Is Donald Trump taking an even stronger stance against the Hamas terrorists? If it appears so for the U.S. president, it comes after Trump viewed footage of Oct. 7, 2023, and related events before he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month and following subsequent meetings with hostages who have been released.
Trump, not for the first time, called for Hamas to release all remaining hostages in a post to his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday. He called Hamas, its leaders and membership “sick and twisted.”
“I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say. … This is your last warning … RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!” wrote Trump in a Cliff Notes version of the post.
These recent interactions with Netanyahu and the hostages have moved Trump, David Mencer, a Netanyahu spokesman, said on Washington Watch Thursday.
Not all released hostages were released alive. The Israeli health ministry has shared disturbing findings for the hostages who have been released alive.
“They've lost 40 percent of their body mass. They've lived in starvation conditions. They've lost teeth. Their eyesight has been ruined, and we also know the psychological condition will obviously take a lot longer to heal. To me, this is a death cult. It's a death cult, and the president recognizes that,” Mencer told show host Tony Perkins.
For Israel, there is no successful conclusion to the conflict without the destruction of Hamas, according to Mencer.
“There is no peace with a death cult. The death cult needs to be destroyed. Our culture teaches us to love life, to prolong life; their culture teaches death. They yearn for death. That is why there is no cooperation, no coexistence with the Hamas terrorist organization,” he said.
Two-state solution not an option, Mencer says
Nor can a two-state solution ceding control of Judea and Samaria (often referred to as the "West Bank") to the Palestinians bring about peace, Mencer said. In fact, there are efforts within the Israeli Knesset to make retention of Judea and Samaria official policy.
The two-state solution, however, was a path fully supported by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden. It’s been discussed for years and was again hailed as the only reasonable option by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres earlier this week.
“The only path to lasting peace is when we are two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and security in line with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” Guterres said.
In late January before the U.N. Security Council, he blasted Netanyahu’s opposition to a two-state solution as “unacceptable” and a “major threat to global peace and security.”
In fact, Israel has already ceded land in giving up the Gaza strip for Palestinian control. The people elected Hamas to run their government, and from Gaza the Oct. 7 attack was planned and launched.
Instead of a small strip of land along the southern coast near Egypt, Judea and Samaria represent far larger territory in the heart of the nation of Israel.
Mencer explained that a Palestinian state in Gaza failed.
“In 2005 this was an experiment. We pulled all of our people, every single Jew, out of Gaza. The idea was, let’s see what the Palestinians can do with it. They turned it into a large operating base of terrorism from which we have just suffered the worst day of Jew-killing since the Holocaust. That mistake has been made. We understand that Palestinians, given self-rule, very often turn to terrorism,” Mencer said.
With the Palestinians living in Gaza, a free state next door, “catastrophic” decisions were made by the Israeli government, Mencer said. But experience is a great educator.
“We were taken by surprise [on Oct. 7],” Mencer said – adding that won’t happen again; which is why Netanyahu has stated from the beginning of the war that the complete destruction of Hamas was a primary objective for Israel.
“We will be victorious by destroying this organization,” Mencer vowed.
Israel, U.S. only discussing ‘future of region’
Destruction leaves no room for discussion. Yet there have been discussions this week between U.S. officials and Hamas in an attempt for a negotiated peace. Currently five hostages with U.S. citizenship remain held in Gaza, though most are feared dead, Fox News reports.
Mencer confirmed Israel’s awareness of the U.S.-Hamas talks, but “from Israel’s point of view, there’s nothing to discuss.”
“We’re discussing the future of this region with our U.S. partners,” he said.
