"Hamas vs Israel... again" Topic

With the news reports from last night of peace in Gaza. I am glad to see the hostages living and dead will be coming back home.

This deal is still being implemented. However, I don't trust Hamas and an islamists at all. I see even with the rules, initiatives, etc. outlined in this peace deal.

E.g. 1700 Hamas criminals being released from Israeli prisons. Some lifers, etc. I doubt they will go back to being peaceful farmers, goat herders, etc. Just as we see with ISIS as there are thousands or them still in being forcefully held in camps in Iraq and IIRC Syria.

In both situations Hamas[including a few associated other islamic terrorist groups] and ISIS cannot be trusted.

Iran the major supporter of islamic terrorism is not giving up their quest for deployable nukes. Which would be the worst thing to happen to the region and even the world.

I wish I could have more hope that all this will be corrected, fixed, etc. somehow.

We have been dealing with violent, militant, dangerous islamists as far back as I can remember.

They can't be trusted. The are a death cult, medieval, troglodytes and plague on modernity.

I think turning Gaza into a "Carthage". Hamas and their supporters Put in camps like ISIS. May be a more workable solution. Hamas, etc. will have to be dealt with again. 5-10 years in the future.

And Iran is going have to be dealt with again.

They are both like ISIS unrepentant radical fanatics …

They are not ready to "go quietly in that good night"[IIRC?] … They may never be … More death will be coming from these islamists.

I hope I'm wrong …

Legion I too don't trust Hamas.

But this time multiple Islamic nations are involved and Iran is weakened. I am hoping this one is the one. I know Israelis on both sides hope so, as well as some Palestinians. Lots of people have worked hard to make this happen.

If it takes hold, I hope those involved in the Ukraine, take heed as well.

🙏

But this time multiple Islamic nations are involved and Iran is weakened.

I hope that makes all the difference … this time.

But the series of Arab-Israeli wars, terrorist attacks, etc. since after '48. Makes me a bit skeptical. There are too many bad players out there using militant islam as their blank check to kill, rape, etc. anyone they want. Many still hate not only the Jews but Christians too. You see what islamists in Africa are doing to Christians. It happens in India and Pakistan too. But the Indians are Hindu not moslem. And they don't like each of either …

We will have to see how this plays out … but this is only the first step. In a very long trip …

As far as Ukraine … well Putin is not a moslem fanatic. But he is a psychopath with visions of grandeur. That is just as dangerous …

Congratulations to the President and all those involved for first the ceasefire and now the release of all living hostages.

"Israelis erupt in joy as last living hostages released after 738 days in Gaza"

Subject: SEE IT: First images emerge of hostages being released from Hamas captivity – YouTube


YouTube link

A report now says Hamas is killing those who they thought were traitors to their cause.

They also can't find 20 of the dead hostages …

I still think a lot of this New Peace initiative could go to very quickly.

Revolutionaries always seem to start shooting their own once the ammo runs low. Nothing new there—ideologues make lousy HR departments.

Legion

You know my trust level with these people. I am hoping for a lull in hostilities, which seems to be the best we can hope for since 600 AD. Even that is nebulous, as Christians are still being killed in Africa.

It would be nice if the Palestinians actually realized what they have available with beachfront land and its potential. Especially now that the rich Arab countries have offered help do it and money to build it. I actually think some do, but the hardliners have to go. Will they? That is the question we can't answer yet.

But we have a ceasefire and more importantly, they have no live hostages left (we hope). I noticed no "live" women hostages were returned.

No matter what, this was a good thing.

It was a good thing. It has at least slowed the war down. 300 dead since the ceasefire started.

But there is no plan, policy, vision for the future, no Arab leader, no consensus on how to deal with the big question, the elephant in the room. I hope the ceasefire holds for a while…but its still the ME.

Tort, I gave in my second paragraph what I believe the Arab leaders, the President, (some Palestinians) and others what the plan to be. A rebuilt Gaza, a vacation area of beaches and waves. But those living there have to want that, more than centuries of hate. We know Hamas doesn't and they have to go. They are already killing other Muslims (300 dead). This is the key to continued peace.

