Hamas is not going it alone. The terrorist organization does not merely elicit something like support from the Biden administration. It has managed to take over the minds of far too many American students.
Radical students have found in Hamas a new cause. They want to free Palestine, or so they say, even though they mean Juderein, which means, free of Jews.
In truth, Gaza has long been free of Jews, but that does not suffice Hamas. It wants to steal what the Jews have built. If not steal, destroy.
In that way they will not feel like perpetual losers.
We have on occasion remarked on the bitter irony of gays manifesting for Hamas. They call themselves Queers for Palestine. They do not quite understand that if they fly off to Gaza or the West Bank and declare themselves to be proud homosexuals, they will be executed for having committed a capital crime.
As for the way Hamas treats women, glad you asked. Hamas practices honor killings, and condones marital rape and wife beating. How does it happen that dopey feminists embrace this.
When we think about American college students, we are obviously dealing with a cohort suffering from extreme intellectual deficiencies. Hamas has been more than happy to exploit this weakness. The old phrase was-- useful idiots. Funnily enough, it still pertains.
Now, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has reported a story first offered by a German publication called Bild. The story shows the thinking of the leaders of Hamas, their battle plan and game plan.
Some have questioned the authenticity of the document. It was apparently not written by Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, but it was likely written by one of his lieutenants. The goal is not peace, but survival as a military force. To return to fighting against Israel.
Bild reports:
Now a previously unknown document from Hamas’s military intelligence service shows how terrorists want to manipulate the international community, torture the hostage families and rearm themselves. Additionally, they do not care about a quick end to the war or the suffering of Palestinian civilians.
The document, in which Hamas explains its negotiating strategy, was discovered on a computer reportedly belonging to the 60-year-old terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar. He is said to have personally approved the content. The letter dates from spring of 2024 and was made exclusively available to the BILD.
The document explains the Hamas negotiating position. Evidently, Hamas will never accept a two state solution. We have reported as much. Clearly, it wants to destroy the state of Israel:
Hamas lists several key factors to be considered in the negotiations. They is intended to maintain the “ability of our armed forces” to operate against Israel. The Israeli political and military apparatus is to be “exhausted” and international pressure on Israel is to be “increased.”
Hamas is not seeking a quick end to the war which would help the people of Gaza. Quite the opposite: “key conditions [contained] in the agreement should be improved [in Hamas’ favor, added by the author], even if negotiations continue over a longer period of time.” (…)
Although Hamas admits that its “military capacity has been weakened”, it does not believe that a quick end to the fighting is necessary – despite the plight of its population.
As for the hostages, they are being used to manipulate public opinion, by persuading their families that if they surrender to Hamas, Hamas will free their loved ones.
What is particularly perfidious: Hamas abuses the kidnapped hostages in order to improve its negotiating position. The document states openly:
“Continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of the prisoners, both now and in the first phase [of the ceasefire], so that public pressure on the enemy government increases.”
Hamas repeatedly releases videos of the hostages, forcing them to beg for their freedom and criticize their government. After the murder of six Israeli hostages, the terrorists released videos showing the kidnapped Israelis.
It is barbaric psychological torture that has only one aim: to make the relatives of the hostages so desperate that they will do ANYTHING to free their loved ones. Even if that means going against their own government.
Even during the ceasefire, the Palestinian Islamists want to use the hostages to put pressure on Israel. “During negotiations for the second phase [of the ceasefire, added by the BILD], Hamas will allow the Red Cross to visit some of the prisoners as a gesture of goodwill and to convey messages to their relatives.”
The goad, apparently, is to increase the pressure on Israel to extend the ceasefire.
Hamas wants merely to survive, the better to prepare for new battles:
There is talk of a “political maneuver”: Hamas negotiators should propose that “Arab forces be stationed along the eastern and northern borders” with Israel. But these only have one purpose: “The Arab armed forces should serve as a buffer to prevent the enemy from entering Gaza after the war is over until they [Hamas, added by the author] have reorganized their ranks and military capabilities. “
This means that Hamas, backed by Arab armies, wants to prepare for new battles. Israel is supposed to be the scapegoat.
Israel should be made solely responsible for the unsuccessful negotiations. Hamas’ message to the media should be that Israel rejected a deal brought by the United States. It must be made clear to the media that Hamas has agreed, but that the deal is failing because of Israel’s “stubbornness.” Hamas should not be held responsible for the failure of an agreement.
For now this strategy seems to be producing a desired result. Masses of Israelis are marching in the streets, demanding that their government surrender.
Seth Mandel offers some commentary about the document at Commentary:
What’s most interesting about the document is that it describes what is obviously happening. I have not seen a reason to doubt the document’s authenticity nor have I seen proof of its origins, but it is as if someone claimed to have retrieved a document from Sinwar’s hard drive that argued, in detail, that water is wet.
And that helps explain some of the frustration of watching coverage of this conflict. Blaming Israel for the lack of a ceasefire deal, and for the longevity of the conflict in general, requires one to believe or pretend to believe the most irrational explanations for everything. …
This is purported to be a document from Sinwar’s command. But it could be a document from the brain of any sentient human being who has spent more than five seconds following the conflict. The most unrealistic part of the alleged document is the idea that it would take any effort whatsoever to manipulate Western media into parroting the Hamas line.
This document is believable as a strategy note straight from Sinwar or as a programming note straight from the executives at MSNBC.
There you have it, a formula for duping large numbers of people. For duping hostage families, supposedly intelligent students and Western diplomats.
Saul Alinsky wrote “Rules for Radicals”.
I have always been of the opinion that the left is composed of people who are unhappy with their lives and, rather than admit that their own faults and shortcomings are responsible for their misery, prefer to lash out in anger. The secret of the left's recent acendancy lies in its leaders' ability to direct what is otherwise unfocused rage on to a single or perhaps small number of targets. That rascal Chomsky was really on to something when he published his "Rules for Radicals."