President Donald Trump recently awarded late Turning Point USA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom just over one month after the activist was assassinated. Kirk was outspoken about his conservative and pro-life views, and his legacy has inspired a new wave of activism.

Shawn Carney, the president and CEO of 40 Days for Life, praised President Donald Trump as ‘the most pro-life president we’ve ever had,’ telling Fox News Digital that pro-life Americans were delighted to see the president honor Kirk.

‘It was so beautiful to see him honor Charlie,’ Carney said. ‘He represented freedom, and there would be no pro-life movement without free speech. Free speech is what 40 Days for Life is built on, it’s what the pro-Life dialogue is built upon. It’s [what] Charlie gave his life for, and it was really, really beautiful for all pro-life Americans to see him honored with the highest honor we have in our nation.’

Kirk was known for participating in debates across the country and the globe, often confronting his harshest critics. Carney believes that Kirk’s willingness to go into tough arenas as well as his approachable and ‘authentic’ nature drew young people to him and the pro-life movement.

‘Charlie was open and was honest, and he was also humble and willing to talk to you,’ Carney told Fox News Digital, adding that being approachable, as Kirk was, is crucial in pro-life activism.

‘So many people have been hurt by abortion. So many people feel strongly in support of reproductive rights. And you just can’t go in and yell or say you’re going to burn in hell. You have to approachable, you have to use reason, you can’t be afraid to share your faith, as Charlie wasn’t,’ he added.

Carney said that 40 Days for Life has seen an uptick in interest, particularly among young activists, in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.

‘His tragic assassination was just two weeks before we kicked off one of our largest fall 40 Days for Life campaigns around the world,’ Carney said. ‘Over 700 cities participating, and we saw a huge uptick, a 36% increase in participation. We had so many young people come out… who knew who Charlie Kirk was, and were inspired by him to participate in 40 Days for Life, who then brought their parents out to pray at our vigils.’

He recalled one young woman — who he did not name — who said she was ‘so afraid’ to participate in pro-life activism prior to Kirk’s death. Carney noted that despite the ‘horrible images’ of the assassination, many felt empowered and compelled to speak up about their beliefs.

‘You thought the opposite would happen, that she’d be more afraid and others would be more afraid, but that didn’t happen,’ he said. ‘It literally inspired her to overcome years of fear.’

Carney also spoke about a TPUSA chapter leader whose mother tried to talk her son out of participating in either TPUSA or 40 Days for Life. The young man apparently told his mother that Charlie would have wanted him to speak out and not to run from culture wars.

When asked what Kirk’s message to pro-life activists would be if he were still alive, Carney said it would be to not give up. Carney added that he has heard newcomers inspired by Kirk say they believe that the TPUSA founder would want them to be outspoken and not to ‘cower.’

‘Right now in our culture, there’s a lot of reasons to be afraid, we can’t give in to them, we have to go out, we have to speak the truth and love, and that is what changes hearts and minds, and that’s the best way we can honor Charlie,’ Carney told Fox News Digital.

The U.S. Department of State on Saturday warned there are ‘credible reports’ that Hamas may break the peace agreement with a ‘planned attack’ on Palestinian civilians. 

‘This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts,’ the department said in a statement on social media. ‘The guarantors demand Hamas uphold its obligations under the ceasefire terms.’

The statement concluded, ‘The United States and the other guarantors remain resolute in our commitment to ensuring the safety of civilians, maintaining calm on the ground, and advancing peace and prosperity for the people of Gaza and the region as a whole.’

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect last weekend after two years of war in the region following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in southern Israel. 

On Monday, the 20 remaining surviving Israeli hostages were returned to Israel per the agreement, but more than a dozen remains of hostages who were killed are still under Hamas control. 

The State Department added that ‘measures will be taken to protect the people of Gaza and preserve the integrity of the ceasefire’ if Hamas proceeds with the attack. 

On Thursday, President Donald Trump issued a warning on Truth Social after footage circulated online showing Hamas fighters executing Palestinians in Gaza City’s main square. 

