Donald Trump is widely believed to have made the Hamas-Israel deal finally possible, for he threatened that “if the hostages are not returned” by the time he was inaugurated, “all hell will break out.” This was assumed to have been directed only at Hamas. But at the same time, Trump let it be known that he also expected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the proposed deal by the same fatidic date of January 20 or he, Donald J. Trump, would be most displeased. The die is cast, the deal is made, and now the tea leaves are being read by analysts from Washington to Jerusalem to Doha, trying to tease out their significance. Some call this deal a victory for Israel — the hostages, in two tranches, will be returning home. But many others believe that Hamas has come out the winner, with Israel made to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory; Hamas will still be standing, able to regroup, rearm, and recruit new fighters, after the IDF has withdrawn forces now inside Gaza’s cities in the first phase, and then pulling out of Gaza altogether in the second.
We have all seen the wild expressions of joy on the streets of Gaza at news of the deal. Much mafficking. And now there has been praise for Trump from a most worrisome source, Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). More on this praise, which is certainly unsettling, can be found here: “CAIR slams Biden, praises Trump in welcoming hostage agreement,” JNS, January 16, 2025:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations praised the “long overdue” hostage-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal on Wednesday, saying it would prevent a “genocide in Gaza.”…
“We welcome this long overdue ceasefire deal, which President Biden should have forced [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to accept over a year ago instead of needlessly funding so much death and destruction,” stated Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
Nihad Awad’s memory is faulty. In May 2024, both sides were presented with a deal almost exactly like the one that has just been accepted. It was Hamas, not Netanyahu, that refused to accept that deal — the same one that Nihad Awad now claims Israel should have been forced by Biden to accept. As for Awad’s deploring the “needless death and destruction,” surely he knows that all Hamas had to do, at any time since the first (and only) release of hostages in November 2023, was to release all the hostages, and the war would have been over.
“We commend President Trump for pushing for a ceasefire deal and reportedly warning Netanyahu that Israel, too, would face consequences for continuing to refuse to make a deal,” Awad stated….
Let’s hope this was a one-time unforced error on the part of Trump. Now that he is set to become president again, he should have Secretary of State Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz laser-focused on attempts by Hamas in Gaza to regroup, rearm, and recruit in the cities where the IDF will be pulling out in the first phase, and to give full support to the IDF if it decides to attack Hamas should it try to reconstitute itself.
The Washington-based group’s leader [Nihad Awad] added that “President Biden and his failed foreign policy team deserve zero credit for this belated deal.
“Instead of using U.S. leverage to secure this deal long ago, they spent over a year violating U.S. law and making a mockery of international law by using billions of American taxpayer dollars to fund the Israeli government’s war crimes and depriving the American people of critical services,” he said….
How did the Biden administration “violate U.S. law”? Apparently, by continuing to supply Israel, America’s most loyal ally, with the weapons it needed to fight Hamas, the terror group. Nihad Awad needs to be reminded that Hamas sent 6,000 of its fighters smashing into Israel on October 7, 2023, where they proceeded to rape, torture, mutilate, and murder 1,200 Israelis, and to kidnap 251 more, who were taken back to Gaza. Awad thinks it wrong for the Biden administration to have helped out its ally to fight Hamas and ensure that it could not repeat its October 7 atrocities. I beg to differ; I’d call it the Biden administration’s finest hour. There was one deliberate delay in the delivery to Israel of both 2,000 pound and 500-pound bombs, in a attempt to persuade the IDF not to enter the city of Rafah, but the IDF attack took place anyway, and eventually, the shipments of both kinds of bombs — thousands of them — resumed. And there has been no withholding of any weapons since that unrepeated occasion.
Walter Sieruk says
On November 5th 2024 I had voted for Donald Trump and I’m glad I did. Nevertheless, this news that CAIR praised President -elect Trump on that Israel -Hamas “deal,” That makes me wonder , could this be .rightly , taken as a bad omen for the second term of the Trump administration ?
jule says
Lets hope its just the art of the deal.
jule says
Lets hope its just the art of the deal.
gravenimage says
I have no doubt that Trump believes that this deal is good for Israel–that does not make it so, though,
Tony says
We need to aggressively expose the truth about Islam and its Muslims to Trump and our leaders. Islam is a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. More specifically, Islam is a Muslim Terrorist Ideology and Criminal Organization of discrimination, segregation, supremacy, genocide, polygamy, deceit, hatred, incitement, sedition, rape, terrorism, and violence against all Non-Muslims as taught in the Quran. Basically, Islam is a Terrorist Criminal Enterprise. Thus, the Truth about Islam and its terrorism, its WAR, its discrimination, and its violence against all Non-Muslims must be taught and broadcast to the general public to prohibit Islam, its Mosques, and its Schools. Furthermore, there is NO EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW in Islam or in Islamic Law.
Non-Muslims CANNOT have peace with Islam and its Muslims because Islam and its murderous god, Allah, demand a continuous, Muslim war against unbelievers where Non-Muslims are CRIMINALS under Islam as Allah in Qur’an 8:39 says, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…” HENCE, NON-MUSLIMS MUST MAKE ISLAM, ITS MOSQUES, ITS SCHOOLS, ITS ORGANIZATIONS, ETC. ILLEGAL UNDER THE LAW. Similarly, Islam and its many Organizations must be identified and declared to be a MUSLIM TERRORIST ORGANIZATION for their funding, teaching, and support of terrorism, violence, and discrimination against Non-Muslims.
