Monday October 13, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC [Posted at 3:02 pm PT | Updated at 11:59 pm PT]
News analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today October 13, 2025 may be a day that goes down in history as a turning point in the desire for peace in the Middle East.
That has been said before, over the decades. But with the unique style of transactional politics by US President Donald Trump, this could be a turning point.
Across national and international media today there is discussion and debate about how long the ceasefire will last.
But in the short term, the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages have been returned home; the bodies of others will follow in the days ahead.
What is remarkable about the signing of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Egypt today is the degree to which Trump has rallied international support. Leaders from numerous countries pretty much dropped everything to be there, including UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney on this Thanksgiving long weekend.
There was some critique in social media today about Carney attending the signing. But clearly Canada’s prime minister wants to maintain positive and continuing relations with the United States on the defence side of things and Canada does stand in support of a two-state solution for the Middle East.
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, commended Trump and declared that the US President should receive a Nobel Peace Prize for this achievement.
There were several photo ops with Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Within his own country, Netanyahu may quickly face a challenge from much of the population who have asked for more information to be revealed about how Hamas could have managed to attack Israelis on October 7, 2023.
Today Trump said in some remarks during the document signing event that sometimes deals just ‘come together’. He noted how it has taken leaders whose countries have a lot of wealth to make this possible.
Trump emphasized building and rebuilding — which sounds like economic opportunities for many countries in the Middle East region.
News coverage:
News coverage of Trump’s arrival, the signing of the agreement, and Trump’s speech took up most of the television airwaves from last night (October 12) through the night, and through much of today (October 13). CNN carried non-stop coverage through that entire time.
CBC live coverage ended around midnight last night, then picked up again this morning.
CBC has pointed out today that the actual wording of the agreement has not been released.
At one point today the world’s political leaders were in close assembly with staff, security and media.
===== RELATED:
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- Carney heads to Egypt to attend Middle East peace plan signing (October 12, 2025)
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