In Response To The October 7 Massacre, Blinken Suggested Israel Settle For A Cease-Fire -- He Still Does (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

After the October 7th massacre, when Hamas murdered over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped  240, US Secretary of State Blinken went on Twitter to suggest a ceasefire.

He may have realized later how grotesque the idea was because Blinken later deleted the tweet:

At least Blinken acknowledges the need for Israel to get back the hostages.

But in the first tweet, he suggests a ceasefire, meaning that Israel would have to negotiate with the Hamas terrorists in order to get the hostages "released," meaning Israel should come to terms with the terrorists that killed over a thousand people and kidnapped 240 hostages? We know that such negotiations would require the release of terrorists, likely with blood on their hands, from Israeli prisons. That makes Blinken's suggestion of a ceasefire all the more obscene.

What about Blinken's revised tweet?

He agrees that Israel "has the right to defend itself...and protect its citizens." That could refer to passive defense, like Iron Dome, as opposed to the approval of military action. But to say that Israel has the right to "rescue any hostages" -- that does sound like military action.

So what is US policy?

Now that the US is delaying the delivery of the weapons Israel needs to deliver a decisive blow to Hamas in  Rafah, we have our answer. Blinken originally suggested in October a solution that allowed Hamas terrorists to survive to fight -- and slaughter -- another day. And that is the policy the US is following now. Blinken has even threatened that the US will hold back additional military aid.

This past Sunday, Blinken went a step further. 

On Meet The Press, he declared that Israel cannot hope to defeat Hamas, and the best Israel can hope for is to demilitarize the terrorist group. He demanded Israel develop "credible plans for security, for governance, for rebuilding." Considering how Hamas has been able to arm itself over the years despite Israel's best efforts, it is not clear just how Blinken expects Israel to do that. Blinken has apparently forgotten what he said when he visited Israel in October:

No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place. Israel has the right, indeed the obligation, to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again.

That was then. But now he insists that Israel has no choice but to live with Hamas and its threat to create more October 7th's. So what does the US want: to eliminate the threat of Hamas or to have a ceasefire?

Apparently, the goal is to weaken Hamas so severely that it can never again attack Israel -- but at the same time, allow Hamas to remain in Gaza in some form when all of the fighting is over.

Which sounds crazier: the idea that Hamas will remain in Gaza in a demilitarized form -- or that the terrorist group will actually go along with the idea?

Jacob Magid writes in an article for the Times of Israel: 

"But the American source said there are some in the administration and in Arab capitals who believe that Hamas will be willing to formally withdraw from governing responsibilities in Gaza if it is part of a reconciliation deal with PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement.

The more the idea is described, the crazier it sounds: a reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority?

This would likely mean a degree of Hamas approval of the individuals tapped to lead the transitional Palestinian government in Gaza, but the American source said that no Hamas members would be allowed in the government."

Remember when the experts said Hamas having control was a good thing because having responsibility would be a moderating influence? Now the experts think that Hamas will voluntarily relinquish all power and influence in the government and will sit back while Abbas and the PA take the reins.

Is no one paying attention?

Magid points out that if you look at Afghanistan, not the US's proudest moment, the Taliban demonstrated "the proven ability of once-decimated extremist groups to regroup, rebuild and reconquer territory from more moderate forces once an external powerful military pulls out."

And if you think that keeping Hamas out of the government is the answer, all you have to do is look at Hezbollah, "where the terror group is not formally part of the government, but holds massive influence over its decision-making and is the most powerful military force in the country."

The same thinking that allowed Iran to grow as a threat to Israel has turned its attention to Hamas. And it will allow nothing to stand in its way.

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