Althouse: "Hamas’s reasoning is simple — winning simply means surviving and, at least for now, the group has managed to do that..."

September 17, 2024

"Hamas’s reasoning is simple — winning simply means surviving and, at least for now, the group has managed to do that..."

"... even if it is severely weakened... In the interview, Mr. Meshal made clear that Hamas officials are not in a rush to conclude a cease-fire with Israel at any price, and will not give up on their main demands for an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal. Independent analysts have made similar assessments about Hamas’s priorities. 'They completely feel time is on their side,' said Ghaith al-Omari, an expert on Palestinian affairs. 'They think they’re the only game in town.'...At the war’s start, President Biden expressed a similar position to that of Mr. Netanyahu — that Hamas needed to be eliminated. But Mr. Biden no longer speaks of its eradication, and both the United States and Israel have taken part in indirect negotiations with Hamas. Mr. Meshal said he took that to mean that the United States was acknowledging Hamas was not going anywhere...."

"Hamas Is Surviving War With Israel. Now It Hopes to Thrive in Gaza Again. Khaled Meshal, one of Hamas’s most senior officials, said in an interview that the militant group expects to play a decisive role in the enclave when the war is over" (NYT).

39 comments:

AlbertAnonymous said...: They better ditch their pagers….; 9/17/24, 12:53 PM
Aggie said...: I was gonna say......
The good news is, Hamas is bloody-minded in both senses of the word. This pronouncement was likely made because this joker sees himself as being the fastest horse in the glue factory.; 9/17/24, 1:00 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/17/24, 1:03 PM
n.n said...: Hamasidols. Gaza by way of Iran in a World War [ethnic] Spring.; 9/17/24, 1:23 PM
Leland said...: Well, I guess when the current President is sending aid and suggesting a willingness to allow Hamas to continue to control the Palestinian region, then I guess winning is just surviving, but "no rush"? There is an election in the US in 2 months. Is Hamas trying to interfere in our elections to get their friend Kamala to win?; 9/17/24, 1:24 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Oh, great. Hamas is "surviving". Now, how about all those Gazan civilians that their stupid and pointless terrorist misadventure on Oct 7, 2023 got killed when Israel launched a war against them. The civilians in Gaza aren't doing a good job of "surviving", not to mention the years it'll take to rebuild Gaza. Oh, but not to worry. All those dead civilians -- they died as "martyrs" and they're in Heaven. And, the rebuilding of Gaza --- just think of all the opportunities for graft that there will be when that foreign aid pours in.

I hope Israel kills every single Hamas fighter they find, and makes double damn sure that their leadership dies in a large boom. Hamas and their Iranian puppet masters threw the Gazan people into a buzz saw for absolutely nothing. I hope God has reserved a special level of Hell just for them.; 9/17/24, 1:28 PM
Maynard said...: Hamas planned their October 7 attack for a number of reasons. The first was their hope that the Israelis would attack too quickly and fall into a number of ambushes.

The second was to unite the Arab world and leftwing crazies against Israel and the West. The Abraham Accords scared the shit out of them. They are pressuring Arab governments away from peace with Israel.; 9/17/24, 1:49 PM
Michael K said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/17/24, 1:52 PM
Michael K said...: Agree completely.; 9/17/24, 1:56 PM
Old and slow said...: Hamas is like a cancerous tumor.It is nearly impossible to kill the last bit without destroying the healthy parts of the society. Israeli society that is, Palestinians are apparently beyond redemption.; 9/17/24, 2:03 PM
Firstgen said...: Hamas was organized as a 30,000-40,000 soldier military force. It started a war with Israel. It has had about 17,000 of its fighters killed, many more thousands wounded. Its weapon-making capacity is destroyed. At least half of its command has been killed. It no longer functions as a military; it is now a guerilla force hiding in tunnels or in the humanitarian zones with cooperating Gazans. Israel has cut off its ability to re-arm by controlling every inch of the border Gaza has with Egypt. By all objective measures, Hamas has suffered one of the most decisive defeats in history.

The only bargaining chip it has is the imprisonment of some dozens of Israeli and American-Israeli hostages. If Hamas as an ideology "survives" into next year, it will do so only at the expense of or in cooperation with the civilian Gazans. Either way, it will not pose a physical threat to Israel in the short or long-term.; 9/17/24, 2:08 PM
Jaq said...: After Biden demanded that Netanyahu negotiate with Hamas, Israel assassinated Hamas's head negotiator, in Tehran, so yeah, they are "hesitant to negotiate."; 9/17/24, 2:35 PM
Valentine Smith said...: FAFO.
They are not settling because they have no bargaining power. Settlement is surrender. Survival is an option only for individual Hamas members. I would love to know what is going on in the minds of the grunts in Hamas. When does fanaticism break under constant pressure?; 9/17/24, 2:35 PM
Jaq said...: "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."

But "never again" doesn't apply to massive genocides like what we did to the aboriginals of North America.; 9/17/24, 2:36 PM
Jaq said...: As a consequence of taking the wrong side in WWI, the Ottoman Empire was divided up, by Winston Churchill, if memory serves, with a pen and a map. It left a collection of small and easily managed states which we could set to fighting with each other to keep them in line, in order that we could extract their immense oil wealth at what we considered to be "reasonable prices."

After this happened to the Arab world, leaving them powerless in the face of Western might, Islamism arose as the only really effective weapon that they had. Lot's of Arabs support Islamism not because they are true believers, but because it is the only weapon they have that is effective against the West at all.

