Hamas won’t give Israel a list of living hostages
You would think it was the very least Hamas could do: provide a list of living hostages who might be freed in any deal with Israel. But apparently even that is too much, according to Hamas:
On Wednesday, Israeli officials charged that Hamas had backed away from a softened stance that could have enabled a deal, and instead returned to a position that is holding up progress. The allegation came after the terror group accused Israel of making new demands in the negotiations and causing a delay.
An unnamed Hamas official told the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed outlet on Thursday that Hamas has provided a partial list of living hostages to negotiators, but is unable to communicate with all the groups holding captives.
The terror group will be in a better position to provide information on the hostages once a ceasefire has begun and communication in Gaza becomes easier, he said.
What complete garbage. “Oh, just let’s have a ceasefire and we’ll find out for you, because your nasty little war is all that’s holding us back from perfect communication with our minions holding people captive.”
Of course, Hamas knows that it works to blame Israel for everything that goes wrong. It works both on the international stage and also with Israel’s left, and with many of the hostage families who have suffered terribly all this time. They want answers and they want their loved ones back, and who can blame them?
But at what cost? That has always been the question. Hamas wants the cost to Israel to be exponentially high. The hostages are their final trump card and they are playing it for all it’s worth.
Do they actually not know where all the hostages are and who is alive and who is dead? I think that is probably one case in which they are telling the truth – there are some hostage-taking freelancers and there is also some disorganization. That does not excuse Hamas in any way. They are 100% to blame for every casualty and injury in this war that began with mass murder on 10/7.
And then of course there is the ever-present question of how many hostages remain alive. I do not think the answer is zero, but the true figure is completely unknown. If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere in the thirties, but that is a complete guess.
Well, there aren’t any. Israel killed them all by day 3 carpet bombing all the apartment buildings. Anyone who didn’t figure that out by day 10 does not have a functioning frontal lobe.
Well, there aren’t any. Israel killed them all by day 3 carpet bombing all the apartment buildings. Anyone who didn’t figure that out by day 10 does not have a functioning frontal lobe.
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Thanks for the fantasy. We’re all educated, I’m sure.
Roberto Sanchez doesn’t know what carpet bombing is, nor his ass from a hole in the ground.
We need better trolls.
Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity….
Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!
–President-Elect Donald J. Trump
https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-warns-there-will-be-all-hell-to-pay-if-hostages-arent-released-by-jan-20/
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I don’t believe Trump is the sort of president like Obama who boldly drew a “red line” against Syria, then did nothing when Syria crossed it:
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In August of 2013, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus was attacked with sarin gas — a nerve agent that causes lung muscle paralysis and results in death from suffocation.
The attack killed 1,400 men, women and children, and at the White House, officials asserted “with high confidence” that the government of Bashar al-Assad was responsible.
One year earlier, President Barack Obama had described Assad’s potential use of chemical weapons as “a red line” that would have “enormous consequences” and “change my calculus” on American military intervention in Syria’s civil war.
When Assad appeared to cross that line, Obama ordered the Pentagon to prepare to attack.
“Our finger was on the trigger,” Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells veteran FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith in tomorrow’s new documentary, Obama at War. “We had everything in place and we were just waiting for instructions to proceed.”
“The president was looking for a way to not have to make good on the threat that he had made,” Col. Andrew Bacevich (Ret.), author of The Limits of Power, tells FRONTLINE. “I think because the president having drawn that red line realized that he had no appetite for direct military engagement in Syria.”
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-president-blinked-why-obama-changed-course-on-the-red-line-in-syria/
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Trump isn’t an Obama soy boy. Hamas will probably wait until the last minute, but I’ll bet Hamas blinks.
F***.
Assad killed 1400 of his citizens, human souls, with nerve gas. I had forgotten the enormity until I refreshed my memory tonight.
Monster.
So now he is deposed and in exile in Russia. He deserves worse.
I hope the best for the Syrians, though I’m pessimistic about All Things Middle East. I did watch an interview with the New Boss, perhaps the same as the Old Boss. He had a smooth line that maybe he wasn’t.
Trump dixit
I doubt that there is much that Trump can do to Hamas. Gaza is already rubble. Similarly, when the decision was made where to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, Tokyo was left out because firebombing had destroyed much of Tokyo. What is left to destroy in Gaza?
Can the current leader of Hamas be targeted? Maybe. I have read that the current head of Hamas is Sinwar’s brother, and even less inclined than his brother to be willing to compromise with Israel.
HELL TO PAY would imply to me that Iran will be targeted. How about a massive attack on Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) facilities?
The less willing that Hamas is to do right by the hostages, the less willing that Trump will be to countenance a role for Hamas in the future governing of Gaza.
Gringo:
Hard to say. I don’t think Trump is bluffing.
Maybe he’ll just take the Biden leash off Israel, send Israel all the weapons they want, and release the hounds!
–The Simpsons, “Release the hounds”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORvkElqw0QM
Netanyahu has made astonishing progress against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. I suspect he’s being careful not to overreach and now he’s waiting to see how things shake out, especially with regard to Trump’s presidency.
I don’t think Trump is bluffing, either. The target, by process of elimination in my previous comment, will be Iran. Weapons for Israel and “release the hounds” implies Iran’s nuclear program. I hope they aren’t too far underground to be destroyed. If Iran’s nuclear program is the target, my guess is that it will be a joint US-Israel operation. The Achilles heel will be leaks from the US side. Which may cause Israel to want only weapons.
It would be hard to imagine an enemy in any of our wars who could be considered “honorable”. Still, some were worse, some were better.
It would be hard to imagine any worse than Hamas.
I can’t help but notice the similarity between the position of Hamas on revealing hostage names and Nancy Pelosi’s position on revealing the contents of the legislation establishing Obamacare, to wit, “We’ll let you know after we get what we want.” Pretty sure the outcome of this bargaining position will be similar, to wit: they get what they want. Period. Anyone who accedes to this is either a knave or a fool, and quite likely both. As an aside, I note that islam continues to be the only major world religion that has at its core animosity toward others not sharing its belief system. Islam is not something that can be admitted into a society without ultimately resulting in conflict. Islam is to non-islamic societies as a virus is to a host organism. Once it gains access, the outcome is sure: either the host eradicates the virus or the virus eradicates the host. The myth of “peaceful islam” is a taqqiya tactic that ends once a sufficient number of moslems becomes embedded in the fabric of any non-islamic society, at which point the true nature of islam, viz., conquest and domination or elimination of all “infidels” will be violently revealed. Read the koran, study the hadiths and the traditional islamic interpretations thereof. If you can’t or won’t bring yourself to do so, at least study–even in a cursory fashion–history. Any leader of a non-islamic country that countenances admission of moslems is a traitor and should be treated as such.
They are dead, they have been dead since Oct7