‘If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,’ he wrote.

According to Reuters, at least 33 people were executed by Hamas in recent days in what officials described as a campaign to ‘show strength’ after the ceasefire. Israeli sources say most of those killed belonged to families accused of collaborating with Israel or supporting rival militias.

Trump later clarified that U.S. troops would not go into Gaza. 

‘It’s not going to be us,’ he told reporters. ‘We won’t have to. There are people very close, very nearby that will go in and they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.’

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Former Vice President Kamala Harris said her onetime boss, former President Joe Biden, made a ‘big mistake’ by not inviting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to a 2021 White House event on electric vehicles. 

In August 2021, Biden hosted an EV event at the White House with executives from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, but Musk was not invited, despite Tesla being the nation’s leading EV manufacturer. 

‘I write in the book that I thought it was a big mistake to not invite Elon Musk when we did a big EV event,’ Harris told Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on Tuesday at the news outlet’s Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington, D.C., referring to her memoir, ‘107 Days,’ in which she criticized Biden for initially running for re-election despite his health struggles.

‘I mean, here he is, the major American manufacturer of extraordinary innovation in this space,’ Harris said of Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX.

Musk’s snub was widely viewed as an effort to support the United Auto Workers and organized labor overall, since Tesla plants are not unionized. Harris wrote in her book that she believed Biden was ‘sending a message about Musk’s anti-union stance’ but that she thought excluding him as the top player in the field ‘simply doesn’t make sense.’

Then–White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the event featured ‘the three largest employers of the United Auto Workers,’ emphasizing that Tesla’s workers are not unionized.

Pressed on whether Musk’s snub was punishment for his workers not being unionized, Psaki told reporters: ‘I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.’

The Biden administration defended inviting only those automakers, calling them key partners in the president’s push for union jobs.

Harris said that presidents should ‘put aside political loyalties’ when it comes to recognizing technological innovation.

‘So, I thought that was a mistake, and I don’t know Elon Musk, but I have to assume that that was something that hit him hard and had an impact on his perspective,’ she said.

Musk did appear to take offense after he was not invited to the event, taking numerous jabs at Biden.

‘Yeah, seems odd that Tesla wasn’t invited,’ Musk wrote at the time on social media.

A month later, he said the Biden administration appeared to be ‘controlled by unions’ and was ‘not the friendliest administration.’

After Musk learned Tesla would not be invited, administration officials offered an apology, according to The Wall Street Journal. Biden aides later attempted to soothe things over, but tensions remained.

Harris’ comments on Tuesday mirrored a passage from her new book in which she wrote that the Biden administration’s move not to include Tesla was a mistake and that it appeared to alienate Musk, who later became one of current President Donald Trump’s top financial backers.

‘Musk never forgave it,’ she wrote.

Musk later endorsed Trump in the 2024 election and contributed roughly $300 million toward Republican campaign efforts. 

The guns have gone quiet over Gaza — for now. After years of darkness, the region has entered a new phase shaped by President Donald Trump’s decisive leadership and the landmark 20‑point Gaza peace deal. Hostages have come home, Hamas has been driven underground, and an American‑backed peace architecture has emerged where fire once raged.  

For the first time in decades, Israelis and Arabs alike can glimpse something extraordinary: a path forward. Yet history reminds us that in the Middle East, every dawn carries both promise and peril. Which road will this new dawn take? 

1. The golden horizon — prosperity through peace 

In the most hopeful scenario, Trump’s peace‑through‑strength doctrine takes root across the region. Arab nations once divided by ideology are now united by opportunity. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates invest in Gaza’s reconstruction. Egypt and Jordan join a multinational stabilization force. Israeli innovation fuses with Gulf capital to create a ‘New Abraham Corridor’ stretching from Haifa to Mumbai — a network of trade, fiber and trust. 

