Want to guess what the two key points would be? Oh, let's not always see the same hands ...
Yesterday, I suggested that we'd see the Hamas Hokey Pokey take another spin on the dance floor in response to the cease-fire proposal from Donald Trump. Sure enough, Hamas let it be known that it saw the proposal favorably, except for the parts where they had to disarm and give up the hostages. Details, details ...
But the Palestinian source said: “Hamas wants to amend some of the clauses, such as the one on disarmament and the expulsion of Hamas and faction cadres.”
Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and guarantees that no assassination attempts will be made inside or outside the territory. ...
“So far there are two views within Hamas: the first supports unconditional approval because the important thing is to have a ceasefire guaranteed by Trump, provided that the mediators guarantee Israel’s implementation of the plan,” the source said, also requesting anonymity.
But others have “great reservations on important clauses,” the source added. “They reject disarmament and for any Palestinian citizen to be taken away from Gaza.”
“They support a conditional agreement with clarifications that take into account demands by Hamas and the resistance factions so that the occupation of the Gaza Strip is not legitimized while the resistance is criminalized,” the source said.
That right there is authentic Academia gibberish. One has to wonder how many of Hamas' leaders got their education at Ivy League institutions, either directly or indirectly. The "resistance is criminalized" is a hilarious objection from a terrorist network that slaughtered hundreds of civilians, went on a campaign of rape and kidnapping, and has used "Palestinian citizens" as human shields while waging war against the Israelis.
This round of the Hamas Hokey Pokey hardly comes as a surprise, and it will likely produce the usual result. Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey will demand that Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu negotiate these terms and delay the IDF from launching the operation to capture Gaza City. Hamas needs more time to organize its defenses and to pick apart the Israeli lines, perhaps hoping for more hostaging as leverage for the end-stage talks.
Trump has already pre-empted this tactic, however. Last night, he posted supporting statements from governments around the world for his proposal, not as a starting point for talks but as the only resolution possible:
Mainly, the world has had enough of Hamas and its atrocities, even if they don't much care for Israel either. This is a problem to be solved, and this solution would end the war. Hamas would lose and get kicked out, while Gaza would have a chance for a more peaceful orientation. Everyone except the radicals is interested in quiet, not in Hamas' mission or even the Palestinians.
There has been a curious silence in other quarters at this moment, too. The radical Left in the West has demanded a cease-fire in Gaza almost since the moment their terrorist darlings slaughtered 1200 Jews, kidnapped 250 more, and went on an orgy of rape and pillage. Now that Trump has offered a cease-fire in which Hamas has to disarm, however, you could hear a pin drop, as Richard Pollock pointed out yesterday:
I have been thunderstruck by the muted response of the usually noisy pro-Palestinian protest movement about the ceasefire proposal proposed by President Trump and now accepted by the most important Muslim countries.
I am indebted to Jerusalem Post reporter Michael Starr who correctly notes there have been no public demonstrations in favor of the latest ceasefire proposal even though that has been a central demand for the pro-Palestinian camp since the early days of the war. The continuous pro-Palestinian cry has been “ceasefire now.” ...
But now there are no victory celebrations in the streets after Trump and most of the Muslim world apparently agrees to this broad ceasefire proposal. The plan, if properly implemented, would require that Hamas put down its arms, face total disarmament, leave Gaza, and place future governance to an international coalition that comprises the United States and Muslim-led countries.
I will admit the lack of street demonstrations hailing the ceasefire is quite amazing.
At the very least, the silence is preferable to their usual authentic Academia gibberish. Pollock might object to that term, insofar as authenticity. He's noticing that the language of the various activist groups seems canned:
CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin has denounced the latest ceasefire proposal saying it is a “demand of surrender.” Nardeen Kiswani, a leader of the pro-Hamas group called Within Our Lifetime says the ceasefire plan is “a political surrender of Palestine Resistance.”
Yasemin Acar, who is on the steering committee of the 40-boat “Global Sumud Flotilla” that’s approaching Gaza said the Trump plan “offered terms of surrender, not terms of justice.”
It’s interesting these groups are using the same language: the proposal constitutes a “surrender.” A coincidence? Is someone feeding them the “correct” political line?
Perhaps. Or perhaps they all got their formation in similar environments -- higher education institutions controlled and dominated by radical Marxists determined to indoctrinate rather than educate. Products of such environments can only speak gibberish, self-important yet vapid clichés that speak volumes about their own intellect and say nothing about reality.
At any rate, Trump's deadlines mean something. If Hamas doesn't accept the plan by the weekend, the IDF will almost certainly unleash hell on Gaza City, dislodging Hamas one way or the other. It might be more difficult to dislodge the Marxist indoctrinators out of Academia, but ... we'll have more on that later today.
For now, if you don't get the gibberish reference, enjoy this clip from a film no studio would make today, and no theater would show.
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