A BLUNT BLACKMAIL. Israel faces pressure to accept Hamas’ conditions for a ceasefire deal to prevent more executions of hostages after Hamas killed six Israeli hostages, including American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin. If this sounds like blackmail, it probably is. This is how a newspaper editorial (by Wall Street Journal) described it: “The terrorists murder six Israeli hostages … and Israel is suddenly under pressure to make concessions—to Hamas.”
TRUE TO HIS WORDS, PRESIDENT BIDEN HOLDS HAMAS ACCOUNTABLE. Hours after remarks by the President during a White House meeting, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior terror commanders in connection with the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, marking the first effort by American law enforcement to formally call out the masterminds of the attack. Click here for the story and check out the statement by the Department of Justice, including the video of the full remarks by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
President Biden And VP HarrisSquarely Blamed Hamas for murdering the six hostages, which is significant since Hamas propaganda initially tried to shift the blame on to the Israeli military. The President and VP met with the US hostage negotiation team and pledged to hold Hamas accountable for killing the six hostages. See the White House readout of the meeting.
Even Now, A Deal With Hamas Is Faraway, And Hamas Deserves Blame For This. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer appeared on CNN today and said, “There are a lot of people who believe, unfortunately mistakenly, that there is some deal on the table that Hamas agreed to that the Israeli government does not agree to. That’s simply not true.” And added: “Up until this point, they [Hamas] have not agreed to anything.” Click here to watch Minister Dermer’s remarks or click on the screenshot, below.
SOME ARABS, MUSLIMS, AND PALESTINIANS CONDEMNED HAMAS HOSTAGE EXECUTION amid a wider silence in Arab and Muslim countries, unfortunately. But these Arab and Muslim voices give hope. For example, Palestinian commentator Bassem Eid, who is Jerusalem-based, criticized Hamas and posted on X: “Shooting six hostages in the back of the head will not free Palestine.” His tweet garnered more than a half-million views. See the screenshot, below.
Egyptian commentator Khaled Hassan condemned Hamas for amputating Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s hand and then taking him a hostage despite this grave injury, and regretted then the wider silence in Arab and Muslim countries on this inhumane treatment. See his tweet and the screenshot, below.
Lebanese Shia-Muslim scholar Hussain Abdul-Hussain [see his post], and Talia Khan, daughter of a Jewish mother and an Afghan Muslim father [see her profile on X], are among some of the Arab/Muslim commentators who condemned Hamas for killing Israeli hostages.
A HAUNTING PHOTO FROM THE BEDROOM OF HERSH GOLDBERG-POLIN. The Israeli American hostage executed by Hamas wanted peace with the Palestinians and had a mural in his room that read, ‘Jerusalem is everyone’s.’ [source]. See some of his family memories [here and here].
ICYMI – President Biden & VP Harris’s statements on the six executed hostages – here and here.
ICYMI – Secretary Blinken’s two X/Twitter posts on Hersh Goldberg-Polin that garnered almost four million views between them [see here and here]
ICYMI – The video of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in a touching moment at the funeral of the six executed Israeli hostages.
ICYMI – The moving remarks of the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin at his funeral.
ICYMI – The story of how a CNN anchor helped identify Hersh in a video clip from October 7 after talking to his parents and analyzing information about his wounds from eyewitnesses. Watch it here.
