On March 1st, the first stage of the truce between the terrorist Hamas network and the Israeli government expired. Efforts to get to the second stage were thwarted by Hamas demands so Israel is back to war.
Several reports said that Hamas was making extensive demands to continue the truce, one of which was to delay negotiations on a permanent end to the war. The U.S., in direct negotiations with Hamas and Israel, said Hamas’s demands were unrealistic.
Iran is the cause of virtually all of the problems we and the Israelis face in the Middle East.
On March 5th, President Trump told the Hamas terrorists to, “Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered or it is OVER for you.” On social media he said if Hamas continued to hold hostages, “you are DEAD.”
Hamas, of course, holds the upper hand as long as it holds the approximate 53 hostages it still has in captivity. (About 24 are believed to still be alive.) Hamas has since refused further releases of hostages. Moreover, Hamas rockets have again been fired into Israel and Hizballah rockets from Lebanon have as well. (Hizballah denied responsibility for the rocket attacks.) As usual, both Hamas and Hizballah target Israeli civilians indiscriminately.
Israel has struck back at both Hamas and Hizballah. Both have suffered large Israeli air strikes. Israel claims that several Hizballah rockets aimed at the town of Metula, near the Lebanese border, have been intercepted and destroyed.
The cease-fire ended and a day later Israeli forces re-entered the Gaza Strip intending to destroy Hamas and rescue or recover the hostages. At least one American, Eden Alexander, remains in Hamas captivity.
The hostages, as we have seen from those that have been released, have been starved and beaten while in Hamas’s custody. Taking hostages is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. So is abusing them. One made a speech to the UN General Assembly, explaining how he had been beaten, but little notice was given by the media or the General Assembly.
The lack of UN or private access to the hostages is more than noticeable. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has had no meeting with any of the hostages. That’s highly unusual. Both the UN and the ICRC have some explaining to do, but no one is asking them about their conduct.
Please keep in mind that people in Nazi Germany, such as Oskar Schindler and others, smuggled Jews out of Nazi-held territory. No Palestinian has helped any of Hamas’s hostages escape, nor have any given aid or comfort to those held.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is delivering the “hell” Trump promised. He has said that any further peace talks can only be held while Israeli troops try to seek and destroy Hamas.
They’re doing a pretty fair job of it. It seems to take little time between Hamas’s announcement of new leaders and Israel’s announcement that the new leaders have been killed.
Hamas’s aim is to survive the war and recommence its “governance” of Gaza. The fact that Hamas has caused large parts of Gaza to become a moonscape of demolished buildings and people living in fear is of no import to Hamas. Israel has begun to cut off electricity to Gaza and relief supplies are not coming through either. Israel has reduced such shipments because Hamas seizes them for its own benefit as surviving hostages have testified.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Friday that, “If the terrorist organization Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, I have instructed the IDF to seize additional territories, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza for the benefit of protecting Israeli communities and IDF soldiers, through permanent Israeli control of the territory. As Hamas continues its refusal, it will lose more and more territory that will be annexed to Israel.”
President Trump’s plan to “own” Gaza and turn it into another Riviera, which was not entirely serious to begin with, hasn’t been mentioned recently. Neither has any plan for the Arab states to rebuild Gaza for its residents.
At the same time that this is going on, U.S. forces have been striking at the Houthis in Yemen. Trump has said that this was a message to Iran which faces U.S. military action if it doesn’t comply with his demand for talks. But Trump’s messages are very mixed. Trump has demanded that Iran negotiate another nuclear deal with the U.S. which is contradictory to any negotiated peace in Gaza or Yemen because Iran will cause Hamas, the Houthis, and Hizballah to make excessive demands. Moreover, why would Iran be trusted to abide by their obligations under any agreement?
The Iranians, of course, have refused any negotiations with the U.S.
Israel Fights Iranian Proxies
Iran is the cause of virtually all of the problems we and the Israelis face in the Middle East. As this column has often stated it commands, funds, and supplies Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis. It provides them with the means to carry out terrorism, which includes the Houthis’ attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel. We cannot force a peace with Hamas, Hizballah, or the Houthis unless and until Iran stops supporting them.
Iran is on the brink of creating and deploying nuclear weapons. Neither the UN, the U,S., nor Israel is sure just when that will happen. Europe is ignorant of that too and is blind to the danger.
Iran will not surrender or compromise its nuclear weapons strategy peacefully. If President Trump were a bit wiser, he would order the CIA, in a secret Presidential Finding, to overthrow the ayatollahs’ government in Iran. That is the only way to stop it from continuing to sponsor terrorism and to end its nuclear ambitions.
As strong and determined as Israel is, it cannot go on fighting these wars forever. We need to stop Iran because no one else will. Or can.
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