"Numerous of our NOW GREAT ALLIES in the Middle East, and areas surrounding the Middle East, have explicitly and strongly, with great enthusiasm, informed me that they would welcome the opportunity..."

"... at my request, to go into GAZA with a heavy force and 'straighten our Hamas' if Hamas continues to act badly, in violation of their agreement with us. The love and spirit for the Middle East has not been seen like this in a thousand years! It is a beautiful thing to behold! I told these countries, and Israel, 'NOT YET!' There is still hope that Hamas will do what is right. If they do not, an end to Hamas will be FAST, FURIOUS, & BRUTAL! I would like to thank all of those countries that called to help. Also, I would like to thank the great and powerful country of Indonesia, and its wonderful leader, for all of the help they have shown and given to the Middle East, and to the U.S.A. TO EVERYONE, thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Wrote PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, at Truth Social.

By "straighten our Hamas," he must have meant "straighten out Hamas."

"After months of deadlock, Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a long-awaited breakthrough..."

"... that could point toward an end to the two-year war in Gaza. 'This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen,' Mr. Trump said on Truth Social."

The NYT reports.

"During the 51 days I was held in this family’s home, I got to know the captors who were guarding me...."

"These men told me about their families and their jobs. One was a police officer with eight kids. Another ran a falafel stand. I can speak Arabic and could understand perfectly well when the terrorists discussed their ideology. One man was adamant that all the land belonged to Palestinians and that the Jews should leave for Morocco or Yemen. Another was more political, repeating endless Hamas dogmas about how there is no such thing as the State of Israel. But it was obvious that for some of them, joining up with Hamas was about economics, not just ideology. Hamas had money, power and status, and some joined to try and get those things for themselves. However, it became clear to me that the willingness to torture and murder comes from a deeper place. The murderers who broke into my house and slaughtered my wife and daughters were driven by blind hatred, which seemed to take precedence over all other motivations, including life itself...."

Writes Eli Sharabi, in "What my captivity taught me about Hamas and its hateful ideology/My captors’ cruelty revealed an obsession with death. Lasting peace will demand more than diplomacy" (WaPo). 

ADDED: Here's another column from Eli Sharabi, "I Was a Hostage in Gaza. This Is How I Survived" (Free Press):

"It remained unclear how soon any concrete steps to end the conflict might be taken, however."

Key line in "Israel Says It Will Work With Trump Gaza Plan; Hamas Says It Will Release Hostages/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was ready to work with the White House to end the war, but questions remain about Hamas’s future in Gaza and whether it will agree to disarm" (NYT).

Trump delivered an ultimatum. The response was we don't want it to be an ultimatum. 

Where hate seems to be going.

As perceived by Marianne Williamson, writing on X:

We seem to have gone from calling for justice for Palestinians - a call with which I wholeheartedly agree - to an absurd romanticization of a gigantic death cult. That cult is not just coming for the Jews. Those who continue yelling 'We’re not antisemites!!!' while at least passively joining Hamas in their call for our destruction are naively aligning with a movement that hates them too.

"Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job...."

"Yarden looked me in the eyes and asked that all the world know and be horrified by the manner in which they murdered his children."

"The entire world must know exactly how the Hamas terrorist organization operates. Ariel and Kfir were murdered, and then yesterday, their bodies were returned in a cynical and cruel ceremony in Gaza. Shiri Bibas, who was meant to be returned with her children to Israel as part of the agreement, was not returned by Hamas. Hamas lied and violated the agreement. The body that Hamas falsely claimed was Shiri’s was not hers, nor was it any other hostage. Instead, Hamas sent over the body of an anonymous woman...."

From "IDF spokesman: Terrorist captors murdered Ariel and Kfir Bibas 'with their bare hands'" (Times of Israel)(Ariel was 4 and Kfir 9 months).

UPDATE: "Body of Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has been returned, family says/'Last night, our Shiri was returned home,' the Bibas family said Saturday" (ABC News)("The body of hostage Shiri Bibas was returned to Israel after Hamas initially sent back the wrong remains")

"Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians were walking toward their homes in northern Gaza on Monday, nearly 16 months after they were forced to flee..."

"... at the start of Israel’s military offensive. A column of people that stretched for miles marched north along Gaza’s coastal road, many carrying their few possessions on their heads, on makeshift carts and in plastic bags slung over their backs.... As they began arriving in Gaza City, in the north of the territory, they confronted a wasteland of rubble after the Israeli military destroyed whole neighborhoods and Hamas booby-trapped many buildings. Many of those returning had spent the war sheltering in tents.... On Monday, some used bikes, wheelchairs and trolleys to carry their belongings. One man attached wheels to a plastic box, turning it into a makeshift stroller for a baby...."

