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Hamas Gravely Miscalculated How Israel Would React
New York University students stage a protest in Washington Square Park in Manhattan to oppose Israel and call for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 25, 2023. Photo: Gordon Donovan/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect
JNS.org – While the IDF is engaged in Gaza, in what is becoming a protracted war, aiming to weaken Hamas and secure the release of captives, the main effort by Hamas and its backers has been focused on reaching as prolonged a ceasefire as possible.
Such a ceasefire has operational and tactical importance for Hamas. However, its main significance lies in the strategic arena. Hamas hopes a ceasefire will compel Israel to change its war objectives and revert to the softer approach that the Islamist group initially believed Israel would follow right after the Oct. 7 massacre.
I believe that Hamas leaders, despite the severe blow inflicted on Israel, were convinced that the Israeli response would focus on targeted airstrikes that would extract a significant price from the Palestinians and perhaps even a limited ground maneuver. However, they never anticipated that Israel would launch an all-out undertaking to eliminate the terrorist organization and deprive it of its military-terrorist capabilities along with retaking the Gaza Strip.
Hamas likely believed that had Israel subscribed to a small-scale approach, they could build on the success of Oct. 7 and effect a change that would result in a new “equation” between the organization and the Jewish state. Meaning, the release of the terrorists imprisoned in Israel, lifting the blockade, and stopping the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Hamas assessed that Israel’s weakness and its problematic relations with the U.S., coupled with its inherent reluctance to pay the high price involved in a broad military operation to remove Hamas from Gaza, would ultimately prevent it from completely defeating Hamas, just like in previous flare-ups.
In previous rounds, whenever the fighting ended, both sides licked their wounds, but Hamas then quickly recovered and again posed a threat to the area near Gaza and to Israel as a whole.
To the surprise of Hamas
This time Israel adopted, to the surprise of Hamas, a different approach that could strategically weaken the organization to an unprecedented extent, thereby also affecting both radical factions associated with the organization; the radical axis led by Iran on the one hand, and the Muslim Brotherhood axis, which includes Qatar and Turkey, on the other.
All actions by Hamas, Iran and its proxies (Hezbollah, the Houthis and Shi’ite militias in Iraq), as well as Qatar and Turkey, should be seen in the context of the attempt to persuade U.S. President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to stop the fighting and eventually adopt an alternative approach.
This effort motivates them to create the impression that there is a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It is what made Hamas play a cynical game with the captives, and this is also what has prompted the Shi’ite militias in Iraq to step up their attacks on U.S. forces. Likewise, this explains the gradual escalation by Hezbollah in the north and the missile launches from the Houthis in Yemen, and the potential expansion of the conflict by Iran and its allies.
This is also the context through which we must treat the numerous protests in Western capitals calling for a ceasefire. Even Jordan and Egypt are joining the chorus for various reasons, primarily due to the concern about a flow of Palestinian refugees into their territories. The Palestinian Authority calls for a ceasefire, but it is unclear if it is genuinely interested in one.
So far, Hamas and its allies’ efforts have been unsuccessful. Biden is under pressure, along with most Western leaders. They understand the importance of Israel’s success in undermining Hamas and the moral justification for it. Israel’s recent moves, such as advancing on the ground, exposing the illicit Hamas activity at the Rantisi and Shifa hospitals, and continued close coordination with the U.S. regarding the management of the conflict against Hezbollah, contribute to Biden’s ability to withstand pressure.
As the fighting continues, Israel will need to remind Western leaders, led by Biden, that letting Hamas stay in power is beyond the pale and that Israel can bring about the organization’s demise within a reasonable time without causing a humanitarian disaster in Gaza or leading to actions that would escalate the conflict into a regional war.
This is how Israel would be able to ensure room to act and the time needed to achieve its strategic goals, even if it agrees to short ceasefires/pauses to free the captives.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
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US Intel Chief Tulsi Gabbard Declares ‘Radical Islamist Terrorism’ Most Urgent National Security Threat
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies during her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Jan. 30, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warned in a recent interview that “radical Islamist terrorism” poses the greatest threat to the safety of the American people, potentially shedding light on her priorities as she starts the job of leading the vast American intelligence community.
While speaking with Fox News host Lara Trump, a daughter-in-law of US President Donald Trump, Gabbard dismissed the declaration made in 2021 by then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that white supremacists pose the greatest national security threat to the United States. Instead, Gabbard asserted that Americans face a greater safety threat from “radical Islamist terrorism.”
“We look at the past four years of open borders, where we had tens of millions of people coming across our borders, many of whom we don’t know who they are or what their intentions are, very specifically the threat of radical Islamist terrorism here within our country is higher than it’s ever been before, not only because of [former US President Joe] Biden’s open borders, but because of his and his administration’s fear of being called Islamophobes,” Gabbard said when asked what the chief threat is to the American people’s safety
Following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, US officials have raised alarm bells about rising Islamist extremism across the globe.
Gabbard’s predecessor, former US intelligence chief Avril Haines, warned last March that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza may have a “generational impact on terrorism,” asserting that Islamist terrorist groups al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) have been inspired by Hamas to attack Americans and Israelis.
