of it this week as the BBC's
1:25.8	turn came up for a seat on Air Force One. President Trump was
1:30.0	proclaiming an end to war after three millennia in the world's most combustible region. With that
1:36.4	characteristically vivid overstatement, we set out on a journey that turned out to be a diplomatic
1:42.1	tornado. I had 24 hours up close to the leader declaring
1:46.4	as the giant billboard above him in Egypt proclaimed peace in the Middle East. The trip started
1:53.0	with what the White House calls a gaggle, a mini press conference on the fly as Mr Trump came
1:58.6	to the back of the plane to talk to us the press.
2:01.6	Every country is dancing in the streets, he said, of the hostage and prisoner exchange he
	...

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