Allah in Islam demands SURRENDER which means ‘to Surrender, whether voluntarily or not, by becoming a Muslim’ while Submission, ‘to Submit’, is a voluntary act to follow the authority or control of another. Allah in Quran 49:14 says, “’The Bedouins said, ‘We believed.’ Say,’You did not believe. But say, ‘We surrender (became Muslim as a result of fear).’ And the faith has not entered your hearts. And if you obey Allah and his messenger, he will not decrease anything from your works. Surely Allah is forgiving, merciful.’”
Islam promotes a terroristic, Muslim war against unbelievers when Allah in Qur’an 49:15 says, “Surely the believers are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed JIHAD with THEIR MONEY AND THEIR LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.”
Allah promises Heavenly Paradise to Muslims for acts of Muslim killing in a terrorist war when Quran 9:111 says, “Surely Allah has purchased from the believers[Muslims] their souls and their money so that they may have the garden[Heavenly Paradise]. They engage in war for the sake of Allah, so they kill and are killed…”
Islam champions Muslim acts of slaughter against Non-Muslims for not becoming Muslims as Allah in Qur’an 8:12 says, “When your lord revealed to the angels: ‘I am with you so make firm those who believed[Muslims]. I will cast a terror into the hearts of those who became infidels[Non-Muslims]. So strike above their necks(decapitation), and strike off(chop off) every finger from them.’”
Jeffrey Fixler says
If one doesn’t like the deal, and I’m not a big fan of it, then the blame falls on Bibi , not Trump. After all, this is essentially the same agreement Israel agreed to many months ago, but Hamas reneged on. I suspect Hamas is agreeing to it because they fear Trump will give Israel cart blanche , and they’re cutting their losses.
As it stands right now , as of noon Eastern time, Bibi just stated the agreement is off because surprise , surprise, Hamas has still not provided the list of hostages to be released per the agreement. Imagine that! Terrorist savages not keeping their word. Who da thunk it.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Both Hamas and Hizbullah have violated their ceasefires. I think Israel is waiting until Monday, and that the next time there is a ceasefire violation, they’ll let Walz and Rubio know, and go ahead w/ pummeling them. They know that this incoming administration will be more sympathetic than the outgoing one
Jeffrey Fixler says
Agreed. Anyways, there is no such thing as a permanent ceasefire with these inbred savages by the lights of their own stated ideology. Israel will do their utmost to save as many of the hostages as they can, but the war will continue eventually .
࿗Infidel࿘ says
While it’s true that there is no such thing as a permanent ceasefire w/ these barbarians, it is idiotic about our sides putting the onus of breaking such ceasefires to them, and leaving them unpunished for past violations. There is no justification for 2000 Palis deserve to be released from Israeli prisons just b’cos some hundred Israelis were abducted by Hamas
Kittiekhatt50 says
I was under the impression that it was Biden who did the deal, as one of his last decisions before he is ousted..so I dont think its fair to put the issue at Trump’s feet
gravenimage says
Netanyahu is under enormous pressure now, even from those who should be Israel’s allies–I can’t blame him for this.
somehistory says
If the likes of this goon, this ghoul, member of the mozlum brotherhood, and spokescreature for a terror-supporting organization, ever praised something I did, or even just something for which I was in agreement, I’d have a meltdown.
The ceasefire “deal” has, every time, been conducted more like a union/company contract negotiation.
Criminals don’t “deal” fairly and honestly. And mozlums are some of the very worst criminals to ever take a breath.
Israel will not get back all of the hostages. And hamas will hold as many as possible for as long as possible. Trump may have ideas on what he will do to make “all hell” break loose on them; but “come Monday,” no one should expect that “everything will be alright.”
mozlums have every intention of destroying Israel.
rick says
Give Trump some time and you’ll withdraw your terrorist support from him. If you think that CAIR is not on his sh** list you are profoundly mistaken. He knows exactly who you are. The Hamas created terrorist link in the USA. You had your best days when American students joined your Muslim crowd in supporting Hamas. Those days will be soon over.
We have a saying in the US attributed to our 16th President. You can fool some of the People all of the time, all of the People some of the time but never all of the People all of the time. CAIR and the squad have managed to fool only some of America’s most obnoxious and stupid people some of the time but Americans have always supported Israel. And as you are one of Israel’s most murderous enemies, that excludes supporting you. I hope one day you are sent packing back to, despite all the money the EU, US and UN spent on you, one of the worst places on earth – Gaza – and barred from enjoying life in the greatest nation on earth.
gravenimage says
I hope you are right, Rick.
jule says
There is no way the hostages can be released by the 20th. I want to see all H break lose on Hamas everywhere they are including USA.
Does Trump really have what it takes?
gravenimage says
Hamas only promised to realease three hostages by the 20th–and just 33 over all, despite there being over 100 histages unaccounted for.
memi says
Hope that Trump understands that allowing Hamas to “celebrate” the deal is not a cause for its promotion and support by HST as currently jihadist ex-al-Qaeda bosst al-Jolani is “ruling” occupied Syria by his left-over ISIS and Muslim Brotherhood and Uighurs/Chesnea terrorists.
The real danger is that Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood are taking roots in occupied Syria by terrorist (Most Wanted formerly $10Mil on his capture) al-Jolanii! Syria borders now with Israel and the dangers are multiplied for Israel since Erdogan, who engineered Syria’s invasion by Islamist Jihadists, is promising to “MARCH TO JERUSALEM and destroy Israel”!
His gathering of Islamist fanatics was attended by half a million in Turkey recently! The deal was premature and Trump will wish till the Hamas terrorists were truly extinguished not pacified. Turkey is already making plans in Syria and its March to Jerusalem rally (not gaining publicity in U.S.!) is evidence enough.
gravenimage says
Hamas-Linked CAIR Praises Trump, Slams Biden on Israel-Hamas Deal
……………………….
This *should* give President Trump pause–not sure if it will, though…