Did Donald Trump offend Hamas' genteel sensibilities yesterday? Terrorist monsters say what?

In an Oval Office presser -- the latest of several over the last three weeks -- Trump decried the state of the hostages that Hamas has released so far, calling them "emaciated" and clearly abused by their captors "mentally and physically." He predicted that the situation would get worse as Hamas likely traded the hostages in the best condition first, which seems likely to be an accurate assessment. 

In the course of his response, Trump issued an ultimatum. Either Hamas releases all of the remaining hostages they have kidnapped and held since October 7, 2023, or "all hell will break loose" on February 15, 2025:

Driving the news: Hamas said earlier Monday its announcement on delaying the hostages' release was "a warning message to Israel" in order for the mediators to press it to fully implement the deal.

• An Israeli official said Hamas' announcement could be a response to Trump's "Gaza takeover" plan and a sign that the group suspects Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won't hold serious negotiations about the second phase of the deal.

What they're saying: "If they are not released by 12 o'clock on Saturday I say cancel it [the ceasefire] and all bets are off ... all hell will break loose," Trump told reporters at the Oval office.

• He stressed that Hamas is looking for reasons not to release more hostages because the hostages are "badly hurt both physically and mentally ... what you see is probably the best."

In other words, Trump has a pretty good grasp of the Hamas Hokey Pokey and isn't going to play it much longer. 

For some reason, this threat apparently offended the terrorist group that [checks notes] routinely threatens to annihilate Israel and murder and/or enslave all the Jews around the world. They find Trump's language just a bit ... unhelpful:

Hamas said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump’s demand that the terror group release all its hostages by noon Saturday — or “all bets are off” — “further complicates matters” relating to the fragile Gaza truce, after the terror group announced Monday that it would delay the next scheduled hostage release over alleged Israeli violations of the deal.

“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the prisoners,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the hostages.

“The language of threats has no value and further complicates matters,” he added.

Ahem. To the extent that Hamas does anything other than murder and make war, it's to issue threats of murder, war, and genocide, For instance, in the days after the October 7 massacres and hostaging, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad repeatedly and publicly declared that Hamas would continue such attacks until Israel was destroyed and enslaved:

HAMAD: Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and it it must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force. … [cut]

… We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs. ... 

HAMAD: The occupation must come to an end.

Q: Occupation where? In the Gaza Strip?

HAMAD: No, I am talking about all the Palestinian lands.

Q: Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?

HAMAD: Yes, of course. [cut] … The existence of Israel is illogical. The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears. It is Israel, not us. We are victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, October 1,000,000 — everything we do is justified.

Perhaps Hamas will find out that they have "complicated matters" with Trump. This is not the Joe Biden or Barack Obama administrations, nor is it Trump I, before Hamas took Americans hostage. And when it comes to a decision as to which side will annihilate the other, Hamas may soon find out that f*****g around with Trump is not a wise decision. Trump spent years ripping Barack Obama for failing to make good on his "red line" threat against Syria, and he will no doubt want an opportunity to underscore his intention to follow through on such threats -- even by proxy.

That used to be true of the entire West at one point, and for that matter the entire world. Nations or states that launched wars of annihilation against their neighbors risked annihilation in return, and no one cried much over the idea that such populations could be forced into exile for making war. Andrew Roberts argues at the Free Press that Trump is right to advocate for that outcome in Gaza, and that it's time to bring back those consequences if we want to put an end to perpetual war:

When the two Boer republics of Southern Africa, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, invaded the British colonies of Natal and Cape Colony in October 1899, a war broke out that two and a half years later they had comprehensively lost. By the peace treaty of Vereeniging in May 1902, both republics were annexed by the British and lost their sovereignty entirely, their government having already fled for Holland.

Konrad Henlein, the Nazi leader of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia in 1938, invited Adolf Hitler to invade the Czech state in March 1939. He had much the same kind of willing acolyte relationship with the führer that Yahya Sinwar had with Iran. When Germany lost the Second World War in May 1945, Henlein committed suicide, and his people were moved out of the Sudetenland, some 800,000 to the Soviet zone and the rest to West Germany. The Sudetenland was then entirely repopulated with ethnic Czechs.

In all, more than three million Germans were forced to leave their homes in the Sudetenland, Silesia, and other lands east of the Oder and Neisse rivers, where their ancestors had lived for centuries, indeed for much longer than most Palestinian families have lived in Gaza. They embarked on the 300-mile journey westward under conditions of extreme deprivation, carrying only what they could carry. Once they reached Germany—whose new borders were drawn by the victorious Allies as they had lost all sovereignty—they settled and made the best of it.

Today, they and their descendants are among some of the most successful people in Germany, and however powerful modern Germany is, she makes no territorial claims on either Poland or the Czech Republic. The Palestinians could learn a great lesson from the catastrophe that overcame the Sudeten Germans almost contemporaneously as the “Nakba” (catastrophe) that overcame them. Yet will they learn from it? Almost certainly not.

Not until they are forced to learn it. Despite 80 years of attempted and utterly futile wars of annihilation against Israel, Gazans and West Bank Palestinians still want another war of annihilation. It's time to tie permanent consequences to that warmaking, and to put an end to the festering sores of the Middle East for good -- either by peaceful settlement or the peace of permanent exile. Enough is enough. 

Update: Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen the opportunity to channel his inner Kurt Russell:

BREAKING: Netanyahu: If Hamas doesn't release our hostages by Saturday at noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume the fighting in Gaza

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) February 11, 2025

This comes after a security cabinet meeting that Netanyahu held to discuss Hamas' latest move. Unlike Trump, Netanyahu wants the Phase I exchanges to continue rather than demand the immediate release of all hostages. If not, though ...

"If Hamas does not return our hostages by noon on Saturday, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

There will be no second phase of hostage-ceasefire deal talks until all hostages are returned, a source said on Tuesday.

The source added that the cabinet expects all nine hostages scheduled to be released in the first phase of the deal to be released in the coming days. 

Will Hamas pick the reasonable course, or will they continue to play the Hamas Hokey Pokey? I'd bet the latter ... if only out of habit. They will find out that the terms of the war have changed significantly this time, however.