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President-elect Trump often trashes the press and threatens journalists and foreign leaders. Last Monday, he pledged "hell to pay" if October 7 hostages were not released before his inauguration day on January 20. However, his Rambo-style mentality is misdirected. His language is not only ugly and repellent, but it also implies that he needs to be deciphered.
"Hell, to pay" is an idiomatic expression that means to warn someone that someone will be very angry if a particular thing happens or if it does not happen. He was not threatening Israel but the Palestinians.
So, what can "Hot Shot" Trump do that Genocide Joe did not do to help secure the release of about 100 Israeli hostages held in Gaza?
* Biden gave Israel 40 billion dollars in military aid, intelligence, and political cover.
* Biden threatened to sanction the ICC judges over the ICC's arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his war minister.
* Biden vetoed all four UN resolutions for a ceasefire in Gaza.
* Biden dispatched USS aircraft carriers and threatened to bomb Iran and Lebanon if they came to the aid of their Palestinians.
* Biden, along with the British Airforce, bombed Yemen several times because Yemen declared it would target all ships heading to Israel regardless of their nationality as long as Gaza is under siege and being attacked by the Israeli Death Forces (IDF).
* 86% of Gaza is destroyed, and so are all schools, universities, mosques, and churches, and only a few hospitals are left.
If President-elect Trump wants to end the misery in Palestine and the hostages' dilemma, he is going the wrong way about it. Why, may you ask?
Neither Biden nor Trump nor Crime Minister Netanyahu has mentioned that Israel is currently holding about 16,000 Palestinians, most without charges or trial dates, not to mention the 2 million hostages it still holds hostage in Gaza with nowhere to go for the last 17 years. It is for that reason that Palestinians are still holding Israeli hostages.
What about the 7 American hostages?
During the November 2023 prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas, one of Fox News hosts asked their reporter in Israel, "Where are the American hostages?" The reporter did not have an answer. The ugly truth was Israel insisted its prisoners be freed first before any other foreign nationals, aka American citizens. After all, Hamas considered any foreign nationals who served in the IDF would be kept until a final "all for all" deal is reached. They were considered by Hamas as soldiers, not civilians who have committed war crimes.
Hamas spokesman said repeatedly that it's ready for a "partial for partial" or "all for all" deal. A partial deal would entail all civilian hostages being traded for all Palestinian women and children and an "all for all" deal would be all IDF soldiers traded for all Palestinian prisoners (10,000) held in Israel. The number of Palestinian hostages has now jumped to 16,000.
If I were Donald J. Trump, who touts himself as America's first president, why should he worry about any American citizens who betrayed America by serving the Israeli armed forces? On a lighter note, Hamas previously released two elderly Israelis for health reasons and now all Thai citizens as a goodwill gesture even though they were not covered by the November 2023 prisoner swap deal.
It is not Hamas that is starving the people in Gaza. It is Israel who is starving the people in Gaza, and it does not agree to an honest agreement for an enduring permanent ceasefire. So, it imposed an illegal and inhumane siege on over 2 million Gazans.
Hamas' four conditions are the criteria of the so-called Israeli proposal that Biden made public last May and was voted upon as a Security Council resolution. It was Netanyahu who refused, and Hamas accepted.
"However, Hamas continues to insist on its four conditions for a hostage deal: ending the war, returning displaced persons to their homes, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza, and conducting a prisoner exchange."
This is entirely reasonable and should be the objective of all actors in this conflict. It is much more than Israel's empty and destructive "total victory" rhetoric. When the part considered "terrorist" takes a more reasonable and conforming to international law and war law approach to the situation than the part considered a law-abiding democracy, don't we have a problem?
The last time Trump took a gamble in the Middle East by ordering the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani at a Baghdad airport, four US soldiers were ambushed and killed in Niger, Africa within a few hours. The following day, Iran retaliated by firing more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi air bases housing US forces. I don't think Trump wants to put US forces and citizens abroad at risk.
Finally, Israel continues to hold 16,000 hostages in 13 Israeli concentration camps inside Israel, including women and children. Not to mention, it is also having and starving 2 million hostages in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance is holding about 100 hostages and continues to send Israeli soldiers in bags to their families.
Israel has turned Gaza into hell and a graveyard for children. There is nothing worse Trump can do to Gaza. If he is genuine about peace and wants to war to end as he promised during his campaign, he should act as an impartial moderator. Not to appease his friend Netanyahu and the pro-Israeli lobby. The clock Is ticking.
Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelancer for Islamicity.com, and ColumbusFreePress.com
He can be reached at elyousseph6@yahoo.com.
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Israeli hostage photo saying "shukran" and goodbye goes viral for 'look of love' to Hamas fighter: Published by Hamas military media on Nov. 26, 2023