RUTHFULLY YOURS

The aim of the execution of six Israeli hostages by the Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas was to shock the Israeli public and incite it to rebel against the Israeli government. The goal of the executions, which reportedly took place in a tunnel in the Gaza Strip last week, was also to convey to the Biden administration the need to increase pressure on Israel to accede to most of Hamas’s demands in exchange for the release of the captives the terrorist group is holding in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas leaders are undoubtedly rubbing their hands with delight as startled and distraught Israelis take to the streets to demand an immediate hostage-ceasefire deal with the Islamist terror group. Since the discovery of the bodies of the hostages (one of them, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, was a US citizen) last weekend, tens of thousands of people have been protesting in various parts of Israel. They are demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government accept any deal with Hamas that would see the remaining 101 hostages – dead and alive – reunited with their families.

Israel’s biggest union, the Histadrut (General Federation of Labour in Israel), joined the anti-government protesters by announcing a nationwide strike as part of the pressure to force Netanyahu to accept any deal that would secure the release of the hostages. These are exactly the scenes Hamas is happy to see: demonstrators blocking main highways and clashing with the police.

The latest anti-government protests in Israel, triggered by the murder of the six hostages, are being extensively covered and celebrated by Hamas-affiliated media outlets. The protesters are being referred to by Hamas and its supporters as “Jewish settlers,” although they live inside Israel, not in West Bank settlements.

Hamas, which does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, views all Jews living on land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as “settlers.” For Hamas and many Palestinians, there is no difference between a Jew living in Tel Aviv and a Jew living in a settlement in the West Bank: every Jew is a “settler.”

Hamas, in addition, does not distinguish between a right-wing and left-wing Jew. Some of the thousands of Israelis murdered, wounded and kidnapped during the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel were known for their advocacy for coexistence with Arabs, providing employment for Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip, and fostering genuine connections. One of the hostages, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, is, together with his wife Yocheved, a peace activist. Before his abduction, he regularly transported Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment in hospitals across Israel.

Vivian Silver, 74, an Israeli-Canadian peace activist from Kibbutz Be’eri near the border with the Gaza Strip, was murdered by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack. Silver’s movement, Women Wage Peace, was established in 2014 to pressure the Israeli government to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Hamas will not compromise or soften its stance to enable a deal because of the demonstrations. Hamas leaders, who are closely observing the protests, are likely to harden their stance in the hope that the Israeli government will give in to the demonstrators’ demands, including an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has the Israeli public pressuring their government to allow Hamas to “live to fight another day”: to rearm, regroup and continue attacking Israelis – as Hamas official Ghazi Hamad vowed:

Hamad: “The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, third, and fourth…”
News anchor: “Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?”
Hamad: “Yes, of course.”

Sadly, by focusing all their ire on the Israeli government, the protesters are, ironically, playing into the hands of Hamas and undermining efforts to reach a deal.

Hamas leaders are banking on the Biden administration to compel the Israeli government to give in to the terror group’s demands. The Hamas leaders see the ongoing tensions between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government as an encouraging development. It has long been the dream of Hamas and many Palestinians to see the US turn its back on Israel.

Hamas’s primary goal is to remain in power and return to the pre-October 7 era, when it built a large terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. Hamas knows it will not be able to accomplish its aims without a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and an official end of the war.

That is why Hamas is insisting that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israel’s presence there obstructs Hamas’s efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through cross-border tunnels, as it has been doing for the past two decades.

Hamas is reportedly demanding US and international guarantees that Israel will not target the terror group anytime in the future. Until then, Hamas will continue to hold on to many of the hostages as an “insurance policy.”

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 atrocities, will not release all the hostages at once. He will continue to physically surround himself with many of them to ensure that Israel does not kill him. Sinwar does not care how many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip perish, as long as he is permitted to stay alive.

Even if Hamas were to initially release 10 or 20 hostages as part of any agreement, who could ensure that the remaining captives would be released? Are we supposed to take Hamas’s word for it? Are we supposed to believe that the Americans, Egyptians and Qataris would be able to force Hamas to comply with the terms of any agreement?

Hamas is only interested in a deal that would keep it in power and make Israel lose the war. Hamas does not feel under pressure, at all, to reach any deal. Why should it? If US President Joe Biden were serious about reaching a deal, all he has to do is phone the leader of Qatar and tell him, as he allegedly told Netanyahu a few weeks ago, to “stop bullshitting me!”

The hostages-ceasefire negotiations have broken down because of insufficient pressure from the Biden administration on Hamas’s patrons in Qatar. The failure of the negotiations should be attributed to Qatar’s lack of action against the Hamas leaders who are living in luxury in Doha. Qatar is not doing anything because it is not under any serious pressure from the Biden administration. Has the Biden administration considered using the threat of withdrawing the US Central Command from Qatar’s Al-Udeid Air Base from to pressure the Gulf state’s rulers into convincing their friends in Hamas to free all the hostages?

Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East. The work of Bassam Tawil is made possible through the generous donation of a couple of donors who wished to remain anonymous. Gatestone is most grateful.