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Why Is Now the Right Time to Make a Deal with Hamas?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel’s wars and victims of attacks, at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool via REUTERS
JNS.org – There has been an enormous, misleading perception concerning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to agree to the latest blackmail, extortion hostage agreement with Hamas.
For those who have criticized the prime minister for waiting until now to sign a deal with Hamas, the fact is that if Netanyahu had agreed to its prior terms, it would have assured that many hostages would remain in Gaza, including Americans. The reason is that it is only recently that Hamas dropped its insistence that Israel agree at the outset of an agreement to a permanent ceasefire, and to leave the Egyptian-Gaza border and the Philadelphi corridor through which the terrorist group has smuggled in weapons.
Netanyahu understood months ago that if Israel gave into Hamas’s terms, it would lose any leverage or pressure it had on the terror. It was only after Israel changed the course of the war in its favor with the decimation of Hezbollah and its leadership; the loss of Syria’s military equipment and assets; the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria; and the success Israel had in knocking out Iran’s missile-defense system that Hamas began to drop its extortionist demands.
Adding to the pressure was then-President-elect Donald Trump’s threat that there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas didn’t return the hostages, and new National Security Advisor Mike Waltz saying Hamas would get a worse deal if it waited for Trump to take office before making a deal.
Even with Israel’s stronger leverage, the terms Israel agreed to were outrageous as the Jewish state is releasing many mass murderers and more than 1,000 terrorists for the return of a third of the hostages.
The fact that some terrorists set to be released have American blood on their hands makes it clear that the United States needs to implement the 20-year-old Koby Mandell Act. Named for a 13-year-old boy with dual citizenship who was stoned to death, along with a teenage friend, by Palestinians, the law requires the US government to investigate and prosecute terrorists who killed Americans overseas. If these terrorists are convicted and imprisoned in the United States, Israel would not be able to release them in prisoner exchanges. It is possible that after all these years, those in government may not be aware of the Mandell Act. A video from about eight years ago of then-Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), now governor of Florida, leading a congressional hearing on the Obama administration’s lack of compliance with the act is on YouTube.
The big question going forward is how can Israel and the United States get back all of the hostages, whether alive or dead, while ensuring Hamas does not remain in power in Gaza.
The only way this can be accomplished is if Washington puts pressure on those Hamas most rely upon to survive—namely, Qatar and Egypt. If the United States told Qatar that it intends to withdraw its military base from the country if all the remaining hostages, including Americans, are not released immediately, there is no doubt they would be released without Hamas’s outrageous terms.
If the United States told Egypt there would be no more US aid unless it opened its border and took in the massive numbers of Palestinian Arabs in Gaza who want to leave, Egypt would open that border.
Civilians must be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, thus ending Hamas’s ability to hide among the population. Trump’s envoy for the peace talks, Steve Witkoff, floated this idea saying if citizens in Gaza were relocated to Indonesia, it would be a significant help to end Hamas rule in Gaza.
Israel never had an offer from Hamas to release all the hostages at once. Instead, its leaders—as they did in November 2023 when more than 100 hostages came home—have prioritized the return of women, children, the elderly and the infirm. This shows Israel’s high moral principles while negotiating with the evil Hamas regime. With this deal, Israel will hopefully get back alive more than half of the hostages taken on Oct. 7.
The post Why Is Now the Right Time to Make a Deal with Hamas? first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.