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Why a Ceasefire with Hamas Is a Dangerous Illusion
Thousands of supporters of hostage families gather in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv as three hostages are returned to Israel. Photo: Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum
The recently brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas offers a temporary halt to the violence, but fails to address the deeper issues sustaining the conflict.
While this “deal” may provide momentary relief for civilians caught in the crossfire, it does not tackle the underlying dynamics that perpetuate hostilities. Hamas’ history of extreme violence, combined with its ideological commitment to Israel’s destruction, makes a ceasefire not only insufficient but potentially harmful. For lasting peace, Hamas must be decisively dismantled.
Hamas has consistently pursued a strategy of violence to achieve its goals, treating diplomacy as an obstacle to its ideological objectives.
Unlike political entities that may embrace dialogue, Hamas is rooted in an uncompromising belief in armed resistance. This ideology is not merely rhetoric; it has been actively demonstrated through decades of attacks, including indiscriminate rocket fire, suicide bombings, and cross-border incursions targeting civilians.
The October 7 attack, the deadliest day in Israeli history, exemplifies the group’s brutality. It was not a spontaneous act, but a meticulously planned operation aimed at causing maximum casualties. Approximately 1,200 Israelis were killed, and hundreds were taken hostage. Such actions underscore Hamas’ willingness to disregard international norms and basic human decency.
These attacks are not isolated incidents. They form part of Hamas’ broader strategy to destabilize the region and undermine any prospects for peace. Its only goal is to eliminate the State of Israel and replace it with an Islamic theocracy. This extremist vision leaves little room for compromise, making any attempts at reconciliation futile.
Ceasefires may offer a temporary reprieve from violence, but history has shown that they often serve as strategic pauses for Hamas to regroup and rearm. Instead of marking progress toward peace, these pauses are used to build tunnels, replenish rocket supplies, and recruit new fighters. This cycle of violence ensures that every ceasefire is merely a prelude to the next escalation.
Moreover, ceasefires risk sending the wrong message. They can be perceived as a reward for violence, reinforcing Hamas’ belief that aggression yields political and strategic gains. This dynamic not only emboldens Hamas, but also undermines Israel’s efforts to secure long-term safety for its citizens. Without question, the horrible concessions Hamas has achieved by taking 250 Israelis hostages will lead them to take more Israeli hostages in the future.
The illusion of peace created by ceasefires can be especially dangerous for the international community, which may mistake temporary calm for genuine progress. Without a comprehensive plan to address Hamas’ capacity for violence, these agreements are little more than stopgap measures that leave the root problem intact.
The absence of a clear strategy for Gaza’s governance and security during ceasefire negotiations further complicates the situation, ensuring that tensions remain high.
Hamas’ violent ideology and actions are incompatible with the principles of coexistence and peace. As long as the group maintains its operational capabilities, the region will remain trapped in an endless cycle of bloodshed. Neutralizing Hamas is not just a matter of Israel’s security, but a necessity for broader regional stability.
Dismantling Hamas involves more than military operations, although these are an essential component. Israel and its allies must target the group’s leadership, weapon stockpiles, and financial networks. Precision strikes can degrade Hamas’ ability to launch attacks, but military measures alone cannot ensure lasting peace.
Politically, the international community must take a firm stance against Hamas, recognizing it as a terrorist organization that thrives on instability. Nations must cut off funding streams and pressure countries that provide sanctuary to Hamas leaders.
Economic development is another critical piece of the puzzle. Poverty and despair create fertile ground for extremism, and Hamas has exploited these conditions to garner support. By investing in education, healthcare, and infrastructure, the international community can provide opportunities that diminish the appeal of radical ideologies.
Additionally, countering Hamas’ propaganda machine is essential. The group relies on a narrative of victimhood and resistance to justify its actions. By promoting moderate voices, and exposing the devastating consequences of Hamas’ policies, a more balanced perspective can take root .
The international community has a crucial role to play in dismantling Hamas and fostering conditions for peace. It must move beyond the simplistic notion that ceasefires are sufficient to end the conflict. Instead, a long-term approach is needed — one that combines military action with diplomatic efforts and humanitarian aid.
Key players, including the United States, the European Union, and Arab states, must work together to isolate Hamas diplomatically and economically.
Neutralizing Hamas is not merely a military objective; it is a prerequisite for peace. By combining targeted operations with efforts to promote economic development and political reform, the region can move toward a future free from the grip of extremism. Only through decisive action can the cycle of violence be broken, paving the way for a brighter and more stable Middle East.
Amine Ayoub, a Middle East Forum fellow, is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco
The post Why a Ceasefire with Hamas Is a Dangerous Illusion first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration
(Source: Reuters)
NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza.
The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.
Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”
In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza.
Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories.
The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation.
“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement.
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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.
Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.
The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.
Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.
“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”
The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”
Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Belgium Joins Hungary in Rejecting ICC Warrant Against Netanyahu, Signaling Shift in International Stance
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Feb. 16, 2025. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Belgium announced it would not enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza, should he visit Brussels—marking a significant shift from the government’s previous policies.
In an interview with Belgium’s VRT broadcaster on Thursday, Prime Minister Bart De Wever was asked about Hungary’s decision to not act on the ICC warrant against Netanyahu during the Israeli leader’s visit to Budapest this week.
“To be completely honest, I don’t think we would either,” De Wever said during the interview.
“There is such a thing as realpolitik, I don’t think any European country would arrest Netanyahu if he were on their territory. France wouldn’t do it, and I don’t think we would, either.”
As Hungary welcomed Netanyahu to Budapest with full military honors on Thursday, ignoring the ICC arrest warrant against him, the country also announced its decision to withdraw from the international court.
After their meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he believes the ICC is “no longer an impartial court, not a court of law, but a political court.”
“I am convinced that this otherwise important international judicial forum has been degraded into a political tool, with which we cannot and do not want to engage,” Orban said during a press conference.
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and now-deceased Hamas terror leader Ibrahim al-Masri (better known as Mohammed Deif) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.
The ICC said there were reasonable grounds to believe Netanyahu and Gallant were criminally responsible for starvation in Gaza and the persecution of Palestinians — charges vehemently denied by Israel, which until a recently imposed blockade had provided significant humanitarian aid into the enclave throughout the war.
Israel also says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.
Belgium’s center-right government, led by De Wever’s National Flemish Alliance party, took power this year after defeating a left-wing coalition led by the Socialist Party, known for its anti-Israel stance.
Under the previous government, Belgium joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Last year, Belgium’s former Deputy Prime Minister, Petra De Sutter, said, “War crimes and crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished,” referring to the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu.
“Europe must comply. Impose economic sanctions, suspend the Association Agreement with Israel and uphold these arrest warrants,” De Sutter wrote in a post on X.
In line with this position, former Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said in November that Belgium would “assume its responsibility” towards the ICC, emphasizing that “there can be no double standards.”
After the ICC’s decision to issue the warrants, several countries, including Hungary, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France, and Italy, have said they would not arrest Netanyahu if he visited.
Germany seems to have a conflicting stance on this matter. During a press conference, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he could not imagine the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu being executed during a potential visit to Berlin.
However, Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, criticized Hungary’s refusal to enforce the arrest warrant against the Israeli leader this week.
“This is a setback for international criminal law,” Baerbock said during a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
“In Europe, no one is above the law. And this applies to all areas of law,” she said.
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