Shocking? Well, maybe. Could anyone feel shock at seeing the same Hamas playbook getting run for the nth time since 2006?

German magazine Bild reports on a Hamas strategy document captured in Gaza that comes from the poisoned pen and mind of Yahya Sinwar himself. The document, if authentic, lays out the full hostaging strategy Hamas planned to employ in this war. It will come as no surprise to anyone at this point -- outside the White House, anyway -- that Sinwar has no interest in cease-fires or a two-state solution.

His real interests? Psychological torture and the annihilation of Israel, with his own survival somewhere in between. This comes from a Google translation of the original German:

Now a previously unknown document from Hamas' military intelligence service shows how the terrorists are manipulating the international community, torturing the hostage families and seeking to rearm. And also that they are just as indifferent to a quick end to the war as they are to the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

▶︎ The document in which Hamas sets out its negotiating strategy was found on a computer that is said to belong to the terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar (61). He is said to have personally approved the content. The letter dates from spring 2024 and is available exclusively to BILD. ... 

What is particularly perfidious is that Hamas is abusing the kidnapped hostages to improve its negotiating position. The document states frankly:

"Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and during the first phase (of the ceasefire, ed.) , so that public pressure on the enemy government increases."

Quelle surprise. And the worst part is that Sinwar knows it's working, thanks to the moral idiots of the West, especially in the US. The document goes on to explain that Hamas will allow the Red Cross to access some of the remaining hostages in a later phase of an agreement, but only for the purpose of passing along psy-op propaganda. Bild accurately calls this "barbaric psychological torture" intended to leverage the hostages into turning Israelis against their government.

In other words, they're being played, and so are we. And we're letting them succeed at it:

The heads of the American and British foreign intelligence agencies said Saturday they are “working ceaselessly” for a ceasefire in Gaza, using a rare joint public statement to press for peace.

CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation.”

Later Saturday, Burns said a new hostage-ceasefire proposal was being finalized, and stressed that ending the conflict would require “some hard choices and some political compromises” from both Israel and Hamas.

Ahem. How "hard" will it be for Hamas? Tellingly, the document makes no references to Palestinian casualties at all, despite it being a major talking point for everyone else. It also makes no mention of the Philadelphi Corridor, but the document may have been written prior to the IDF's seizure of the border region. On the question of borders, Sinwar apparently wants Arab armies stationed at the borders of Gaza, but not to secure the Strip from Hamas. Sinwar wants them to keep the IDF from re-entering Gaza while Hamas rebuilds its fighting capacity and eventually starts another war, this time with Arab assistance:

Hamas negotiators should propose that "Arab forces be stationed along the eastern and northern borders" with Israel. But these would only have one purpose: "The Arab forces should serve as a buffer to prevent the enemy from entering Gaza after the war ends until they (Hamas, ed.) have reorganized their ranks and military capabilities."

Is this document authentic? The IDF has captured a significant amount of intelligence after capturing command centers in various locations in Gaza. It's certainly possible that this is an authentic document, although it does have the feel of being a little too "on the nose," so to speak. This exactly outlines the accusations made by Israeli hawks in this war, almost too exactly and completely.

On the other hand, it also accurately describes Hamas' past strategies for hostaging and psy-ops too. Who needs an internal Sinwar communiqué to know that Hamas leverages hostages for cruelty to Israeli families and to manipulate Israel's partners in security -- not to mention the media? (The Jerusalem Post offers some reporting on Bild's claim, suggesting that it is actually authentic intel gleaned in the field.)

However, we didn't need this document to understand the evil machinations of Sinwar and his terrorist allies. All we need is the experience of 19 years of war with Hamas, 19 years of hostaging, and 19 years of violating cease-fires to restart the overall war when they feel ready to fight it. We have plenty of evidence of their refusal to negotiate in good faith and to manipulate everyone through war crimes that should have long ago resulted in their utter destruction. 

Seth Mandel puts it well at Commentary by calling it a "water is wet" moment:

What’s most interesting about the document is that it describes what is obviously happening. I have not seen a reason to doubt the document’s authenticity nor have I seen proof of its origins, but it is as if someone claimed to have retrieved a document from Sinwar’s hard drive that argued, in detail, that water is wet.

And that helps explain some of the frustration of watching coverage of this conflict. Blaming Israel for the lack of a ceasefire deal, and for the longevity of the conflict in general, requires one to believe or pretend to believe the most irrational explanations for everything. ...

This is purported to be a document from Sinwar’s command. But it could be a document from the brain of any sentient human being who has spent more than five seconds following the conflict. The most unrealistic part of the alleged document is the idea that it would take any effort whatsoever to manipulate Western media into parroting the Hamas line.

This document is believable as a strategy note straight from Sinwar or as a programming note straight from the executives at MSNBC.

In a fully rational world, an authenticated document like this would cause everyone involved to realize they're being played and change course to put an end to the existential threat Hamas represents. Instead, we can probably expect that everyone involved who has pushed for appeasement will continue to do so, because they are serving their own short-term interests rather than the long-term security needs of Israel and the region. And that is most true with the Biden administration and its insistence on demanding a "two-state solution" that Hamas has utterly rejected anyway, and clearly plans to destroy at the first opportunity.