Mike Waltz, the new national security adviser for the Trump administration, said in an interview on Sunday with the TV news program “Face the Nation” that “Hamas will never govern Gaza. That is completely unacceptable.”
This declaration should be a guiding principle for the international community and the future of Israel’s security.
Waltz also assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Hamas reneges on its commitments under the current ceasefire deal, the United States will fully support Israel in doing what is necessary to finish the job. This kind of clarity is refreshing, particularly given the murky waters of international diplomacy where terror organizations like Hamas have long exploited ceasefires to rearm and regroup.
At the same time, conflicting statements have emerged. Trump told NBC News that the ceasefire “better hold” while Waltz informed hostage families that the United States will ensure all stages of the deal are implemented.
Here’s the fundamental contradiction: Hamas will not accept a ceasefire that removes it from power in Gaza. Yet the Trump team is promising that Hamas will never govern Gaza again. How can both conditions coexist?
The reality is stark: Either Israel will be forced into accepting some rebranded version of Hamas, disguised as an international governing entity, or it will need to re-enter Gaza. If it does, it will need to remain there permanently to ensure that Hamas and its terror infrastructure are eradicated since there is no other solution to ensure that the coastal enclave remains demilitarized forever with no chance of turning into a threat to Israel.
For decades, international players have deluded themselves into thinking that Arab self-rule in Gaza is the path to peace. However, the events of Oct. 7, 2023, shattered this illusion. The barbaric involvement of Gaza’s noncombatants in the massacre of Jews and the celebration by those in the streets of Gaza as the hostages were paraded around show the depth of Hamas’s genocidal indoctrination in the whole population.
Even now, mobs in Gaza celebrating the ceasefire are chanting, “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahud,” a reference to the massacre of Jews by Muslim forces in the seventh century. This isn’t political resistance. This isn’t about an “occupation” or any other reason parroted by the international media without fact-checking. This is a religiously inspired genocide against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
We’ve heard the same rhetoric from Arab women in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria that we are hearing from Hamas. Mothers who proudly declare their desire for their sons to become “martyrs” while raising children on hatred for Jews. The ideology isn’t confined to Hamas fighters; it’s woven into the fabric of society.
The time has come to face an uncomfortable truth: Arab self-rule in the Gaza Strip, and in Judea and Samaria has failed. It has been a breeding ground for terror, not peace. No international force or rebranded governing body can change that reality.
That is the true implementation of Trump’s “peace through strength” doctrine. Only then will our enemies finally internalize that terror against the Jews and Israel does not pay.
This isn’t just about Israel. Any diplomatic solution that allows Hamas to remain in any capacity poses a danger not only to Israel but to the United States and the freedom-loving world. Hamas is part of the global Qatar-funded Muslim Brotherhood Islamic jihad, and its survival sends a message to terrorists everywhere— that patience and brutality work in its jihadi march to destroy the freedom-loving world.
Waltz’s promise that “Hamas will never govern Gaza” is a beacon of hope, but it must be more than words. The Trump team must stand firm and understand that any outcome other than Israel’s full control over Gaza endangers not just Israel but the entire free world.
As Americans, Israelis and supporters of freedom everywhere, we must hold the Trump administration accountable to its promises. If Hamas reneges on this deal—and history tells us they will—we must ensure that Israel has the full support it needs to finish this war, once and for all. The world can no longer afford to tolerate the evil of Hamas and the ideology it represents. The time for clarity, strength and action is now.
Let us pray for the freedom of all of the hostages and for the day when Hamas, the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, the Shi’ite Republic of Iran and their genocidal ideology against all infidels are nothing more than a dark chapter in history.
