For decades, Sinai has been treated as the crown jewel of the land-for-peace argument.

Oftentimes, in the argument surrounding “land for peace,” opponents will claim that Israel exchanging land for peace has never historically worked or held up. Those in favor will respond with what they believe is the killer counterexample—the 1979 Camp David Accords, where Israel exchanged the Sinai Peninsula for a cold peace with Egypt.

However, the Sinai deal is not the “gotcha” that advocates of land for peace think it is.

Did the Sinai deal work? Not quite in the way it is often portrayed.

The strategic value of the Sinai did not disappear when Israel withdrew.

Over the decades that followed, activity in the region repeatedly demonstrated why it mattered. ISIS-affiliated and other jihadist groups operated in Sinai, launching rockets and carrying out attacks against Israel. But even more significant was Sinai’s role as a corridor for weapons smuggling.

Until 2005, Israel controlled the Philadelphi Corridor, the narrow strip separating Gaza from Egypt. Yet despite this, extensive tunnel networks were dug beneath the border. Evidence documented by respected policy institutes, major media organizations, and even Israel’s own Shin Bet demonstrates that for years weapons flowed from Iran through Sudan, Egypt, and Sinai before ultimately reaching Hamas in Gaza. These smuggling routes played a major role in Hamas’s military buildup and helped arm the terrorist organization that carried out the October 7 massacre.

Nor was the problem limited to Gaza. Weapons from Egypt have also been smuggled into Israeli territory, fueling both criminal organizations and terrorist activity.

Arguably even more concerning, the demilitarized framework that formed one of the foundations of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty has steadily eroded.

In recent years—and especially in recent months—Egypt has significantly expanded its........

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