Haines also cautioned months later that Iran, which backs Hamas and US intelligence agencies have long called the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, has ramped up “influence efforts” on American soil, aiming to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” She claimed that “actors tied to Iran’s government” had sought to leverage rising anti-Israel animus by using social media to encourage and finance protests.
Last June, meanwhile, former FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that the “threat from foreign terrorists rose to a whole ‘nother level after Oct. 7.” Wray revealed that following Hamas’s Oct. 7 rampage, his agency saw the emergence of a “rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against Americans and our allies.” He cautioned that “individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home.”
On New Year’s Day this year, a US Army veteran who pledged allegiance to ISIS drove a truck into a crowd in New Orleans and killed at least 14 people. The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texan who once served in Afghanistan, said the attack was intended to draw attention to “war between the believers and the disbelievers.”
Over the course of her political career, Gabbard has repeatedly called attention to the threat of Islamic extremism.
In 2015, the former US congresswoman repudiated the Obama administration for refusing to state that “Islamic extremists” are embroiled in an armed conflict with the United States. In 2016, Gabbard cautioned about a “radical political ideology of violent jihad aimed at establishing a totalitarian society governed by laws based on a particular interpretation of Islam.” In 2017, she introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act while in Congress to bar the Department of Defense from “knowingly providing weapons or any other form of support to Al Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the Islamic State.”
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Boston University Has Stood Up to Antisemitism, But It Must Do More
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Boston University (BU)’s Board of Trustees showed moral courage on February 11, when it rejected two petitions calling for BU to divest from the State of Israel. In doing so, the Board refused to bow down to the demands of those who seek to end the existence of the world’s only Jewish state.
“The endowment is no longer the vehicle for political debate,” BU President Melissa L. Gilliam declared. BU must now remain firm against the demagogic pressure of the pro-Hamas groups that continue to push the genocidal goal of destroying Israel.
Earlier this month, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which openly praises Hamas and championed the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, ran a sham referendum at BU calling for the divestment of university funds from Israel.
BU’s SJP chapter created the referendum internally and had the Young Democratic Socialists of America administer the vote. The referendum made a mockery of the student government process by not requiring voters to use their BU emails, effectively permitting off-campus participation, and it also did not prevent voters from voting multiple times. Ultimately, the BU Student Government, known as “StuGov,” announced the “nullification” of the referendum’s results.
However, the campaign to demonize Israel at BU does not end with this vote. StuGov has already announced that it plans to hold an additional vote. Instead of explicitly mentioning Israel, the referendum says “companies actively complicit in human rights violations in the Middle East.” This edit is a smokescreen to hide their true intentions and the antisemitism that is raging at BU.
On February 19, StuGov posted a link to a referendum on divesting from Israel. Voting commenced immediately and will run through February 26. This time, instead of being hosted under the auspices of radical outside organizations, it has the apparent imprimatur of the students’ elected representatives themselves — even though the Board of Trustees has already rejected the politicization of the endowment.
Divestment campaigns against Israel on campus have the consistent effect of exacerbating antisemitism at universities, according to the Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. According to one report, antisemitism has surged on college campuses, increasing by 700% from 2022 to 2023.
As a February 3 open letter from BU Hillel rightly pointed out, the school’s student government ignored the internationally accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism by considering the anti-Israel resolution. The IHRA definition includes nine examples of contemporary antisemitism, like “Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” Demanding that Israel fail to defend itself after an armed invasion by a terrorist group that massacred 1,200 people, and raped and mutilated civilian women easily meets that standard.
In the run-up to the new referendum, BU SJP touted its anti-Israel posture with the infamous symbol of the inverted red triangle. Nazi Germany originated the symbol to designate political prisoners held in concentration camps. Using that symbol to call for the murder of Jews in 2025 is an offense that cannot go unpunished.
BU’s Board of Trustees has taken the correct stand in removing its endowment from the crossfire of Middle East politics. Now, BU can do even more by ensuring that no further flawed referenda jeopardize the safety and inclusion of the Jewish minority on campus.
BU must continue to champion open dialogue, protect every member of its community, and ensure that its investments reflect principle, not politicization.
Guy Starr is a sophomore studying Accounting and Finance at Boston University. He is the current co-President of Boston University Students for Israel.
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Hamas Members Suspected of Plotting Attacks Go on Trial in Germany
View of the courtroom as Judge Doris Husch presides over a trial for defendants accused of acting as foreign operatives for the Hamas terrorist group in Europe, in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Four Hamas members suspected of plotting attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe went on trial in Berlin on Tuesday, in what prosecutors described as the first court case against terrorists of the Islamist group in Germany.
The Hamas members were detained in late 2023 on suspicion of planning attacks, German prosecutors said at the time.
“For the first time in Germany, suspects are facing charges of having participated as members of the foreign terrorist organization Hamas,” prosecutor Jochen Weingarten told Reuters.
He added the defendants were accused of seeking to locate a secret weapons depot in Poland for possible attacks, while receiving orders from the deputy commander of the Qassam Brigades in Lebanon.
According to previous statements by prosecutors, the defendants are also accused of operating other weapons caches in Europe.
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