MEF Chief Strategist Jim Hanson spoke to FOX News about the partial acceptance of the peace deal by Hamas. Israe withdrew as agreed, but Hamas has done nothing to comply yet.,
Transcript:
FOX: I want to welcome in Army Special Forces veteran and chief strategist for the Middle East Forum, Jim Hansen. All right, Jim, let’s go back to the beginning here. Your reaction to what we’ve heard from Hamas. I don’t know if you heard Greg Palkot’s report, but he was somewhat skeptical, saying the initial reports may have been overly optimistic.
HANSON: Oh, there are definitely a couple of poison pills in the Hamas statement. The biggest one is that the end state they anticipate is a unified Palestinian framework with Hamas completely involved. No, that’s not going to be the way it plays out.
They need to put down their weapons. They need to renounce their decades-long genocidal attempt to drive the Jews into the sea and accept the fact that the Palestinian people are moving on without them.
They don’t seem to have come to that conclusion yet. And they’re acting like they’re reading from some sort of a la carte menu, rather than 20 points they need to agree to, or President Trump’s going to give Bibi Netanyahu the green light.
FOX: Well, and of course, we had this deadline at 6 Eastern this Sunday. Should that still be in force? Because it appears now that this response from Hamas is weak at best.
HANSON: I think the deadline will still be in place. I don’t think it’s a shock either that there was a drug boat coming from Venezuela that was turned into flotsam on the surface of the Caribbean. right about this time.
It was a reminder to Hamas that the end state could be rubble doesn’t make trouble if they don’t go ahead and start acting seriously.
There are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed. And this is not the time. They were talking about, you know, they will release some hostages, and then they will get to negotiations about the details.
Sorry. No, you guys are not going to negotiate about the details. You’re going to surrender.
FOX: I mentioned this earlier, Jim, but there is reportedly this split within Hamas. You have the negotiators in Qatar, but you have the military arm back in Gaza. There’s not a-- there’s difficult communications between the two.
But the bottom line is, Israel and others who support this 20-point plan say you’re going to have to drop your arms, your weapons, destroy them, and then pursue a peaceful future.
I just -- I have a really hard time believing that Hamas would do that. What say you?
HANSON: I have a hard time believing it as well. The split you were talking about is a real thing, and it’s problematic for them.
There’s a third element that’s starting to happen. The people in the Palestinian territories and in Gaza have had enough, and they’ve started to kill Hamas operatives. There are other tribes and other things involved, so there’s no easy path out except surrender.
FOX: Do you think we can come to some sort of agreement in the near future, whatever that length of time is? Are you confident, or is this going to drag on?
HANSON: I don’t -- I think the dragging ends Sunday at 6:00 one way or another. And I think there will be some talk to the Hamas negotiators above and below ground to tell them this was not an optional thing. Take the peace plan or take the pain.
