Mulling over the situation after the completion of my previous posting.
Please read to the end.
The beginning of the problem lies with the fact that American voters (and as a tax-paying American citizen I include myself) were not offered a viable alternative in the last presidential election.
To most of us, the thought of voting for a vacuous Kamala was simply unacceptable. Not only because she was clearly incompetent. But also because radical Islamists represent the biggest threat to the Western world. And it certainly seemed that a “woke” Kamala, who tilted seriously left, would have been far more likely to support or advance the agenda of the Islamists.
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That left us with Donald Trump. I was never enamored of him, as some were (are?). I saw his weaknesses – his enormously over-blown ego, his propensity for shifts in policy and holding grudges, his frequently boorish behavior that some thought cute but made me cringe. But he certainly seemed to be well to the right of Kamala. He supported policies inside of the US that countered woke orthodoxies (such as transwomen playing in women’s sports) and had a record from his first term of taking pro-Israel stances on several occasions. I made an effort to pay attention to what he did and not what he said.
What I never imagined even remotely is that I would see Trump, less than a year after the election, holding the hand of the emir of Qatar – a state that promotes Islamist principles broadly including in the US – and declaring him to be one of the great leaders of the world. Trump sucking up to Islamists not because he is an Islamist, but because it served his purposes to do so.
There were strong hints of problems to come just before Trump’s inauguration. That’s when Witkoff came to see Netanyahu and squeezed him into a ceasefire deal that was not necessarily one that would have best served Israel’s interests. There was, for example, the issue of the identities and number of terrorists with blood on their hands to be released in exchange for the hostages.
There was only one reason why this deal had to be sealed immediately rather than allowing time for further negotiations, and that was so Trump would be able to announce it at his inauguration.
Uh oh.
Certainly some very positive things did transpire in the early months of Trump’s second term. Notably, he released badly needed munitions that Israel had paid for and Biden had withheld. And – of great importance – he hit Iran, weakening that Islamic nation’s store of weaponry and damaging its capacity to produce fissile material. (I will return to further address the Iran issue very soon.)
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That ceasefire resulted in the release of a number of hostages – some 30 over a period of time, brought out with ugly fanfare on the part of Hamas.
Then, in October, Trump brought forth his 20-point “peace plan,” which was meant to progress in stages and bring a final end to the war.
Israel agreed to what was laid out in the plan. The Trump administration says Hamas also agreed, but in point of fact its acceptance statement was highly qualified.
The first phase of this plan, as we are well aware, called for the release of all remaining hostages, those alive and those deceased. And indeed, all but one have now been brought home.
However, it also called for the disarmament of Hamas. Yet, not only has Hamas not been disarmed, it has grown stronger again as it has been able to operate more effectively with the relative quiet in Gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire mandated by Trump’s plan.
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This is the way I see it: Trump, above all, wants to be great – admired around the world. He seeks to portray himself as a man of peace, a man who can bring an end to wars.
Many of my readers may not realize that the description of the role of the Board of Peace established by Trump’s plan does not specifically mention Gaza. I have read that it does not. For what Trump envisions is a broader mandate for this Board. After it oversees “peace” in Gaza, it will go on to bring peace to other areas of the world that are beset by violence.
This is delusional.
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In the meanwhile, Trump is able to fashion himself as a man of peace for two reasons:
First, because he created a situation that enabled all (but one) of the hostages to be brought out. This was celebrated emotionally in many quarters, and with good reason. It would have been difficult to do anything but rejoice when witnessing the return of these long-suffering and magnificently brave young people. This success made Trump something of a hero. I do not believe there is anyone else who could have accomplished this right now.
But how did he do it? By relying upon Qatar, which supports Hamas and sustains a close relationship with its leaders.
You see Trump here with the emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Obviously, I was not privy to the discussions between Qatar and Hamas that enabled the release of the hostages. But I would be willing to bet a good deal that it involved assurances from Qatar to Hamas that it would be safe to let go of the hostages now because Qatar, which was in tight with the president, would have their back and make certain that they remained standing in Gaza.
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The second reason Trump is now able to present himself as a man of peace is because the fighting in Gaza has, in the main, come to a halt. See? Peace!
But no! Quiet must not be allowed to pass for “peace.” There is no peace. And the elephant in the room that so many choose to ignore is huge.
This is where it becomes terribly painful. I cannot say, would not say, that it would have been better if the hostages had not been brought out. But I can and do say that bringing them home is not of itself sufficient – that bringing them home at the price of allowing Hamas to stand is not acceptable.