For the record, I have been there. Yes, Gaza. It was in 1986, and I spent almost three months in southern Israel, working at a camp for Christian Israeli Arabs from Nazareth and Galilee. A co-worker who had formerly volunteered at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza invited a group of us to join him for a visit.

Observations from my stay (and other sources):

• The so-called "Palestinian" people are simply Jordanian Arabs who fled into Gaza during the failed war to prevent the creation of Israel in 1948. (There was not and never has been a nation or people of "Palestine.") They were very poor, treated as worthy only as laborers (and cannon fodder) by other Arab tribes— quite simply the lowest caste of the low. Better than Jews in the eyes of other Arabs, but not much.

• Gaza at that time was a contradiction. The beaches were indeed beautiful. The cities were a mixture of rundown near-slum housing and higher end apartment structures (not that high end, but decent). Most of the people simply wished to build a better life. I was introduced to a skilled jeweler (a goldsmith) who had made a beautiful small gold chain with a unique cubic design, which I purchased as a gift for my girlfriend back in the States (now my wife). He was delighted at the visit and a very pleasant person— the best of Gaza. While I was on alert during my day there, for the most part my group drew only curious stares. (I had one young man say "Shalom" to me as I passed, probably assuming I was Jewish. I could not discern whether he meant it as welcome, or as a derision. I simply ignored him, knowing that a Hebrew blessing in the mouth of a Gazan Arab was unlikely to be intended in good faith. Possible, but not probable. But he took no other action.)

• During my time in Israel the camp was host to a beautiful Arab toddler, perhaps 2 or 3 years old. We had to keep her presence a secret, because she was the child of two Gazan lovers— a betrothed couple— who had "jumped the bans" and spent an early night together months before the wedding. They married, assuming their indiscretion would be ignored, and soon the bride went to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza to give birth. Her brothers took this opportunity to grab her husband and set him on fire in the street. She left the hospital and they did the same thing to her. The staff of the Baptist Hospital acted quickly to spirit the baby out of Gaza along with an American volunteer nurse. For two years they were in hiding at the camp while the Baptist worked to get a visa to the United States for the little girl. They finally flew out while I was there. But the whole time we were under constant vigilance for any male Arab stranger seen near the camp, as the child's "uncles" wanted to burn her to death, too, because she was seen as a "stain" on the family honor. However, we also had a Arab cook— a Muslim— who knew of the child and kept her secret as well.

And that's the culture we're speaking about. Violent, barbaric, and cruel beyond understanding, mixed with people who do just wish for and want to do the very best.

"Hamas" literally means "unforgivable, evil violence" in ancient Hebrew (it appears in the Biblical tale of Noah as the state of the world when God decides He has no choice but to send the Flood). They live up (or down) to their name.

So I expect that in the short, short run Hamas will act as Hamas. But I also know it's a fragile organization now, severely weakened and without any notable exterior support (aside from idiot anti-semite "protestors" in the West). The Arab world at large is sick of them. Jordan, in particular, despises them and fears the upheaval they cause. (It will be noted that the Arab world in general did nothing of note to hamper Israeli military action against either Hamas or Hezbollah, aside from some mamby-pamby tut-tutting. The leaders were quite happy to look the other way while Israel and the US "took care of their problems.") Hezbollah is now a cracked shell of its former self. Iran is in disarray, its military exposed as the joke it is. The Arab world wants peaceful relations with the West, especially the wealthy states on the Persian Gulf. Hamas is thoroughly on its own, Greta Thunberg, the Squad, and Mommie-the-Commie not withstanding. Even Turkey has sided against Hamas! Indeed, only in the West are there people so mind-numbingly ignorant as to support the homicidal maniacs known as Hamas. Fortunately, those people are idiots and incapable of actually providing meaningful action.

Thus, without any effective outside support, Hamas's current anti-Arab violence in Gaza could well backfire, and produce the revolution the people of Gaza truly need. The West needs to be ready to lend a hand. The era of Gazan violence must come to a decisive end. Peace is the best way, but that is up to the Gazans.

In the meantime, thank you President Trump for getting us to this place! It's an astonishing moment in history, if we can keep it going.