LOS ANGELES.–Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would annex parts of Gaza, serving notice to Hamas that they would not escape without making an exile deal to leave the Gaza Strip. Israeli has fought a brutal war with Hamas since the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre where Hamas raped, tortured and murdered 1,200 Israeli citizens, taking another 250 hostage. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a much tougher stance on Hamas since 78-year-old President Donald Trump became president. Netanyahu has the green light to do whatever he wants with Hamas, including annexing as much land as he wants while Hamas still hides in Gaza’s military tunnel network, refusing to leave the Gaza Strip. Israel no longer abides by the terms of an initial ceasefire agreement backed by 82-year-old former President Joe Biden who asked Israel to make concessions for a ceasefire.
Once Netanyahu implemented to first part of the ceasefire agreement, he realized Hamas was not going to let go of the remaining 60 hostages, 35 of whom already dead. With only 24 alive, Netanyahu realizes that Hamas was only yanking Israel’s chain, pretending to comply of a ceasefire agreement while making outrageous demands to dole out hostages one at a time. Netanyahu is no longer constrained by former President Joe Biden that pandered to pro-Palestinian groups in the U.S. Whatever Biden did to restrain Israel in Gaza, it wasn’t enough for the Arab vote in Michigan and Minnesota that didn’t show up in the polls for former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump won all seven battlegrounds states, including Michigan, where a strong Muslim population threatened to stay home on Election Day. Netanyahu no longer follows Biden’s restraints.
Since Trump became president, Netanyahu has refused to leave parts of Lebanon where Hezbollah once ruled supreme. Israeli’s military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza—as in Lebanon and Syria. Netanyahu no longer plays ball with Hamas, something that was long overdue trying to deal with terror organization. Palestinians always complain that Israel violates international law in the occupied territories. With Israel’s 1967 War, there would be no occupied territories since Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip, Jordan controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria controlled the Golan Heights. Decades of Mideast peacemaking by former U.S. presidents pressure Israel to trade land for peace. That formula no longer applies to Israel’s status in the Middle East.
Palestinians developed a unique way of gaslighting public opinion to believe Israel was the aggressor, stealing Palestinians’ legitimate territory. But before Israel declared independence in 1948 and became a U.N.-recognized state in 1949, Arabs lived under Ottoman and British rule without rebellions for over 500 years. Once Israel declared statehood, Arabs revolted claiming that Israel stole Palestinian land. Palestinians were offered to live in the state of Israel but chose to leave, to regroup with other Arab States to eventually wage a war of annihilation against the Jewish State. So when the 1967 Six Day War took place, Palestinians led by Yasser Arafat and six other Arab states tried to destroy Israel. Six days later, Israel destroyed six Arab states and annexed buffer territory in the Egypt’s Gaza Strip, Jordan’s West Bank and East Jerusalem and Syria’s Golan Heights.
Netanyahu realized recently that only annexing territory in Gaza can Israel, like it did in 1967 war, secure a lasting peace. Arab states like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, once defeated by Israel in 1967, no longer want war. Arab states want to cooperative relations with Israel to share advanced technology in defense, intelligence and medicine, all of which are state-of-the-art in Israel. Iran remains the last remaining anti-Semitic state seeking to destroy Israel by paying Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis and other proxy groups to attack the Jewish State. Over the last year, Hamas and Hezbollah have been devastated, no longer represent the same threat they one did toward Israel. Lebanon’s President Jospeph Aoun said the Israel’s presence in Lebanon prevents the Lebanese military to seizing complete control away from Hezbollah in Lebanon. Yet Aoun wants no part of war with Israel.
President Donald Trump has given Israel the green light to do whatever it wants with Hamas, Hezbollah or terrorists in Syria. Trump warned Hamas there would be hell to pay for not releasing all of the hostages, now Hamas finds out the hard way. Sooner or later, Hamas will be forced out of Gaza into exile. Not one Arab state trusts Hamas with one penny of any reconstruction funds which eventually come from oil-rich Arab Gulf States to rebuild Gaza. Hamas proved in the past they can’t be trusted with any donor cash, choosing instead to enrich Hamas leadership at the expense of Gaza’s 2.1 million citizens. Arab states should stand up to Hamas and tell its leaders it’s time to get out of Gaza. Nothing can be done to start the long rebuilding process until Hamas leaves the Gaza Strip. Arab leaders have been reluctant to tell Hamas to get out of Gaza but the time has finally come.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