Netanyahu set two goals for the war initiated after October 7: to finish Hamas and to bring back the hostages.
Over a thousand of our soldiers died in that war against Hamas – a war they were fighting primarily to take down an enemy sworn to destroy Israel. They went willingly and with purpose, but did they, in the end, die for nothing? We cannot accept their deaths and stand by while our sworn enemy grows stronger. There is something obscene about this.
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Eitan Mor (pictured), a hostage brought out last October, has this to say now:
“I came to terms with the fact that I could die in Gaza, because the State needs to destroy Hamas.”
His father, Tzvika Mor, who founded the Tikva Forum, said of his son that he “has the ability to understand the bigger picture, a Zionist perspective – we are in a war, the country needs to win. I am not the most important person in the world; there are also soldiers above me who are being killed.”
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421043
The realization is painful that when we ultimately do take on Hamas again, as sooner or later we must, more of our boys will die than would have been the case had Trump not intervened and had allowed us to finish them. We were getting close. Now we face the ugly prospect of many additional deaths.
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About Hamas, Eitan said this: “They will not give in. Many Hamas operatives told me – until you remove the last Gazan from here, we will give you another October 7. They are extremely obsessive toward us, and I wish we were as obsessive [toward them] as they are toward us.” (Emphasis added)
Trump and his advisors do not understand what Eitan describes. They do not recognize the power of ideology, and I doubt that they have actually confronted the reality of the venom and total lack of humanity with which Hamas operates. I suspect they continue to believe that once Hamas – which is evil incarnate – sees how nice things will be in Gaza, they will modify.
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In various venues I am encountering opinions that basically describe a scenario that will end well: Trump is working with Netanyahu, who is only pretending to be upset at the composition of the Board of Peace in order to deceive Israel’s enemies; Trump is inviting radical leaders to join that Board just in order to co-opt them; in the end, good people working in Gaza will ensure that all is well.
I would be pleased to have to admit that I was wrong. But I do not believe that I am. I simply do not accept this scenario as remotely indicative of what is happening or will be coming soon.
In terms of expectations that Trump will co-opt the radical regimes, I am mindful of the fact that he owes a debt of gratitude towards Qatar. And now I read it is not only Qatar and Turkey – who are expected to play key roles – included in the Board of Peace. Today I read that Putin has been invited and Pakistan. Pakistan??
I have no reason to believe that Major General Jasper Jeffers, who has been appointed Commander of the International Stabilization Force (ISF), is anything but a fine man with the best of intentions. But when I read that “he will lead security operations, support comprehensive demilitarization” I ask the most basic question: How? How will he do this? These are only words and words are very cheap.
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We should not forget that less than a month ago, Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said that Hamas would not surrender its weapons until the establishment of “a fully sovereign Palestinian state with a military capable of confronting Israel.” Hamas would turn over its weapons to this state. “The resistance [Hamas] rejects the arrival of foreign forces to disarm us [and take away] the weapons that the occupation failed to take from us.”
https://worldisraelnews.com/hamas-no-disarmament-until-palestinian-state-established-with-an-army/
And now we have reports that Hamas is rebuilding its leadership:
https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/01/18/hamas-rebuilds-leadership-sinwar-loyalists-gaza/
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I want to close with a JNS podcast that I urge all of you to watch.
It is with Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA), to the right below, and Khaled Abu Toameh, a highly respected Israel Arab journalist associated with the JCFA.
These gentlemen are far more knowledgeable than I. It is well worth hearing what they have to say:
[] An earthquake may be coming in Gaza, even though matters seem quiet now.
[] More than 85% of the people of Gaza are still controlled by Hamas, which is rearming and regrouping.
[] Hamas must be taken down. Not just disarmed but totally defeated.
[] Israel is the only entity that can do this and it must happen soon.
[] The technocrats of the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) are now quietly working to put the Palestinian Authority in place as the administrative authority in Gaza.
[] Hamas is stronger than the PA. Thus, if this happens, we will ultimately see a reprise of June 2007, when Hamas defeated the PA and took over Gaza by force. And then we will be back where we started.
https://www.jns.org/warnings-grow-that-gaza-technocratic-rule-may-allow-hamas-to-rearm-quietly/
The first 19 minutes of this podcast are devoted to Gaza.
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Please, pray for all of Am Yisrael: for the wisdom and courage of our leaders and the strength of our people.
©Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
