There are some things we can predict: the sun will rise in the east, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom will make idiotic statements, and Hamas (Gazans) or other terrorists will try to break the ceasefire once they get back all their murderous thugs.
In the days immediately following President Donald Trump’s historic announcement regarding a Middle East peace plan, the world applauded. Suddenly, the global community saw celebratory dancing in the streets of Israel and Gaza and ignorantly assumed both sides were celebrating peace.
Image created using AI.
However, in Gaza, they were chanting, “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahood, jaish Muhammad sa yaoud.” That is, “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.” It is a call to exterminate the Jewish people.
The Gazans were dancing with joy that thousands of guilty Palestinians will be returned, along with 250-plus murderous thugs who tortured, raped, and murdered Israelis...in exchange for 20 Israeli hostages. Kidnapping Israelis is the way to go for Hamas (or any Muslim terrorist organization, as they continually pop up with new names). This is why there’s a rational concern that what’s happening is more of a pause than a peace plan.
It’s already reported that Hamas has taken thousands of its members out of “uniform” and into civilian clothing to serve in its rebranded “Gaza Security Forces” as they reestablish control in Gaza when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) move out. Time will tell.
History might guide us on whether this is a peace or a pause plan. In the late 1930s, with Adolph Hitler ignoring World War I treaties following Germany’s surrender, the anxious world wanted to avoid another global conflict. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain foolishly went to Berlin to meet with Hitler, who signed a document (“Munich Agreement”) stating that Germany would not invade other nations.
Chamberlain returned to London on September 30, 1938, and held up the document, infamously proclaiming, “Peace for our time.” One year later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and the world was once again at war.
But we should be hopeful about this peace plan and grateful that our nation has the astounding President Donald Trump in the White House to lead us.
Whether or not the 2025 peace deal materializes into a long-term positive change for the Middle East, one thing that must change is Israel’s practice of exchanging terrorists for hostages. Hamas (and all Muslim terrorists) know that kidnapping works. That’s why they do it.
At the very least, Israel could avoid ever again having to exchange convicted murderers for hostages by implementing the death penalty. Many of the released terrorists who murdered Israelis are receiving a hero’s welcome. Some (many?) are sure to again take up arms against Israel as Yahya Sinwar did.
In 1989, Sinwar was convicted on multiple counts of murder and conspiracy. He received four life sentences. After spending 22 years in Israeli prisons, Sinwar was released in a previous “terrorist for hostage” swap and became the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, Massacre. Israel killed Sinwar on October 16, 2024, but they should have killed him in 1989!
Guy Miller, US Army LTC, retired, of North Carolina, sends out an informative daily news report that includes his exceptional views on current events. His extensive military background means that his analyses are always spot on. Miller said:
It was always all about the hostages. As long as the Israeli government cared more about the hostages, which Hamas was torturing and murdering, than they did about their own national security, Hamas was guaranteed to win.
As I said at the very beginning, if Israel on October 8 had accepted that the hostages were already dead, as most of them wound up being, they could have prevailed. But Israel surrendered all leverage by consenting to make the hostages the only factor of consideration.
[snip]
In eight decades of existence surrounded by hostile, murderous neighbors, Israel has never before allowed world opinion to override their national security. But this time they surrendered all control to Hamas.
From this day forward, Israel will always be beholden to public opinion regarding hostages. Israel surrendered all its national sovereignty to Hamas hostage takers. It can never end.
Gregg Roman, in “Why Israel Must Never Negotiate for Hostages Again,” explains that Israel’s social contract with its citizens must evolve so that instead of terrorists knowing they will get a trade for those they kidnap, they will now know that Israel will destroy them. He concludes his article this way:
Israel’s enemies have learned that kidnapping works. The only way to unlearn this lesson is through decisive action making hostage-taking suicidal for those who attempt it. History will judge Israel not by how many hostages it recovers through negotiation but by whether it finds the courage to end the hostage crisis permanently. Sometimes the most humanitarian act is refusing to negotiate with those who weaponize humanity itself. Israel’s moral responsibility demands nothing less than complete victory over the infrastructure of terror. The social contract must evolve from a promise to trade for captives to a promise to annihilate their captors—only then will the cycle finally break.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law, Dr. Hagai Ben-Artzi, spoke to Arutz Sheva – Israel National News on October 9, several days before hostages were released:
[US] President [Donald] gave us the right solution immediately after taking office – ‘conquer and we’ll start a process of emigration.’ But because of our hostage psychosis, we wanted another ten or twenty hostages freed and lost the chance for a strategic solution.
Asked if he felt joy at the hostages being released, Ben-Artzi said:
There is always joy. I rejoiced when the three soldiers were freed in the Jibril Deal, and I rejoiced when Gilad Shalit returned. But at the time, even back then and even more so today, I knew that with our own hands we were signing the next kidnapping, the next massacre, and the next murders.
We can only pray that the agreement President Trump signed in Egypt on October 13 with the other Arab nations will truly be peace for our time.
Robin M. Itzler is a regular contributor to American Thinker. She is the founder and editor of Patriot Neighbors, a free weekly national newsletter. Robin can be reached at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com.