Hamas officials visiting Moscow were quoted by Russian media on Friday as saying the militant group viewed all its hostages as Israelis, whatever additional passports they held, and could not release any of them until Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
Hamas wants this war to continue, so they probably won’t release all hostages any time soon. They want an offensive of Israel in Gaza with as many Palestinian civil casualties as possible. This gets them more sympathy, support and in turn increases the global pressure and critique on Israel.
Leaving the obvious moral horrificness of what Israel is doing aside, it’s also quite moronic that they’re giving Hamas exactly what it wants, while driving the civilians of Gaza, the people who’s “hearts and minds” they need to win for a chance at real peace in the region, even further away. All while rapidly throwing away the goodwill they have with the rest of the world. Strategically, Israel is gaining nothing from this apart from a quick win for Netanyahu with his own population, so he can stay in power.
Never waste a tragedy is a political maxim. Someone’s benefiting from the current action. Somebody had a plan in place. It’s not clear what that goal is:
Some possibilities that occur to me:
make Gaza smaller
justify more west bank settlements
accelerate more restrictions in the west bank
encourage emigration out of Gaza
create more political support by having a ongoing war “support our troops vote for me”
Hamas is playing a really interesting game of chicken with the world politics…
They either release the hostages or they don’t, giving them more media attention for every statement is just encouraging them
Hamas wants this war to continue, so they probably won’t release all hostages any time soon. They want an offensive of Israel in Gaza with as many Palestinian civil casualties as possible. This gets them more sympathy, support and in turn increases the global pressure and critique on Israel.
Leaving the obvious moral horrificness of what Israel is doing aside, it’s also quite moronic that they’re giving Hamas exactly what it wants, while driving the civilians of Gaza, the people who’s “hearts and minds” they need to win for a chance at real peace in the region, even further away. All while rapidly throwing away the goodwill they have with the rest of the world. Strategically, Israel is gaining nothing from this apart from a quick win for Netanyahu with his own population, so he can stay in power.
Never waste a tragedy is a political maxim. Someone’s benefiting from the current action. Somebody had a plan in place. It’s not clear what that goal is:
Some possibilities that occur to me: