It would be a shame if something happened to your new aircraft carrier...

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-842449

From: The Media Line February 19, 2025
Study Finds The New York Times Coverage Skews Against Israel in War Reporting

A recent study by Yale University professor Edieal Pinker has found that The New York Times coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has overwhelmingly shaped a narrative that:
1. generates sympathy for Palestinians
2. while downplaying Israeli suffering
3. and Hamas’ responsibility for the conflict.

The study, published on the SSRN research platform, analyzed 1,561 articles published between October 7, 2023 and June 7, 2024

According to the findings 91% of the articles did not mention Israeli casualties after October 7 even though dozens of civilians were killed in terror attacks and cross-border rocket fire.

Additionally 50% of the articles failed to reference Israeli hostages held by Hamas, while 41% omitted Israeli casualties from Hamas’ initial attack.

By contrast, the newspaper regularly published personal stories highlighting Palestinian and Lebanese suffering, often on a near-daily basis.

Pinker’s analysis revealed that The New York Times mentioned “Israel” more than three times as often as “Hamas” and rarely acknowledged the deaths of Hamas fighters in Israeli military operations.

Pinker concluded “The net result of these imbalances and others is to create a depiction of events that is imbalanced toward”
1. creating sympathy for the Palestinian side,
2. places most of the agency in the hands of Israel,
3. is often at odds with actual events,
4. and fails to give readers an understanding of how Israelis are experiencing the war

The study also follows broader criticism of international media bias.

A separate report led by British lawyer Trevor Asserson found that the BBC disproportionately associated Israel with genocide, doing so 14 times more than Hamas.

Meanwhile, a January 2024 analysis by The Intercept claimed that major US newspapers exhibited bias against Palestinians in the early weeks of the war, arguing that mentions of Israeli deaths outnumbered those of Palestinians and that terms such as “Palestinian” appeared less frequently than “Israeli” or “Israel.”

The Intercept report also contended that US media largely reflected Israeli government narratives, particularly in the first six weeks of the conflict.

From: The Times of Israel February 19, 2025
New York leaders express outrage over ‘antisemitic’ protest in Brooklyn Jewish neighborhood

Political leaders in New York condemn an anti-Israel protest that took place last night in Boro Park, a Brooklyn neighborhood with a large Orthodox population.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, says:
“Mask-wearing protesters chanting antisemitic slogans in the middle of the most Orthodox Jewish community in the city is all about provocation and not about free speech,”

“I applaud the NYPD for keeping order and condemn in strongest terms those who used antisemitic language and symbolism at this event.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul says:
“We saw protesters in Boro Park targeting Jewish New Yorkers with hateful rhetoric and antisemitic chants. This is unacceptable.”

The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, also of New York, says:
“The vile and antisemitic rhetoric directed at Jewish residents in Borough Park is unacceptable and unconscionable.”

Mayor Eric Adams says:
“Antisemitism has no place in New York City, and bringing it to Borough Park is disgraceful,”
“We will not tolerate attacks on Jewish New Yorkers or any other diverse community across our city.”

Also condemning the protest are Representative Daniel Goldman; Representative Elise Stefanik, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, progressive city comptroller Brad Lander, Jewish city council members Eric Dinowitz and Julie Menin, the New York Jewish Agenda liberal advocacy group, the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, and the American Jewish Committee.

From: Al Jazeera February 19, 2025
Hamas offers to release all captives for end to Israel’s war on Gaza

Hamas says it seeks:
1. a lasting ceasefire
2. and a full Israeli pullout,
3. rejects conditions for its removal from Gaza.

Hamas has proposed to release all captives remaining in the Gaza Strip in “one go” in exchange for:
1. a lasting truce
2. and a complete Israeli army withdrawal from the besieged enclave.

In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem outlined the group’s vision for the second phase of the ceasefire deal which includes the proposed exchange

Qassem said: “We are ready for a second phase in which the prisoners will be exchanged in one go, within the criterion of reaching an agreement that:
1. leads to a permanent ceasefire
2. and a complete withdrawal from the Strip,”

The group also rejected Israel’s call for its disarmament and removal from the Strip.

Qassem added:
1. “The occupation’s condition of removing Hamas from the Gaza Strip is a ridiculous psychological war,
2. and the withdrawal or disarmament of the resistance from Gaza is unacceptable,”

Qassem also addressed the group’s decision to increase the number of captives to be freed during the next swap on Saturday from three to six.

The decision was announced by Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya a day earlier in an apparent bid to accelerate the implementation of phase two of the deal.

“Doubling the number of prisoners to be released was done in response to a request from the mediators and to prove our seriousness in implementing all the terms of the agreement,” Qassem said in Wednesday’s statement.

The proposal comes after United States President Donald Trump spoke out against the phased weekly release of the captives taken from Israel, and after families of those remaining in Gaza called for all of them to be freed together.

Israel ‘not able to defeat Hamas’
Accelerating the implementation of the deal was also seemingly made in trade for Israel’s allowing mobile homes and construction equipment into the devastated Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have continued to seal shut vital border crossings throughout its genocide, preventing the entry of basic supplies, as well as reconstruction materials.

Last week, Hamas threatened to hold up the release, citing Israel’s refusal to allow in mobile homes and heavy equipment, among other violations of the agreement, including attacks on Palestinians.

[Hamas-run] Gaza’s Ministry of Health has confirmed 48,291 deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza, while 111,722 people have been wounded.

[Hamas-run] Government Media Office updated its death toll to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are now presumed dead.

Rebuilding Gaza could cost $53.2bn, according to a report released by the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union on Tuesday, including about $15.2bn for housing.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, said:
the “bigger problem” is not going to be phase one, but phase two or three of the ceasefire deal.
He said Hamas and Israel have been trying to take the moral high ground, with their captive and prisoner swaps.

“The problem for Israel is that despite having the upper hand, it’s not able to defeat Hamas,”
not defeated any of the terrorist groups nor Iran

“But here we are and Israel is dictating the process – when and where aid goes in.
And as long as those alternative housing units are not getting in, it’s making things quite difficult for the Palestinians.”

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect on January 19 after more than 460 days of the war.

Since then, Israel has violated the agreement multiple times, with its leaders discussing the possibility of an imminent return to all-out fighting in Gaza and the far-right ministers in Netanyahu’s cabinet even pushing for a military occupation of the enclave And Hamas the model terrorists

Since the deal, a total of 1,135 Palestinians have been freed from Israeli prisons.
Israel is scheduled to release 502 more Palestinians this week.

After last week’s handover, the number of captives released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad has reached 25 since January 19

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• Will Israel’s hostage deal lead to Hamas kidnapping more Israelis in the future?

Like all Israelis, I have shed buckets of tears in recent weeks watching the scenes of Israelis kidnapped (and to a great extent tortured) by Hamas returning to their families

They are tears of joy and tears of horror but mostly tears of relief

Like all Israelis, I hope and pray that “stage one” of the deal negotiated by the Biden administration will be completed in full, including the additional tranches of live hostage releases planned for the coming weekends (which also include the return of eight bodies of killed Israelis)

I, hope and pray that President Trump’s new plans don’t upset completion of the hostage-for-terrorist release deal in the near term
1. to evacuate all Palestinians from Gaza
2. Hamas’s ongoing drip-drip torture tactics against Israel
3. and Israel’s clear intention to yet drive Hamas leadership out of Gaza

Managing these contradictory impulses and aims remains extraordinarily difficult

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• stages two and three of Biden’s Israel-Hamas deal were never realistic

Still, for obvious reasons, stages two and three of Biden’s Israel-Hamas deal were never realistic

Hamas is never going to release all Israeli hostages because they are,
1. the terrorist organization’s self-protection insurance policy
2. and its most effective weapon for tearing Israeli society apart from within

Israel as stipulated in Biden’s outline because Israel cannot lose this war, is not going to,
1. lock-stock-and-barrel withdraw all IDF troops from Gaza
2. and all together forgo the security perimeter it has created inside the Strip
3. nor “permanently end” the war against Hamas –
4. including interdiction of weapon shipments into Gaza
5. and real-time strikes on Hamas terrorist offenses

