GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 215

The Devil’s In The Details

The New Terms

According to an article in The Times Of Israel the terms that Hamas agreed to were meant to benefit only themselves:

On Tuesday night, more than a day after Hamas claimed to have approved what it said was the Egyptian and Qatari mediators’ proposal “regarding a ceasefire agreement,” the US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller finally declared publicly, “That is not what they did.”

Rather, said Miller, “They responded with amendments or a counterproposal.” The US, he said, was “working through the details of that now.”

We already knew that simply because Israel told us that, but now we have more information that shows just how Hamas intends to survive and live to terrorize Israel in the future:

In fact, close examination of the Hamas document, as issued (Arabic) by the terror group itself, shows that far from containing “amendments” or a remotely viable counterproposal, it is constructed with incendiary sophistication to ensure that Hamas survives the war and regains control over the entire Gaza Strip. (Quotations from the Hamas text in this piece are from a translation by the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera website.)

The article goes on with the details:

But that’s far from all.

It is also calculated to ensure that Hamas secures further key, immensely far-reaching goals without having to meet the prime Israeli requirement for a deal: the release of all the hostages. In fact, Hamas can abrogate the deal, with all of its key goals achieved and then some, while continuing to hold almost all of the hostages.

Among those goals is one of the most central Hamas objectives since it invaded Israel on October 7 — seeing its declared war of destruction against the Jewish state expand to the West Bank. By extension, the terms of the document are also designed to destroy US President Joe Biden’s grand vision of Saudi normalization and a wider Middle East coalition against Iran.

They want the war to end as part of releasing hostages, but not all of them at first:

Much has been made of the fact that, whereas Israel has repeatedly insisted it will not end the war as a condition for the release of the hostages, Hamas, in the opening paragraphs of its own sinister alternate proposal, specifies that one “aim” of the deal is “a return to a sustainable calm that leads to a permanent ceasefire.” But relatively speaking, that’s splitting hairs: The proposal conveyed by the mediators to Hamas late last month, and described by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as an “extraordinarily generous” Israeli offer, reportedly provides for an “arrangement to restore sustainable calm” — which sounds like a near-euphemism for a permanent ceasefire.

Much has correctly been made of the fact, however, that, in the Hamas document, Israel is to cease military operations in the first six-week stage of the three-stage deal, in which 33 hostages are to be freed, and that the IDF must “withdraw completely” from Gaza and a “permanent cessation of military operations” must take effect before any more hostages are freed in the second stage.

Everything Returned To “Normal”

Hamas apparently wants to act like nothing ever happened on October 7th:

Less widely appreciated is that the Hamas proposal states that, in the first stage, “internally displaced people in Gaza shall return to their areas of residence” and that “all residents of Gaza shall be allowed freedom of movement in all parts of the Strip,” with all Israeli “aviation (military and reconnaissance)” in Gaza to cease for much of each day.

Combined with a partial withdrawal of IDF troops as further specified for this first stage, the effect of these demands would be to enable Hamas’s gunmen and officials to retake control of the entire Gaza Strip. The Hamas proposal does use the word “unarmed” in one clause to describe the displaced persons who would be allowed to return to their areas of residence, but the accompanying demands and provisions mean that Israel would have no right and no means under the proposal to impose any such limitation.

The terms for the release of the hostages is changed to let Hamas get a great deal for only a few released captives:

Even more significant, and largely unrecognized, however, is the radical reconfiguration in the Hamas document of the terms and process for the release of Israeli hostages.

But the Hamas proposal is structured to enable it to release very few of the hostages in return not only for an end to the IDF’s campaign in Gaza and its survival and resumption of full control there, but also for a planned surge in support for Hamas in the West Bank, the further neutering of the Palestinian Authority, and the potential major escalation of violence against Israel in and from the West Bank.

As I said, any deal Hamas agrees to will only allow them to continue doing what they want. Here’s more on the hostage release:

The Hamas proposal remakes the previous document under which Hamas was to release at least 33 living hostages in the first stage of the deal, at a rate of three hostages every three days from the first day that the deal takes effect.

In the Hamas proposal, as has been widely noted, it no longer commits to freeing 33 living hostages in the first stage — itself a concession by Israel, which had sought 40 living hostages in the first stage — but now says the 33 hostages may be “alive or dead.”

Hamas is stalling for more time to survive:

Moreover, Hamas would release the first three hostages on only the third day of the deal taking effect, and thence “three other detainees every seven days.” This means that whereas, in the Israel-backed proposal, all 33 hostages would go free in the course of the first month of the deal, the Hamas schedule means fewer than half of the 33 would be released in the first month.

They Want A Lot Of Prisoners

Not only does Hamas want to stretch out the process, they want a lot of terrorists released back into the West Bank or Gaza. And Israel would not be able to pick which ones basically meaning Hamas can get the worst of the worst for very few hostages:

Furthermore, the Hamas proposal specifies that the first hostages to be released will be “women as much as possible (civilians and female soldiers).” It raises the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for each of the (believed five) living female Israeli soldiers held hostage from 40 to 50 — including 30 who are serving life terms, where the Israeli offer specified 20 life-termers. And it removes a key clause in the Israel-backed proposal, under which Hamas would be allowed to choose only 20 of the security prisoners to go free in stage one, and Israel would have the right to veto those choices. Rather, it states, the Palestinian security prisoners will be released “based on lists provided by Hamas.”

The accumulated consequence of all those changes is that, in the very first days of the deal, Hamas would be able to secure the release of hundreds of the most dangerous and iconic terror chiefs and murderers, including at least 150 serving life terms, in return for the release of very few of the hostages.

In a requirement that is one of revenge, Hamas also wants the release of all the terrorists who were released to get one Israeli soldier back in 2011 who were then recaptured for went back to terrorism. Sinwar was one of those released back in 2011 and wants his buddies back on the street to fight again. They basically want to live and want to take over the West Bank in the process. If Israel were to agree to this deal, it would be a huge victory for terrorists everywhere and make the nation look weak. But Hamas will be seen as the lead dog in the fight against the Jews:

Amid what would be regarded as a vindication of Hamas’s implacable determination to destroy Israel, and as proof of the success of its tactics and its strategy toward that goal, Sinwar would reliably expect the euphoria accompanying the return of the prisoners to cement Hamas as the peerless champion of the Palestinian cause, fueling soaring support for Hamas in the West Bank and the unification of West Bank Palestinians behind it, the marginalizing of the already failing PA, and the dawn of a new era of escalated violence and terrorism against Israel.

And Israel would little to no leverage to get the remaining hostages released. This is a terrible deal and one that should be soundly rejected as it appears to be by Netanyahu and his war cabinet. Clearly Hamas is hoping that the international pressure to get a deal and the internal pressure to release the hostages will force Israel to accept this charade of a response, a response that isn’t even a trojan horse. It’s clear exactly what they are doing, that is if anyone is willing to actually read it and not let anyone else tell them what’s in it. What do I think? The Rafah offensive is the only thing to deal with these terrorists. Full speed ahead IDF. And may God be with you, although I’m certain He’s always been with them.