If momentum continues, the Middle East could experience its most dynamic decade of growth in modern history, a true dividend of deterrence where strength sustains peace. This is the world imagined in Trump’s vision: when America leads with conviction, peace and prosperity follow. 

2. The Phoenix of Persia — Iran rises again 

Iran today lies bruised after its 12‑day war with Israel — its nuclear facilities shattered and its clerical regime faltering under global sanctions and internal dissent. But as history proves, Tehran’s rulers are nothing if not resilient. Should the Revolutionary Guard tighten its grip after Ayatollah Khamenei’s death (He’s 86 now and in fragile health.), the Islamic Republic could re‑ignite its ‘Axis of Resistance,’ funneling arms to Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen. 

A revived Iran — driven less by theology than by vengeance — could again bankroll Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, destabilizing every border from the Golan to the Gulf. That path leads not to peace but to another round of rockets. 

3. The mirage of coexistence — Hamas rebrands and regroups 

Even as the ink dries on the ceasefire, Hamas cadres are reportedly resurfacing under new guises — embedding themselves in Gaza’s police, charities and reconstruction committees. As analyst Matthew Levitt warned in Foreign Affairs, Hamas is ‘not done fighting.’ It has survived isolation before — after Oslo, after 2014, after the October 2023 massacre. If it is allowed to mutate rather than disarm, today’s peace will become tomorrow’s deception. 

4. The fragmented peace — a cold stability 

A more modest outcome is a Middle East trapped in uneasy calm. Israel remains wary, Arab states distracted and Gaza suspended between aid and anarchy. The Palestinian Authority governs half‑heartedly — half technocrats, half radicals. Donors rebuild while militants lurk in the shadows. This scenario mirrors Lebanon’s long stagnation: peace without progress, stability without spirit. Better than war — but a waste of the rarest currency in the Middle East: hope. 

5. The renaissance scenario — a new Arab‑Israeli compact 

History proves that courage can rewrite destiny. When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel in 1979, he was condemned across the Arab world — yet his boldness built the foundation of modern regional stability. 

Today’s leaders face a similar choice. If Arab reformers and Israeli visionaries link economic corridors, energy grids and AI‑driven infrastructure, they could transform the ‘war economy’ into a peace economy — creating jobs, dignity and shared destiny for millions of young Arabs. 

A strategy to lock in the light 

Peace must be protected with the same vigilance once used for war. To preserve this dawn: 

Enforce the disarmament clauses of the Gaza accord through a multinational stabilization mission with real teeth, funded by the U.S., Gulf states and the EU. 

Starve Iran’s proxies of cash and narrative — every diverted aid dollar or false grievance must meet swift exposure and penalty. 

Reward reformers, isolate spoilers. States that promote coexistence should earn trade incentives and security partnerships; those that relapse into terror should face diplomatic quarantine.  

This is not nation‑building — it is peace‑proofing: the disciplined engineering of stability. 

Choosing the future 

The Middle East now stands at a crossroads of consequence. Down one path lies renewal — an alliance of nations liberated from fear. Down another lies relapse into the inferno that has burned for generations. The difference will be leadership. 

If Arab reformers and Israeli visionaries link economic corridors, energy grids and AI‑driven infrastructure, they could transform the ‘war economy’ into a peace economy — creating jobs, dignity and shared destiny for millions of young Arabs. 

If America remains engaged — clear‑eyed, strong‑handed and morally grounded — the ‘New Dawn’ President Trump proclaimed before the Knesset could become the defining achievement of our era. But if Washington drifts or the world looks away, Gaza’s fragile peace will fade into memory, and the old fires will reignite. 

A bright horizon 

Yet hope endures. Across the Middle East, from Jerusalem to Riyadh, young men and women are daring to imagine a future not ruled by grievance but by greatness. Trade routes reopen. Technology hubs rise. Faith and freedom, long estranged, begin to walk together. 

The Middle East has lived too long in the valley of shadows. Now it stands on the ridge of renewal — and if America continues to lead with faith and firmness, the dawn that rose over Gaza could light the world.