MEF Chief Strategist Jim Hanson discussed the peace deal just signed between Israel and Hamas with FOX News.
FOX: Jim Hanson, we’re all moving forward, but we also have our eyes wide open about who we’re dealing with. As you run counter-terror operations against groups like Hamas as an Army special officer, what is your greatest worry at this hour?
HANSON: You cannot trust Hamas. It’s everyone’s greatest worry. I think what President Trump did was phenomenal. He put together a coalition of groups, countries that have never really worked together for one goal. And I mean, he made it a point from the very beginning of his presidency.
His first trip was to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Getting those three together and on board, adding Turkey, Egypt, and others. was phenomenal.
But in the end, none of those people can rely on Hamas to do the right thing. Hamas has never done the right thing.
So I think that’s going to be the difficulty, is everyone who has been pressuring them, and that has been at the behest of Donald Trump, needs to keep that up, and that’s going to be the challenge through the rest of this process.
FOX: You know, Jim, the standard for life, when it comes to the radical Islamists versus the Jews, has always been one Israeli life for fighters. We saw that back in 2011 with Gilad Shalit, when they traded those war fighters that were a part of Hamas, was one of those people.
And so I guess, you know, although we are celebrating this deal, and this is great for the world, the concern is, could one of those fighters go back to the battlefield and plan on October the 7th. What can Israel do to ensure that doesn’t happen?
HANSON: They will absolutely try to do that.
Gregg Roman, who runs the Middle East Forum, wrote a piece about that, specifically noting that the estimate is there are somewhere around 1700 prisoners are going to be released, all of whom are some of the worst of Hamas, which is saying a lot.
So, when they go back, they have not had some magical conversion. You know, they did not undergo a transformation in prison to decide that they no longer hate the Jews.
So, once this happens and Israel gets its people back, they’re going to have to look at what happens next in Gaza, in the West Bank and the rest of the Palestinian territories to see who’s running it. And I think that’s where the rest of the Gulf states come in.
It cannot be Hamas. It may be some version of a reformed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, but someone has to raise up in Gaza and replace Hamas, become the benefactor of the people of Gaza, not their leader to destruction.
FOX: Jim, will this hold, and what does the reconstruction of Gaza look like, and who will finance that? And who will finance that?
HANSON: Well, will it hold? Let’s see. Let’s get the hostages home on Monday. God, please, grant the families that relief.
And then, as I mentioned, the large number of countries, basically all the players in the region are on board this. They’re behind President Trump’s effort. They have pledged to be part of the reconstruction. They have pledged to be part of the security that’s going to be necessary.
I think there will be an effort to find the people in Gaza who were most maligned by Hamas and use those groups, those tribes, those families as the new leadership and push aid and, you know, reconstruction money in through them so that the-the people of Gaza then look to them and look to the rest of the region and the United States as the people who are guaranteeing them a chance for prosperity, something Hamas has never done and never can do.
FOX: Jim, thank you so much.
