On Sunday, Breitbart posted an article about the quest for peace in Gaza.
The article reports:
Hamas leader Khaled Mashal declared that “the resistance and its weapons are our honor and glory” and that “the battle is not over,” boasting that rights are won “at the recruitment office, not the U.N. Security Council” — a declaration that directly contradicts President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan and celebrates the October 7 “Al-Aqsa Flood” massacre as a turning point to push Israel off “our homeland” and the international stage.
I don’t believe you can make peace with people who celebrate the events of October 7.
The article notes:
Speaking Saturday by video to the “Pledge to Jerusalem” conference in Istanbul, the head of Hamas abroad used a keynote address carried on Al Jazeera to lay out an uncompromising roadmap that flatly rejects the core elements of President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan — disarmament, an international stabilization force, and Hamas’s removal from power — even as the terror group moves toward Phase Two of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire it ostensibly accepted two months ago.
Notice that he was in Istanbul–not in Gaza. That seems to be the pattern of Hamas leadership–they stay away from the war zone.
The article also reports:
He urged the wider Islamic “ummah” to commit to “the liberation of Jerusalem as the banner and symbol of freeing Palestine,” including the “cleansing” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the “reclaiming” of Islamic and Christian holy sites, framing Gaza as the vanguard that launched the “Al-Aqsa Flood” massacre in 2023 and “turned into the pride of the nation and the conscience of nations.”
In remarks highlighted by multiple Israeli outlets, Mashal explicitly rejected any “guardianship, mandate and re-occupation” over Gaza, the West Bank, or “all of Palestine,” insisting that Palestinians “need protection, not guardians” and that “the Palestinian is the one who governs himself and decides for himself.”
Unfortunately, I believe the only path to peace in Gaza has to include the end of Hamas and its leadership.