The NYT reports.

"Such an uneven swap is not unusual. Israeli governments have long been determined to bring back captured civilians and soldiers..."

"... including dead ones, even at steep costs.... The exchange of civilian hostages for prisoners, including some whom Israel has accused of terrorism, has also raised the ire of some Israelis. In a statement celebrating the release of the three Israeli hostages on Sunday, an Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, hinted at some of that underlying frustration, saying the latest trade was not 'a true like-for-like exchange.' Two of the women were abducted from their homes and one from a music festival, and 'then brutally held since,' he said. 'This is a huge difference when compared to the terrorists who are being released.'"

From "What’s behind the uneven exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners?" (NYT).

"Everybody is talking about the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely, and against the will of the entire World, in the Middle East..."

"... But it’s all talk, and no action! Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity. Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!"

Writes Donald Trump, at Truth Social.

Harder than anybody has been hit in the history of the United States? Harder than Japan in WWII? Is this a threat to use nuclear weapons? A transparent bluff?

WaPo's mild response: "It was not immediately clear whether Trump was threatening to directly involve the U.S. military in Israel’s ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Trump allies have said he hopes there will be a ceasefire and hostage release deal before he returns to office early next year."

NYT, similarly mild: "It was not clear what tactic Mr. Trump might take that has not already been taken already by Israel....  [A]t the Republican National Convention in July, he said that he wanted the hostages returned and that captors 'will be paying a very big price.' His latest warning came after Hamas released a propaganda video showing the American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, 20, pleading with Mr. Trump to secure his release."

"Although Vice President Kamala Harris recently acknowledged that Iran is a 'destabilizing, dangerous force in the Middle East'..."

"... the Biden-Harris administration’s dealings with the regime in Tehran have been marked by inadequate military action, ineffective diplomacy and inconsistent sanctions enforcement, enabling Iran to continue funding terrorism, attack U.S. interests and threaten Israel’s survival. In contrast, the Trump administration’s 'maximum pressure' policy showed that well-enforced sanctions could cripple Iran’s economy and significantly weaken its malign activities — without harming American consumers or triggering a spike in global oil prices. The next president should restore that policy...."

Write Jeb Bush and Claire Jungman in The Washington Post — "Why we should return to ‘maximum pressure’ against Iran/The Trump administration policy showed that well-enforced sanctions could cripple Iran’s economy."

"Although Harris acknowledges the Iranian threat, her reluctance to back a stronger stance is puzzling. If Iran is truly the United States’ greatest adversary, avoiding a comprehensive strategy that could neutralize the threat is illogical — particularly when Iran’s proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, are weakened, and Israel, our key ally, is fighting for survival."

"Hamas has seemed at a loss over how to respond to the death of Yahya Sinwar, the latest in a long line of its leaders killed by Israel."

"For the past day, the group’s Telegram and WhatsApp channels have been silent on the matter, and officials declined or did not respond to requests for comment. On Friday afternoon, Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official living in exile, finally circulated a statement appearing to confirm Sinwar’s death. 'It’s very painful and distressing to lose beloved people, especially an extraordinary leader like Yahya Sinwar,' it read. 'But what we are sure of is that we are eventually victorious.' Moments later, Naim deleted the statement and then resent it — without Sinwar’s name."

The NYT reports.

"HAMAS LEADER IS DEAD."

A barrage of headlines in The New York Times:

 

From the obituary:

"After a year of the terrible, terrible conditions he has suffered, I don’t know if he will want to continue living as he did before. But if he does, it’s all waiting for him when he comes home."

Writes Idit Ohel, in "A Year Ago Today, Terrorists Stole My Son/My oldest child went to a music festival. Then Hamas murdered his friends—and dragged Alon into Gaza" (Free Press).

"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).

"Pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah demonstrators staged an anti-Israel protest near the White House on Saturday, calling for 'jihad'..."

"... and voicing anger at US President Joe Biden’s management of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Thousands of protesters chanting 'From DC to Palestine, we are the red line' held a long banner scribbled with the names of Palestinians killed in the ongoing fighting.... Reports on social media appeared to show masked demonstrators chanting slogans urging Hamas’s military wing to 'kill another soldier now' and calling on Hezbollah to 'kill another Zionist now.' Protesters also held signs calling for 'Intifada'....

