The Patriot Post® · No Two States, No Freed Hostages

It’s been 109 days since the barbaric attack by Hamas terrorists on innocent Israeli civilians, but the resulting war appears to be far from over.

We suspect the Jew-hating organization has some regrets, though, given that Israeli forces have dispatched 20%-30% of its fighters to paradise. And beyond these 9,000-or-so dead, U.S. intelligence estimates that another 11,000-or-so have been wounded, some too seriously to remain in the fight. And yet despite these losses, Hamas still has plenty of fighters and plenty of munitions with which to carry on.

In addition, the organization shows no signs of conciliation. Just ask Khaled Mashal, a wealthy senior Hamas official who lives a life of luxury while the Gazans whom he purports to represent live in squalor and often serve as human shields. From the safety of his home in Qatar, Mashal has said in no uncertain terms that his group will never accept a two-state solution. For Mashal and his fellow cutthroats, there’s no coexisting between Gazans and Israelis. As the New York Post reports:

“First, we have nothing to do with the two-state solution,” the 67-year-old terrorist said in a translation provided by MEMRI TV. “We reject this notion, because it means you would get a promise for a [Palestinian] state, yet you are required to recognize the legitimacy of the other state, which is the Zionist entity. This is unacceptable. We demand to be liberated, to get rid of the occupation and to have our independence and our state.

"I believe that Oct. 7 has enhanced this conviction, has narrowed the disagreements and has turned the idea of liberating Palestine from the river to the sea into a realistic idea that has already begun. It is not something [merely] to be expected or hoped for. It is part of the plan, part of the agenda, and we are standing on its threshold, Allah willing.”

For Mashal and his Hamas brethren, then, it sounds like it’s “from the river to the sea” or bust. And if we take him at his word, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees. As the New York Post adds, “Netanyahu himself has repeatedly rejected a two-state solution, most recently denying the possibility for Palestinian sovereignty on Saturday despite America’s push for such an outcome.” As the Israeli leader put it, “I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan — and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.”

Netanyahu is rightly committed to the destruction of Hamas, with or without Joe Biden’s blessing. And we can be certain it’ll be the latter. Team Biden is far more concerned about his domestic political standing than he is about something as trifling as Israel’s continued existence. As our Thomas Gallatin noted last week: “National Security Council spokesman John Kirby suggested that it’s time for Israel to ease up on the intensity of its crusade against Hamas. ‘We have been talking to them intensely about a transition to low-intensity operations,’ he said. ‘We believe it’s the right time for that transition, and we’re talking about doing that.’”

Somewhat lost amid all this is the continuing plight of 136 hostages who remain at the mercy of Hamas. As Israeli planes resumed their bombing of targets in the southern Gaza Strip, a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that Netanyahu’s refusal to end the hostilities “means there is no chance for the return of the [Israeli] captives.”

Six of those hostages, including 19-year-old Itay Chen, are Americans, and Chen’s understandably frustrated father, Ruby, asked a good question of the Biden administration: “The United States is the richest and most powerful nation in the world, with immense financial, military and political leverage. How is it that other countries, such as Russia and Thailand, have secured the release of their citizens while only four Americans have been freed to date?”

Answer: Because none of those countries is led by a commander-in-chief as weak and unserious as Joe Biden.

Netanyahu, understandably, had a different take on the hostage impasse: “In exchange for the release of our hostages,” he said, “Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the murderers and rapists. And leaving Hamas intact. I reject outright the terms of surrender of the monsters of Hamas.”

From the sounds of it, this war has only begun.