GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 461

10 Days

Will The Hostages Be Released?

With President-elect Donald Trump first told the world that if the hostages in Gaza weren’t released by the time he takes office on January 20th he would rain down the fury of the US it sent shockwaves through the international community. And now we are a mere 10 days away from that deadline and some think that Hamas will cave as we read in an article from WND.com:

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX., said during an interview this week there was a serious chance the Iranian-backed Hamas terrorist organization will release the remaining Israeli and American hostages it has been holding before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, the Daily Wire reported.

The Texas Senator was being interviewed and gave his opinions on other topics:

Cruz made the remarks during a Tuesday night interview with Sean Hannity after Trump warned there would be hell to pay if the hostages were not released before he is sworn in.

He mentioned that Trump’s inauguration would put America’s enemies on notice:

The Texas senator, who just won his third term in the U.S. Senate in November, said Trump would immediately get the situation on the border under control, unleash American energy production, lower inflation, and strike fear in the hearts of America's enemies.

He then told Hannity what he thought would happen with those held in captivity in Gaza:

"And I'm going to make a prediction," Cruz said. "I think there is a very real possibility that we will see the hostages in Gaza released on or before Jan. 20th."

On a post from X we get another salient quote from Cruz on why he believes this will happen:

“I think the hostages will return before or on January 20th because Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are afraid of Trump.”

In a transcript from the actual interview we hear more on why the Texas senator feels this and he used history to make his point:

…you go back to 1981 when Ronald Reagan was sworn in Iran released the hostages on January

20th the day he was sworn in. I think we will see that again either on or before January 20th because Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran Donald Trump scares the living daylights out of them. The message he gave that all hell will break loose that was an incredibly important message and

one sadly Joe Biden and the Democrats are incapable of giving because they don't believe it and they wouldn't follow through on it.

Does Cruz know something other’s don’t? I doubt it, but he and others see this through the lens of Western and Judeo-Christian morality and that is a mistake. These terrorists aren’t reasonable when it comes to the value of life. They are more than willing to die for their cause as evidenced by their belief in being martyrs. And any deal they make will be broken as we read in this story:

“The Hudaybiyyah treaty, concluded by the Prophet Mohammad with the unbelievers of Mecca in 628, provided a precedent for subsequent treaties which the Prophet’s successors made with non-Muslims. Mohammad made a hudna with a tribe of Jews back then to give him time to grow his forces, then broke the treaty and wiped them out.

Don’t Want Two States

We read in an article from CBN.com that a majority of Jews don’t want a Palestinian state:

Fifteen months of war in Gaza and skirmishes in Judea and Samaria may have dramatically changed the Israeli outlook on a Palestinian state. For the first time since 2008, a majority of the Israeli Jewish population opposes a Palestinian state of any kind, according to a Swords of Iron survey conducted by Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) taken in December and published Monday.

Even adding Israelis who are Arab to the results, it still shows a majority:

Among Jewish Israelis polled, 64 percent opposed a Palestinian state under any conditions. When the surveyed Israeli Arab population was included, the numbers opposing a state were smaller but still constituted a majority of 52 percent of Israeli citizens.

One member in the Jewish government had some strong opinions about the two-state solution:

Knesset member Ariel Kallner from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party told JNS News Thursday that creating a Palestinian state would be the equivalent of national suicide for Israel.

"And we are finished with committing suicide," Kallner said.

Kallner then stated why he thinks Israelis feel this way now:

He added, “I would have been surprised if the poll results were different after our experience with the Palestinian state in Gaza. Prior to Oct. 7, 2023, Gaza was a Palestinian state, and we know what the result was for southern Israel, the ensuing difficult war, and the challenging times we now live in,” he stated.

This wasn’t always the case:

Throughout the early 2,000s, a solid majority of Israeli Jews supported some form of Palestinian state, but support began to slowly decline from the time just after the destruction of the Jewish Gaza settlements following the disengagement in 2006 and Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Support for a Palestinian state continued to decline from the beginning of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's second stint as leader in 2009 until 2020.

There is even support for taking back the Gaza Strip altogether:

Among the poll's other findings: One-third of Israeli Jews surveyed support Israel's annexation of the Gaza Strip, and of those respondents, half said they favor rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza.

The poll also sees that a slight majority would be alright with others running Gaza:

Slightly over half of Jewish respondents favor giving control of Gaza to a "moderate" Palestinian entity or some form of international administration.

Most of those polled think that Israel will achieve all its goals for the war:

Regarding the outcome of the war with Hamas, just over half of Israeli Jews surveyed said Israel would achieve most or all of its war objectives, while 38 percent believe few or none of the objectives would be attained.

Polling isn’t an exact science, but these shifts in public opinion are telling and could support the notion that Israelis are finally done with living under the constant threat of terrorist attacks. I think when they say “never again” this time they mean it.