I'm reading "Pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah protesters cheer ‘jihad’ at anti-Israel rally in DC Demonstrators near White House protest Gaza war in terror group attire, burn US flags; in London, thousands march against Israel amid chants of ‘From the river to the sea’" (The Times of Israel).

The article embeds this X post ("Protester holds up a bloody mask depicting President Joe Biden. Another protester burns American flag behind him as statue is sprayed with "FJB" outside of the White House during Pro-palestine protest"):

DC: Protester holds up a bloody mask depicting President Joe Biden. Another protester burns American flag behind him as statue is sprayed with 'FJB' outside of the White House during Pro-palestine protest.

Video by @yyeeaahhhboiii2 Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/viHOfVToDq

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) June 8, 2024

Here's the NYT article about the protests, "Protest Against Gaza War Draws Thousands to the White House/The demonstration included ringing the White House grounds with a red banner showing the names of the more than 36,000 Palestinians killed during the war."

"Prior negotiations ran aground after Hamas insisted that it be able to include dead hostages, as opposed to just living ones, in the number required by the agreement’s first phase."

"In his speech, Biden indicated that Israel had now acceded to this previously rejected stipulation. 'Some remains of hostages who have been killed will be returned to their...families,' he said, 'bringing some degree of closure to their terrible grief.'..."

Writes Yair Rosenberg, in "Biden’s Bold Gaza Cease-Fire Gambit/The president has pushed events as far as he can, but even American presidents have their limits" (The Atlantic).

"The American people expect their presidents to have the guts to make hard national security decisions, and to put our safety, interests, principles, and alliances above politics."

"That’s exactly what Joe Biden is doing. He is standing with Israel as they fight the Hamas terrorists who committed the hideous Oct. 7 attacks, and is making clear that how Israel defends itself matters because we do not want to see any more civilians killed."

Said White House spokesman Andrew Bates, quoted in "Biden’s isolation grows as Gaza report both criticizes and clears Israel/Like much of the president’s, at times, halting approach toward the war, the report released to Congress on Friday drew criticism from across the political spectrum" (WaPo)(free access link).

Biden is making the "hard decision" to please no one while purporting to please everyone. 

"We’re told the decision to act this way came last week but that Biden wanted to keep it quiet until he delivered his speech commemorating the Holocaust...."

Writes John Podhoretz in "Biden’s Shameful Betrayal" (Commentary).

Last week, the administration’s line was that it needed to see a plausible evacuation plan from Rafah—a statement indicating that it still supported the overall aim of eliminating Hamas and that the problem going forward was primarily logistical. So that might simply have been a lie....

But if his primary aim is to limit civilian casualties, his methods of doing so are insane. The munitions he is holding back would in part allow Israel to hit sites and areas in Rafah with great precision. That is how you limit casualties. Which leads me to believe that Joe Biden is literally trying to freeze the conflict in place permanently....

And why does Biden want this anyway? To what end? Unless your purpose is to prevent an Israeli victory, it’s nonsensical. And if he doesn’t want an Israeli victory, why did he spend months pushing for aid? Why? Why?...

I hesitate to attempt to answer, but my working theory would be that Joe Biden has prioritized his own reelection. And he's not even performing well at that. Ironically, his reelection theme seems to be that he — and not Trump — is a man of integrity. I would recommend that the old man step back from the tawdry exercise of getting reelected and actually behave with integrity.

But I suspect he's too far gone to give us that. May I recommend:

"More than six months into the war in Gaza and with dimming hopes for a cease-fire deal, Palestinians there are growing more critical of Hamas..."

"... which some of them blame for the months-long conflict that has destroyed the territory — and their lives.... In interviews with more than a dozen residents of Gaza, people said they resent Hamas for the attacks in Israel and — war-weary and desperate to fulfill their basic needs — just want to see peace as soon as possible. If Hamas wanted to start a war, 'they should have secured people first — secured a place of refuge for them, not thrown them into suffering that no one can bear,' said Salma El-Qadomi, 33, a freelance journalist.... 'Hamas... don’t be upset with us and try to understand us correctly,' Rami Haroon, a 45-year-old dentist and father of five, wrote on Facebook on April 20. 'We have been suffocated by you for a long time.... Your ship will sink and you will drown us with you.'... According to [Mkhaimar Abusada, associate professor of political science], people 'care about Palestine and resistance and freedom and independence. But first of all, they want to live as humans, to be able to eat and sleep. That’s why the criticism is much more vocal now and much more public now.... Israel really sent us to the Stone Age.'"

From "In war-battered Gaza, residents grow angry with Hamas" (WaPo).