Is It Wise to Attempt a 'Deal' with Mass Murderers?
I have resisted reporting on recent hostage negotiations because of my distrust of Hamas - and my steadfast belief that the terror group does not negotiate in good faith.
This is the fifth installment in a new series at God of the Desert Books, Hostage Liberation News, which will focus exclusively on new developments and efforts in the fight to ensure the release of the human beings kidnapped by the Islamist terror group Hamas for use as human shields.
Please see our previous writings on this subject, linked at the bottom of this post. You can also read the 90 installments of the Antisemitism and Culture and Axis of Genocide series here. See also the first installment in the new Academic Inferno series, just launched this week, here.
Three weeks have passed since the last installment in this series, which provides updates on the fight to recover the human beings Hamas kidnapped on Oct. 7 and has now tortured on a daily basis.
There have been times when I’ve wanted to write up a new installment — when seeming “good news” emerged in the “negotiations” for a “deal” with Hamas. But each time, I could not get it out of the back of my head that Hamas was simply continuing to fuck with us, that the Islamist terror group still really had no intention of concluding a “deal,” and that this charade amounted to just more psychological warfare to try to get people’s hopes up that they might see their loved ones again.
That remains my position today. Even if Hamas finally agrees to a “deal,” there exists no reason why one should believe they would follow it.
You would take the word of mass murderers, gang rapists, and torturers to do what they say?
Are you fucking stupid?
Here’s where we’re at with developments this week and some explanation for why to continue with caution in one’s hopes.
On Wednesday night, The Washington Post reported that Hamas and Israel had agreed to “a hostages-for-ceasefire framework,” and now the negotiators sought to “negotiate the details.”
This essentially means nothing. This is like me announcing that an author has agreed for us at GOTD to publish their book, but that we still need to agree on the details of the contract. In other words: until it’s signed, it’s not a done deal, and even when it is signed, whether both parties will abide by the agreement is an open question.
A contract is just a fuckin’ piece of paper. I’ve had so many that I’ve signed breached by the other party and by people far less evil—but still very evil—than Hamas.
According to the Post, these “final details” will supposedly take much time to finalize as they are reportedly very complex.
As negotiations continue, Israel has made clear it maintains its “red lines” for finalizing any “deal.” These are “the ability to resume fighting in Gaza until all war goals have been met; an end to arms smuggling from Egypt; no return of ‘thousands’ of Hamas terrorists to the enclave’s north; and maximizing the number of living hostages released.”
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called these positions “ironclad principles” and said, “I am certain that if we insist on them we will achieve a deal that will both free our hostages and ensure that we will continue to fight until all of our objectives have been achieved.”
Netanyahu called himself “committed to the outline for the release of our hostages,” but insisted, “the Hamas murderers are still continuing to cling to demands that contravene the outline and endanger the security of Israel.”
John Kirby, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson, explained that were Hamas to agree to this deal, it would result in an initial six weeks of a ceasefire, which would enable significant humanitarian aid.
Jake Sullivan, U.S. National Security Advisor, said, “we see progress. We see the possibility of reaching an agreement. I can’t guarantee that because there’s a lot of details to be hammered through.”
Now, how do Israelis feel about this “deal”? Polling done on Tuesday came in on Thursday: 57% opposed, 33% supporting.
Unsurprisingly, Israeli ideological divisions fuel these differences. 79% of Likud voters oppose the “deal,” 83% of self-identified right-wingers oppose, while only 31% of those in Yair Lapid’s left-wing Yesh Atid Party oppose.
The devil hides like a snake in the slippery details.
Dig further into this “deal” and it becomes further apparent that it’s unlikely to proceed. Hamas has already insisted that Israel bend on the first red line of ceasing all fighting in Gaza - the very issue which the terror group had allegedly dropped in order to facilitate this “framework.”
My JNS colleague Caroline Glick, the publication’s senior contributing editor and one of the most skilled analysts of the Middle East I’ve ever met, wrote about “the deal” in her Monday column, titled “Netanyahu’s red lines for ‘the deal.’”
Caroline refers to “the deal” in quotes throughout her article, a rhetorical distinction I find crucial. She makes this observation about Hamas’s current insistence on “the details”:
Netanyahu’s first red line is for Israel to retain its freedom to resume offensive operations after the six-week ceasefire. Hamas long demanded that Israel concede that position and agree that the ceasefire would be permanent. Hamas is now willing to give up that demand. But it replaced it with a demand that the U.S. guarantee that Israel will not reinstate military operations in Gaza. Hamas’s reasonable assumption is that Israel will not defy the United States.
Netanyahu’s first red line makes it impossible for the administration to accept Hamas’s demand.
After explaining further problems with Hamas’s demands, Caroline notes that if Israel should agree to this “deal,” then what leverage will it have left to recover the hostages who will remain in Hamas’s clutches?
If Israel removes its forces from Gaza, including from the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, and releases hundreds of terrorists from jail to secure the release of 20 hostages, what will it have to give to receive the release of the other 100, including 60 people presumed to still be alive?
Is the wisdom of the conventional position “we don’t negotiate with terrorists” coming into clarity yet?
One cannot trust Hamas to agree to the red lines which Israel has established. Even now, when they appear to have dropped the demand that Israel stop the war altogether—to establish this so-called “framework”—then seemingly immediately they reinstate their original demand, just in a subtler, quieter way, which the vast majority of people will miss.
Hamas’s goal throughout all these “negotiations” has been to seek another media propaganda victory against the Jewish state. The Islamist murderers want to turn more people against Israel by duping them into thinking that it’s Netanyahu who stands in the way of a ceasefire, refusing to compromise.
But it’s the exact opposite that’s true. Hamas has received absurdly generous proposal after proposal, endorsed by President Joe Biden and European leaders, only to reject them.
None of this should surprise. It’s just a mini version of the generations of unwillingness on the part of Palestinians to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
I remain as convinced as before: the only reliable way to free the remaining living hostages is to keep fucking fighting. If we get a dozen back alive, then that would be an achievement beyond my wildest hopes.
Tempting as it is to hope that a resolution to this conflict is on the horizon, I encourage everyone to adopt a similarly realistic mindset.
See the previous installments in this ongoing series:
See these writings in the “Axis of Genocide” series for previous Hostage Liberation News:
Hamas Says It Does Not Know Where the Hostages Are Or Who Is Alive
Hamas Releases Video of Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin Missing His Left Hand
“Pain or damage don’t end the world, or despair, or fuckin’ beatings. The world ends when you’re dead. Until then, you’ve got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man and give some back.” - Al Swearengen
I agree. People in the West make the mistake of thinking that this is a normal negotiation where two parties Who share a common goal negotiate in good faith to agree on the details of how to achieve that goal. Negotiating with Hamas is different. First, they never operate in good faith. Second, and more significantly, the goals of each side are vastly different. Israel wants peace and security while Hamas wants all Jews dead and not only in Israel. “Ceasefire now” simply means Israel relents so Hamas, which has been badly damaged, can regroup to launch another October 7 pogram as it has expressly stated it will do.
I am in Virginia visiting family. Up the street there is a sign “free Gaza.” Every time I pass it my wife or I remark that Gaza will be free only when Hamas is decapitated and replaced with a humane government genuinely interested in the health, welfare and future of ordinary Gazans.
Thanks for your note, my friend. I will have something to say about Trump in the coming days. And tomorrow I will have a Substack essay I think you would be interested in.