Tomorrow is the second anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel. The October 7, 2023 attack was genocidal, seeking to kill the maximum number of Jews. Hamas burned entire families, used rape and torture as weapons of war and took about 250 hostages.
All of the hostages won’t be released until Israel agrees to withdraw from Gaza leaving Hamas to govern it.
President Trump is vastly different from former president Biden. Instead of pressuring Israel to make peace on Hamas’s terms, he has put forth four or five peace plans that were designed to place Israel in control of its own fate.
Now Trump has put forth a 20-point peace plan and has given Hamas a deadline of 6:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time to agree to it or face what should be attacks by Israel that could eradicate the terrorist network.
The plan requires the release of all hostages — those still alive and those who were murdered in captivity — within three days of the agreement. It also requires that Hamas surrender its weapons and not participate in any future Palestinian “government” of the Gaza Strip.
The plan further creates a “Board of Peace,” headed by Trump, to oversee the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and ensure that Hamas takes no part in Gaza’s government.
The unspoken alternative is for Hamas to face eradication by the Israelis.
Several Arab nations have endorsed Trump’s plan. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt all issued a joint statement which said we “welcome President Donald J. Trump’s leadership and his sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza, and assert their confidence in his ability to find a path to peace.”
That means those Arab states, at least, are tired of the war and want it to end. It doesn’t mean that they won’t aid Hamas — especially our Qatari “allies” — but they are worried about Iran, Hamas’s principal sponsor, and its influence across their region.
Hamas has already responded to the peace offer. In a statement it said that it would release all the hostages, “if the proper conditions for the exchange are met.” The statement continues, saying that Hamas “renews its agreement to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents (technocrats), based on Palestinian national consensus and Arab and Islamic support.”
Note well that Hamas doesn’t agree to be excluded from the future government of Gaza.
Some “media advisor” to Hamas’s political bureau said, “President Trump’s statements are encouraging, and the movement is ready to begin negotiations immediately to achieve a prisoner exchange, end the war, and secure the withdrawal of the occupation.”
Negotiations? The time for negotiation has passed. But Trump and Netanyahu are falling for it again.
As usual Hamas wants to impose limitations on any peace agreement. Such as not releasing all the hostages at the same time. Such as not surrendering all of its weapons. And such as not being barred from participating in Gaza’s future government.
In short, Hamas still doesn’t want a peace deal. It won’t accept the “take it or leave it” deal that the president and Israeli PM Netanyahu have offered. It prefers that its “fighters” — terrorists — die so that it can rebuild its structure in Gaza. Which means the Israelis need to stamp it out entirely.
Trump has said that Hamas is ready for peace and has urged Israel to stop bombing targets in Gaza until the deal is finalized. Israel has already agreed to the first stage of withdrawal from Gaza but Hamas isn’t ready for peace. Its “political bureau” — sitting fat and happy in negotiations in Qatar — and its Iranian controllers don’t want peace. They want to re-create the situation that existed before October 7, 2023.
Hamas claims that it has lost track of some of the hostages. That gives it — and its closest allies such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad — time to murder more of the hostages.
A little over a year ago, Israel succeeded in killing Hassan Nasrallah who had been the leader of Hizballah — Iran’s proxy force in Lebanon — for over 30 years. Iran quickly selected Naim Kassem to succeed Nasrallah but the major difference is in his lack of influence over the Arab states. Nasrallah had scared them: they aren’t as scared now. Perhaps they should be because Iran is the real operator and commander of Hizballah.
So what will Iran — the real commanders of Hamas — do now? Iran will do its best to prolong the war in Gaza because Israel is losing the media war over it. Hamas will quibble over the terms of the Trump peace plan and try its best to “negotiate” around them.
President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu have fallen into a trap in the further bargaining. It is a fundamental mistake. But both men know the danger to the hostages. But are they committed to the eradication of Hamas if it doesn’t agree to the deal.
All of the hostages won’t be released until Israel agrees to withdraw from Gaza leaving Hamas to govern it. Hamas won’t disarm itself and thus create a win for Trump and Netanyahu. It will retain its weapons and hope that Iran can smuggle more rockets into Gaza so Hamas can again bombard Israeli civilians. Hamas may still be able to produce rockets in their reduced network of tunnels under Gaza.
Trump mistakenly put Qatar off limits for further Israeli airstrikes that would try to eradicate Hamas’s leadership. If Trump were serious about eradicating Hamas he should lift those restrictions. The only alternative is for Hamas — with Iranian help — to rise again.
READ MORE from Jed Babbin:
Two Bold Acts by Very Different Nations
, 2025-10-06 02:19:00, 
, The American Spectator | USA News and Politics, %%https://spectator.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://spectator.org/feed/, Jed Babbin
