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If the Fighting Stops with Hamas in Power, the "Day After" Will Never Begin

(Jerusalem Post) Asher Fredmen - The deal laid out by President Joe Biden in his May 31 address on the war in Gaza reflects the failed paradigms, illusions, and wishful thinking that led to Oct. 7. The plan he described, if implemented, would create an existential threat to the State of Israel. His speech included no concrete steps or road maps for removing Hamas from power. The proposed outline would ensure that Hamas remained in power and was able to rebuild its military strength. President Biden assured that "Palestinian civilians would return to their homes...in all areas of Gaza, including the North." He seemed to be claiming that it would only be civilians that would return to northern Gaza. But there would be no way to ensure that Hamas fighters did not return there as well. Their fighters don't wear uniforms and their guns are hidden in the hundreds of tunnels that still exist in northern Gaza. With this plan, Hamas would quickly reassert its control. Biden said: "The people of Israel should know they can make this offer without any further risk to their own security because they've already devastated Hamas forces over the past eight months." The reality is that Hamas still has many intact fighters and senior leadership. Once reconstruction began in Gaza, the Islamist terror group would quickly rebuild its capabilities. The idea that leaving Hamas in power does not constitute a severe risk to Israel's security is ludicrous. The fact that there are those who recognize that leaving Hamas in power will destroy Israel's deterrence and encourage countless murderous attacks and kidnappings of Israelis does not mean that they care any less about the hostages. They simply believe that the efforts to free the hostages must take place on the basis of a pragmatic understanding of the psychopathic but intelligent enemy that Israel faces. If the fighting stops with Hamas in power, the "day after" will never begin. We will simply return to Oct. 6 - only this time, with an emboldened ring of terror along all of Israel's borders, and large swaths of Israel's territory in the western Negev and the north abandoned due to the ongoing terror threats. The writer is a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security and Director for Israel at the Abraham Accords Peace Institute.
2024-06-04 00:00:00
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