Some of you may wonder why I’ve been so quiet regarding the ceasefire in the Israel -Hamas war and regarding the release of hostages. The reasons for this quietude are as follows.
Firstly because I had no solid knowledge of what was exactly happening on the ground whatever I would have said would be blind speculation and no help or information to anyone. I was not in the room where negotiations were taking place and neither do I have contacts or sources who were. I dare say that at some point in the future the content of negotiations, like those surrounding for example the Treaties that ended the First World War and which shaped interwar Europe, will become public knowledge. But at present, anything I could say about these negotiations would merely be guesswork and I couldn’t see the point of that.
Secondly Hamas or the words or promises that they utter cannot be trusted one bit. Anything that any Hamas representative or mouthpiece might say about the nature of the ceasefire or the condition of the hostages or the names of those who may or may not be released, cannot even for a second be taken on face value.
In Hamas we are not dealing with any sort of honourable enemy where a vanquished or near vanquished enemy’s word with regards to surrender terms or procedure or disarmament can be accepted as being true. What we are dealing with are Islamist monsters whose primary motivation is to kill first Jews then kill or enslave everyone else. Hamas are worse in terms of their strength of ideological motivation than were the brainwashed Hitler Youth who were pressed to fight to defend Germany as the Nazi regime entered its final death throes. The kids of the Hitler Youth could eventually be pressed by observable reality to see that all was lost and that fighting on was pointless and infinitely destructive and that a better future could be constructed.
However I believe from observation of Hamas over the years that this is not a path that Hamas will follow. They will continue to lie, obfuscate and engage in manoeuvres to strengthen their position and do whatever they can to give themselves anything that they might see as an advantage. Hamas will do anything and has done anything to keep the fight up against primarily the Jews but also against the rest of the non-Muslim world. Hamas as we’ve seen during this conflict will even sacrifice it’s own people, including Gazan women and children, for military advantage. Neither Hamas nor the statements of this organisation can in any way be trusted. Hamas are masters of the Islamic concept of Taqiyya or lying to protect or promote Islam and they will say anything no matter how untrue or fantastic to advantage their cause. Even a ceasefire with Hamas is not the sort of ceasefire that would occur between non-Muslim combatants. For the likes of Hamas a ceasefire, like the one presently agreed, is not a prelude to the complete cessation of hostilities and maybe a rebuilding of national relationships but instead a mere ‘hudna’ or temporary truce that would allow the Islamic combatants to regroup and rest.
I didn’t want to be the conduit for Hamas inspired bullshit which is why I have not joined in with the speculation about which hostage will be released and when. This speculation would in my view have been utterly pointless. I decided I would not comment in any way until I saw concrete evidence of any hostage release.
Well we are now starting to get hostages released by Hamas. Three of the young women hostages Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari were released into the care of the Red Cross yesterday before being reunited with their families in Israel.
The handover of these three hostages were accompanied by terrible scenes of Islamic aggression and hatred. As the hostages were transferred from one vehicle to another they were surrounded by armed Hamas savages screaming about how much they want to exterminate the Jews. I can’t imagine how frightening this mob must have been to the released hostages especially after all they’ve been through during their imprisonment by Hamas.
I’m pleased and thankful that these three hostages are now back with their families and can now start to recover and rebuild their lives. However I’m mindful that there are many more hostages that Hamas is holding and it is unsure who is going to be released by the terror group and when. Also it’s unsure how many hostages are still alive. As previously stated I’m not going to trust any statement on this issue by Hamas as any statement by them will inevitably be either untrue, self serving or both.
The State of Israel and the Israeli people are paying a very heavy price for the release of the hostages. Apart from the ceasefire itself Israel is also releasing into the control of Hamas hundreds of some of the worst Islamic terrorists on the face of the planet. For the innocents whom Hamas has captured Israel is releasing mass murderers, terror supporters, rapists and other evil individuals. Israel is buying the hostages with Islamic savages who have wiped out entire Israeli families. My only hope is that at some time in the future, when this conflict fires up again, which it will, Israel can target these released savages for destruction.
So where do things go from here? Well based on what I can gather, Hamas are likely to drag out any hostage releases for as long as possible. However, when as many hostages as possible have been released or confirmed to have died or been murdered in captivity, then I hope and pray that Israel tools up and finishes the job of eliminating Hamas. I want that scenario as the only way to a true and lasting peace in the Middle East region and the creation of a situation where Israel feels safe and neighbouring Muslim nations are free to peacefully develop, is for all these Islamic terror groups including Hamas to be removed from being a threat. At present Israel cannot wipe out Hamas as Hamas is holding Israeli citizens hostage and any robust military action against Hamas would also endanger any remaining hostages. I believe that Israel needs to take any future opportunity to wipe out Hamas and other Islamic terror groups so that hostage taking and using hostages for the purposes of pressuring Israel to release terrorists can no longer be a tactic that Hamas or similar groups can use.
Whilst we rejoice at the release of three of the hostages we need to remember that this is as Winston Churchill once said of the Battle of El Alamein that this hostage release not the beginning of the end of this conflict but merely the end of the beginning. Even when all available hostages are free Hamas will still be a problem that needs to be dealt with.