JOSHUA ARNOLD
Before Hamas released four female IDF soldiers on Saturday as part of the ongoing prisoner swap, they forced them to participate in a humiliating display. "They put the girls in fake uniforms, and they paraded them up on stage in front of a crowd of men carrying automatic weapons and whooping," related Jewish News Syndicate Senior Contributing Editor Caroline Glick on "Washington Watch" Monday. "They were told that they had to smile and put their hands up and stuff like that."
In exchange for the four women "captured in their pajamas," added Glick, Israel freed 200 "mass murderers -- I mean, some of the worst murderers" -- who "were received in triumph in villages all around in Judea and Samaria and in Gaza." At least 121 of the Palestinian prisoners released were serving life sentences for deadly terrorist attacks. "It's all theater," Glick complained. "It's to demoralize Israelis. And it's to make people who support Hamas and support October 7th feel triumphant."
This disturbing incident provides yet another reminder that the current ceasefire is unlikely to mature into a lasting peace, for the simple reason that Hamas does not want peace. The radical terrorist group is publicly committed to Israel's "annihilation," and despite their stunning losses the recent ceasefire encouraged them to believe they are, in fact, winning.
In fact, "during this six-week cease fire, there seems to be evidence ... that Hamas is regrouping, reorganizing, and rearming," observed Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.
"It's the nature of the beast. I mean, Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization," Glick responded. "We've killed a lot of their terrorists, but they're hiring new recruits -- because also, this fake humanitarian aid that they're demanding -- 600 trucks of goods coming in -- it's all under [their] control, and so they can sell it all ... so that they have the money to hire new recruits. And they're really the only hiring game in town since Gaza is just a smoldering pile of rubble."
That said, waves of green recruits are "not the same as having the sort of veteran, well-trained people who came in and invaded Israel on October 7th," Glick added. Hamas is "not the same military organization" in terms of capabilities. In any event, "the people of Gaza have proven themselves beyond a shred of a doubt, that they have no interest in peaceful coexistence with Israel."
Israel expert Eric Stakelbeck agreed on "Washington Watch" on Friday, describing Hamas as "a ragtag guerrilla fighting force" at present. "They can still cause damage, but their rocket arsenal has been completely depleted. They themselves have no possibility of carrying out an October 7th-style attack. ... Israel has killed close to 20,000 Hamas terrorists since October 7th ... hardened, seasoned, battle-tested, battle-trained Hamas operatives. So, it's a big step down in quality, the quality of Hamas fighters as well."
Undaunted by their inexperience, the new generation of Hamas is eager to perpetuate the group's genocidal legacy, so they have not troubled themselves to stick closely to the terms of the ceasefire. "They've been breaching the ceasefire deal from the outset," Glick argued. "From being late in giving us the names of the women who they released in the first tranche to not releasing the hostages that they were committed to releasing last Saturday to having these kinds of pageants when they release the soldiers ... just an innumerable number of breaches, they're breaching it on every turn."
Additionally, Israel learned over the weekend that a quarter -- eight out of 33 -- of the hostages Hamas agreed to release during the first phase of the ceasefire are dead.
To hear Glick explain it, Israel already has sufficient grounds to break off the ceasefire, but "Israel prefers to get back the hostages for now," she said. "We're obviously tabulating all the breaches, and we're waiting. Because the whole point of this deal is to get as many live hostages back as possible. It's not to make peace with Hamas."
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