Rumble
Peace Deal Made!
How would you feel if all your friends told you that you better do the number one thing in the world that you want to do least? If you don’t, they’ll be done with you forever. Not sure what emotions you might experience? Then, find one of the leaders of Hamas, buy him a cup of coffee, and let him tell you just how miserable he is right now, because that is currently the terror group’s situation.
President Trump has presented his 20-Point Gaza Peace Plan [see below] to initiate phase one for ending the Israel-Gaza War. Hamas was doing their usual hemming and hawing, trying to draw out the process until it broke down. Only this time, instead of supporting them, their best friends, the Qataris, along with the Turks and the Egyptians, told them you better sign or we’re cutting you off. That’s what it took and Hamas signed on to Phase One of the deal which is to release all 48 of the remaining hostages this weekend, both the dead & alive.
If there are no last-minute snags, this should finally bring the remaining hostages home, though there’s the potential that some who are deceased may not be recovered for some time.
Achieving this milestone is no surprise to President Trump or Prime Minister Netanyahu. In fact, it is the culmination of a brilliant strategy that began exactly one month ago with the “failed” Israeli air attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar. What the media loves to portray as a botched assassination attempt was actually a key step that scared the Qataris and others into forcing Hamas’s hand.
The magnificent scheme was cooked up by President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu that is worthy of a Netflix mini-series. And it worked like a charm by putting fear into Qatar which Trump used to bring Qatar into agreeing on his 20-Point Peace Plan.
President Trump is likely heading to Egypt soon for the Israel-Hamas signing agreement and then to Jerusalem to speak in the Knesset. All the rumors of the rift between Trump and Netanyahu were part of the scheme.
In the next 72 hours, the hostages will be returned home. On Sunday, 20 innocent Israeli hostages will be returned and on Monday the remaining fallen hostages will come home. In return, the terrorists will receive 250 of their imprisoned members.
And, in case you are wondering, none of the terrorists involved in the October 7 massacre will be among those returned. In return, Israel will pull back their troops from their present positions in Gaza but will remain in the Philadelphi Corridor and inside the borders of Gaza. Hamas has it in their mind that this is the end of the war, but Israel says, “We’ll see.” This agreement is just phase one of the process. If the terrorists fail to keep any part of the agreement to the letter, Israel will have full permission to destroy them.
Once the agreement is fully set in motion, Israel and the United States will be open to focus on other areas. That means that Iran needs to be looking over their shoulders. The U.S. has already moved massive forces into the Persian Gulf area. The Houthis also need to prepare for some visitations, since Israel can now put their primary focus on dealing with those terrorists.
Pause Not Peace
We need to remember that Hamas is the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood who opposes Israel and would like to see them completely destroyed. They see ‘peace’ as more like a ‘pause’ to reload. Genuine peace with the “Zionist enemy” is something that is anathema to the Jew-hating, genocidal Islamist death cult like Hamas.
Even if they put on the appearance of doing so, Hamas will never really disarm. They will never relinquish power. They will never renounce terrorism. They will never fully retreat into exile. It’s just not in the blood of those who are perpetually ‘blood drunk’ by the divine dictates of their ‘faith.’
“When it is possible to achieve such an aim by lying but not by telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible … and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory…“ – Reliance of the Traveler: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law
Backed into a corner, giving up hostages was a relatively easy compromise to make. If Hamas refused then Israel’s onslaught would have been unrelenting and Hamas would have likely lost many of the hostages, either by them getting killed during combat or in rescue attempts. And fewer hostages means far fewer terrorists released from Israeli prisons in any exchange.
It was really the only choice Hamas could make, one that was made easier now that their largest supporters Turkey and Qatar (both now suddenly on the receiving end with the promise of significant military upgrades and security guarantees from the US, respectively) — were now exerting significant pressure on Hamas to accept.
Flotilla Flop
I am writing this story under protest, because the ridiculous flotillas to “break the blockade on Gaza” are technically news. But, oy vavoy, I hate giving these people any recognition at all. Sure, they did provide a little comedy relief, like when Greta Thunberg got demoted to a different boat and one of the organizers resigned after some bullying by a trans contingent.
And then there was that meme that said that Greta was the first hostage victim in history whose kidnappers’ only demand is that she leave. Actually, I guess based on entertainment value alone, the flotillas weren’t such a bad thing after all.
Syrian’s New Target
Now that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has slaughtered Alawites, Christians, and Druze, he is in search of a new target to mollify his murderous ISIS gangs. It appears he may have found it in the Kurds of Aleppo.
Deadly fighting broke out on Monday between the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian government forces. Because the SDF is backed by the U.S., if this conflict continues it could draw America into the conflict to a certain extent.
Macron’s Mess
At just 27 days, French President Emmanuel Macron’s latest Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu became the shortest tenured PM in the history of the Fifth Republic when he resigned his office on Monday.
This leaves the beleaguered president with a choice. Does he appoint yet another sacrificial prime minister? Does he take a chance and dissolve parliament, hoping for better luck with new elections? Or does he just resign? I know my choice for him.
