We have little doubt but that President Trump’s intervention got Hamas to quickly back off from its unconscionable suspension of last Saturday’s scheduled three-person hostage release. To be sure, Hamas had to know that the possibility that his threat that “all hell would break out” if all of the remaining hostages were not released was not a realistic one. But that was all beside the point.
The President’s caveat that PM Netanyahu had the final say on whether the original, agreed-upon sequence was no longer in effect fairly telegraphed as much. Indeed there didn’t seem to be any evidence that the pressures that brought Netanyahu to the hostage deal had somehow dissipated.
Trump’s real message to Hamas was that, as far as he was concerned, they were going deeper and deeper into the hole they have been digging for themselves which will soon lead to their demise.
The episode provided the President with yet another opportunity to demonstrate that he is all in with Israel – even to the extent of going beyond even what the Israelis themselves may be seeking at the time. We suspect that Hamas has been given a window into his thinking about the Israel-Palestinian conflict that has made them shudder about what may be in the offing.
And coming so soon after the opening of the U.S. armament floodgates to Israel – including the 2,000-pound bunker-buster bomb – it should make others who would do Israel harm – directly or otherwise – tremble as well.
