Will the U.S. Let Hamas Keep Its Guns?

Donald Trump’s administration might redefine what it means for Hamas to “disarm.” The New York Times reported yesterday that a draft document from the Trump-led Board of Peace indicates that phase two of the ceasefire could require Hamas terrorists to surrender larger weapons that can strike Israel but allow them to retain small arms like automatic rifles.

• Details are unclear, but the news appears to indicate yet another compromise with terrorism, a betrayal of Israel’s basic safety and security, and another sign that Board of Peace negotiations will not produce peace.

Complete disarmament of Hamas is part of President Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan for Gaza, signed by Hamas and Israel in October. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in December that Hamas possesses roughly 60,000 automatic rifles.

• It is dishonorable, dangerous and treacherous for the U.S. to demand anything short of full disarmament from mass-murdering terrorists in a territory where they tyrannized their own people, used them as human shields, stole supplies, launched rockets toward civilians, launched the massacre of 1,200 people, kept 250 people hostage, and committed war crimes against civilians and Israeli forces battling to recover their people—and their corpses.

On Sunday, Hamas official Khaled Meshal said he didn’t want his group to surrender its weapons, as doing so could make the people of Gaza victims. On January 28, Hamas Political Bureau deputy chairman Moussa Abu stated that Hamas never agreed to disarm.

In the four months since the Gaza peace plan was signed, there has been no movement on Hamas’s part to compromise on disarmament, but now there is apparent movement on the part of the United States to compromise on disarmament.

Israel, which has complied with U.S. pressure to keep its obligations under the ceasefire, is reportedly desperate to convince the U.S. to avoid this rumored appeasement.

Ultimately, the Trump administration’s peace plan is delusional. It is an object lesson that mankind is incapable of producing peace.