If, for example, China came in and took over and divvied up America, and used the divisions to take our resources at cheap prices for their use, and somehow Christian fighters were the only way to make headway fighting back, well, I would profess Christianity and support them.; 9/17/24, 2:42 PM
Iman said...: Their unconditional surrender might bring peace. The world should press for it.; 9/17/24, 2:50 PM
Iman said...: POS Troll Turd Swanson be gone!; 9/17/24, 2:53 PM
Big Mike said...: Hence Trump’s advice to Netanyahu to “get your victory quickly.”; 9/17/24, 3:03 PM
Tom T. said...: "Winning simply means surviving."

That makes it all the more important for Hamas to understand what losing means.; 9/17/24, 3:28 PM
Brent said...: Hamas is still designated a"Terrorist Organization" by the United States Government. It should always be described that way. The elimination of Hamas and all of it members should be the #1 priority. The means?

Whatever. It. Takes.; 9/17/24, 3:42 PM
hombre said...: The UN and the leftmediaswine are doing everything they can to Help the terrorists survive, especially lying which they do so well.; 9/17/24, 4:09 PM
Paul said...: Ship everyone from GAZA, HAMAS included, to the West Bank. Let HAMAS fight the PLO for dominance.. then turn the GAZA into a Israeli providence.; 9/17/24, 4:09 PM
hombre said...: Most of the Gazans walked into the buzz saw dragging their children behind them. If an election were held tomorrow Hamas would probably win.; 9/17/24, 4:12 PM
Ampersand said...: Tim, the Arabs have been getting full market price plus an oligopoly premium for at least half a century. The conflict with Hamas has nothing to do with Westerners exploiting divisions among Arabs. Arabs are quite adept at creating divisions among Arabs without any assistance from "western might". If you believe Israel has a right to exist, then you believe it has a right to defeat a mortal enemy that insists upon its own annihilation.; 9/17/24, 4:14 PM
Lance said...: It's a mistake to think Israel is fighting Hamas. Hamas is just the organized military of the Gazans, as supported by the Arabs in Gaza. Israel is fighting Gaza, and will not win until they defeat Gaza.; 9/17/24, 4:28 PM
Bob Boyd said...: It's interesting how the NYT can maintain a tone of neutrality and objectivity in their coverage of Hamas, as they should with any subject, but when they cover the Republicans...; 9/17/24, 4:42 PM
Jaq said...: I just kind of doubt that Israel would ever have existed at all if the Ottoman Empire had not fallen. Israel exists by right of conquest. Same as the original Israelites were thrown out of ancient Israel by the Romans by that same right.; 9/17/24, 4:51 PM
gilbar said...: But Mr. Biden no longer speaks

yep, that's certainly True! those vacations are EXHAUSTING!; 9/17/24, 5:04 PM
rsbsail said...: Sure, why not? The people living in Gaza must love their leadership. Who doesn't love seeing their neighborhoods destroyed? Or seeing Hamas leaders in Qatar living it up while they live in poverty? And they must know in another 100 years, nothing will have changed, but by Allah, their kids will still hate the Joos!; 9/17/24, 5:15 PM
The Godfather said...: I share the hope that ALL Hamas leaders and cadre are killed (I assume that "unconditional surrender" is not an option for them, although "escape" may be). But if large numbers of Israelis are out demonstrating to end the war against Hamas in return for the return of the handful of hostages that have survived their captivity (as I have seen on TV news), then I wonder if the destruction of Hamas is an achievable goal.; 9/17/24, 5:26 PM
Josephbleau said...: Kamala will have more flexibility after the election when the Michigan Palestinians have locked themselves in for 4 years. Until November the Palestinians are just going to bs around and see what happens. If Trump wins they will head for the hills.; 9/17/24, 5:30 PM
Peachy said...: No one talks about the brutality and the hostages... living in Palestinian homes.
Most Palestinians support Hamas.; 9/17/24, 5:50 PM
Michael K said...: Tim, most of the "massive genocide" was because North America was isolated for thousands of years and the inhabitants were not exposed to the diseases that killed them. They did get some revenge with Syphilis which was unknown in Europe.; 9/17/24, 5:50 PM
Ampersand said...: As I understand it, just about every nation can be portrayed as a product of conquest. The stronger eliminates the weaker, unless the weaker has really good memes.; 9/17/24, 5:58 PM
paminwi said...: That’s why all Gazans are considered terrorists in my book. Mothers raise their boys to be fighters from birth. All you have to do is watch the videos from their schools. The girls are just pawns in their society.; 9/17/24, 6:16 PM
mikee said...: Unconditional surrender, quick military trials of all Hamas members, immediate execution for all those convicted of involvement in planning or carrying out October 07, same for all involved in hostage taking or holding. The idea that this event can be negotiated away is ludicrous on its face, and only the desperation of family members of those taken hostage permits "negotiated settlement" to be spoken without vomiting.; 9/17/24, 10:37 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: Not sure what point Tim is making here. If the Ottoman Empire had not fallen there is a long list of countries which would not exist: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE -- they all exist by right of conquest. Yet we don't challenge their legitimacy, does Tim question their right to exist?
Islamists, i.e., the Muslim Brotherhood grew out of a frustration with the loss of power and prestige of Islam and that was seen as a result of loss of purity and adherence to the doctrines of Islam. Their opposition is not limited to the West but to secularism within Muslim society.
FYI the earliest Zionists purchased land, mostly from absentee land owners in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon. For instance, the Sursock family, a wealthy Greek Orthodox family from Beirut, sold large tracts of land in the Jezreel Valley to Zionist organizations in the 1920s. This included about 200,000 dunams (49,000 acres) and 22 villages .; 9/17/24, 10:42 PM
Aught Severn said...: Also, who is this 'we'? Please define the term more explicitly.; 9/18/24, 1:51 AM
Rocco said...: Aught Severn asked…
“Also, who is this 'we'? Please define the term more explicitly.”

I took that to mean that he identifies as a cholera bacterium.; 9/18/24, 7:51 AM