by Bassam Tawil, GATESTONE • November 6, 2023
Hamas terrorists on their way into Israel from Gaza Strip, on their mission to murder Jews, on the morning of October 7, 2023. (Photo by Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
- A pause or a ceasefire would allow Hamas to regroup and prepare new attacks against Israelis.
- On November 4, Hamas took advantage of a humanitarian window of opportunity… and carried out attacks with mortar fire and anti-tank missiles against Israelis.
- On November 4, however, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to his credit and that of the Biden administration, rebuffed calls for a ceasefire, as “such a halt right now would only allow Palestinian militant group Hamas to regroup and attack Israel again.” The next day, however, Blinken continued his calls for “humanitarian pauses” — which Hamas would also use to prepare new attacks.
- The Biden administration should be denouncing Hamas for forcing Palestinians — about whom it cares so deeply that it shoots at them to prevent them from fleeing to safety — to die as human shields in its genocidal war to slaughter Israelis and destroy Israel.
- The Israeli victims of Hamas’s October 7 massacre were not given a chance to flee through a safe corridor. No one called on Hamas to accept a “humanitarian pause” as its terrorists were committing atrocities against Israelis that day in cities and towns near the Gaza Strip. The terrorists invaded Israel for one purpose: to murder, rape and behead as many Jews as possible.
- Hamas and its patrons in Iran would be delighted to see a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip so that they can say that international pressure forced Israel to halt its war. Any “humanitarian pause” should start only after all the hostages have been released…
The Biden Administration has been pressuring Israel to agree to “humanitarian pauses” in the war against the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist group, whose members carried out the October 7 massacre in which 1,400 Israelis were murdered and thousands more wounded. Hamas has also kidnapped more than 240 Israelis into the Gaza Strip, including toddlers, women and the elderly.
By calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the war, the Biden Administration is throwing a lifeline to Hamas. A pause or a ceasefire would allow Hamas to regroup and prepare new attacks against Israelis.
What a wonderful person Bassam Tawil is. Unlike Israelis, he understands the importance of propaganda. That may be because he grew up in Gaza, where propaganda was omnipresent. But at some point, because of his work in the hun rights field, he learned that Hamas propaganda was all lies.
Now he is acting as Israel’s spokesman, communicating to American and European audiences what Israelis are unwilling or unable to speak for themselves.