Why Is “Or There Will be All Hell to Pay” Not the Entire Negotiation? by Lawrence Kadish
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21296/trump-hostages-hell-to-pay
President-elect Donald J. Trump has warned that unless the hostages being held by Hamas are released by January 20, the day of his inauguration, “all hell will break out.”
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is already in Doha, Qatar, negotiating. Not very astonishingly, the negotiations keep breaking down….
The question arises: why is Witkoff in Qatar negotiating? Negotiating for what? How many dead hostages for how many live Palestinian terrorists now in Israeli prisons?
Why is Trump’s statement, “there will be all hell to pay,” not, by itself, the negotiation? It seems that all Witkoff would need to do is detail every name, alive or dead; the date, time and drop-off point for all the hostages, and then go home. No Palestinian prisoners released to resume a career in terrorism; no pallets of cash going to government leaders who commit war crimes — just, “You took them, you have them; if even one hostage is missing or has so much as a scratch, ‘it will not be good for Hamas.'”
Why is the US degrading its prestige by even trying to negotiate with terrorists? Instead of negotiating, Hamas and its patron, Qatar, should be feeding the hostages, attending to their medical needs and preparing them to come home. Now, how would that be for “The Art of the Deal”?
Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
Comments are closed.
