Did anyone really expect Hamas to accept an Israeli proposal on an operational pause? Especially while a generation of useful idiots put political pressure on Joe Biden to force Israel into more concessions?

As usual, Hamas wants to eat its cake and have it too. They have signaled a rejection of the latest US/Israeli proposal, but want to keep stalling the eventual final battle in Rafah by suggesting further negotiations:

Hamas on Wednesday night appeared poised to reject the latest hostage deal proposal crafted by mediators and green-lit by Israel.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Lebanon, told the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV, “Our position on the current negotiating paper is negative.” ...

The terror group was reportedly slated to submit on Thursday an amended proposal to the one crafted by Qatari, Egyptian and American brokers.

But it is unclear whether Israel will be prepared to demonstrate further flexibility after it already agreed to a proposal providing for the release of just 33 female, elderly and sick hostages in the first stage of the truce deal following Hamas’s rejection of the previous proposal that envisioned the release of 40 of the most vulnerable hostages.

It's unclear whether the Israelis will bother. They've waited months to finish this war mainly out of respect for their most important ally, whose current administration would clearly prefer to see Hamas survive in a return to the status quo ante. Hamas' continued gameplaying and manipulation reflects on Joe Biden's incompetence and cravenness, so much so that Antony Blinken began making it clear this week that the US was running out of patience with Hamas.

That's likely why the New York Times reported this more ambiguously, so as not to embarrass Blinken and Biden. The headline on this development is almost laughable in its approach: "Hamas Resists Israel’s Latest Cease-Fire Offer." In the report itself, they did include a not-subtle warning from Blinken that time has just about run out on American interference:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that Hamas leaders could save Palestinian lives by accepting a proposed deal under which they would free 33 hostages in exchange for a six-week cease-fire and the liberation of many Palestinian prisoners.

“We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Mr. Blinken said at the start of a meeting in Tel Aviv with Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now, and the time is now long past due to bring the hostages home to their families.”

This latest proposal included some key concessions from Israel, mainly a return of refugees to northern Gaza without restrictions in the first phase of the deal. They also agreed to accept only 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, reducing their initial demand of 40 in the first phase when Hamas said they couldn't produce that many in time. 

Hamas wants more concessions, but even the US isn't going to be able to force those out of the unity government. Netanyahu's coalition partners are threatening to leave the government over the concessions in the current proposal. Benny Gantz and his coalition are threatening to leave the government if this proposal didn't get offered. Hamas' rejection gives both sides an out, and that would be through Rafah:

Smotrich explained that while his “heart is torn” by the suffering of the hostages and their families, his “head is thinking at the same time about the future of nine million Israeli citizens” and how they will be affected by a potential return of Hamas to northern Gaza and the release of terrorists with blood on their hands in exchange for the hostages.

“That’s why it was personally easiest for me as a public figure and politician to support any deal and at any price. I would receive applause from everyone, from the families of the hostages, from the media, from the international community, but in the end, my responsibility is to the public, to my conscience and to the truth,” he said. “And the head and the truth say that such a deal must be opposed because its results will be disastrous” and constitute “the surrender of the State of Israel.”

“We have reached a crossroads where the State of Israel has to choose between decisive victory and defeat in war and humiliation,” he continued, claiming that “acceptance of the deal that is on the table means unequivocally waving a white flag and granting victory to Hamas.”

If nothing else, a Hamas rejection of the deal resolves that question rather neatly. 

Perhaps sensing this, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan warned that an assault on Rafah would bring an end to any negotiations over the hostages:

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan signaled on Wednesday in an interview with the Hezbollah-backed Lebanese channel "Al-Manar", that "if the enemy launches an aggressive ground operation in Rafah - the negotiations will be stopped because the resistance does not negotiate under fire," as reported in Israeli media.

That should have been the Western position all along -- no negotiations until all hostages are released and returned to Israel. Instead, the Biden administration has dragged this out needlessly since the beginning of December. Time to acknowledge that Hamas isn't negotiating -- it's conducting a political campaign with tentacles all around the world and into American college campuses. Let Israel finish this war, destroy Hamas as an operational force, and set a new course in the region.