Terrorists Hamas invulnerable -- Day 503

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:
Trump on Israeli- Palestinian conflict: To this, one must now add Trump’s decision,

• to re-work the architecture of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict
• by denying the annihilationist orthodoxies of the Palestinian national movement and its radical Islamist-jihadist supporters around the world
• and rejecting the notion that “only” a unified Palestinian state in Gaza and Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem is the path to peace

Hamas, of course, has no interest in playing along with Trump’s attempt to,
1. reset regional diplomacy or
2. Israel’s desire to see Trump's gambit succeed

It is clear to anybody looking beyond the hostage issue at the broader strategic picture,

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• defamatory language of Israel’s enemies

In this regard, colder calculation and less emotional thinking in Israeli society are necessary

The increasingly shrill and even violent demand by protesters that the Netanyahu government cut “any” deal for “all” the hostages to be released “now” is perhaps understandable from a personal perspective (especially when it comes from hostage families) but it is questionable from national and strategic ones

I certainly do not accept the most recent slogan of protesters that brands the government,
The streets of Tel Aviv and the front pages of almost all newspapers are plastered with this new slogan,
This echoes the worst defamatory language of Israel’s enemies everywhere: the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• reckless deals with Hamas

According to this unbalanced internal discourse, amplified by around-the-clock television reporting that is uniformly vicious towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing/haredi coalition, the Israeli government is now guilty of war crimes not only against the Palestinians but against its own people

According to this unbalanced internal discourse, the 76 remaining hostages held alive and dead by Hamas in Gaza are not the only ones

All 9 million Israeli Jews have been taken hostage by Netanyahu:
1. hostage to his personal political fortunes,
2. hostage to his Trump-fed “delusions” of total victory

In my view, this is going many steps too far

Not every deprecatory assault is acceptable in the political campaign to drive Netanyahu out of office
Not every slanderous slogan is kosher even in the struggle for hostage freedom

And if we are talking in terms of 9 million hostages, I say that 9 million Israelis must not be taken prisoner, in further reckless deals with Hamas that will,
1. neither work for the hostages
2. nor bring security to the entire country

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• released terrorists back to terrorism

This is the place to recall the dangers of the “stage one” deal already being implemented and the even more wild dangers of potential stage two and three deals: the release of thousands more of Palestinian terrorists

The released terrorists assuredly will strike again, with God-only-knows how many Israeli casualties in the future

Their release certainly will,
1. incentivize future kidnappings,
2. pour gasoline onto the terrorist fires already raging in Judea and Samaria
3. and catapult Hamas toward its intended takeover of Judea and Samaria

I know this to be a fact because this has been the case with every previous terrorist release Israel repeatedly has erred by letting terrorists loose to murder more Israelis

And each time, in advance of every deal, the Israeli “security establishment” arrogantly and falsely has assured Israeli politicians and the public that it,
But this has never proven to be true
In short, dealing Palestinian terrorists for Israeli hostages might be the most necessary thing in the world to do but it also is a difficult thing to do
The cost will pay out over a prolonged period and it will be steep This is important to keep in mind

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• high prices; for hostages

Therefore a bit of self-discipline is incumbent on everybody in Israel when demanding that the Netanyahu government cut(Bang the drums, block the roads, strike the ports and airports, and scream “now, now, now” at the top of your lungs in the Knesset, too)

Again, many Israelis will say that hostage release deals are sad but necessary;
1. it is the government’s moral obligation to free as many hostages as possible as soon as possible, despite high prices;
2. that the suffering of our hostages and their families is intolerable;

Many will say that giving freed hostages one big national hug is the greatest triumph of all, something so necessary for Israel’s collective spirit and its resilience over the long term, even if
1. Hamas retains power
2. and survives to fight another day

This is a legitimate perspective, as far as it goes

The hidden costs of Israel’s negotiations with Hamas
The Jerusalem Post by David M. Weinberg 14 February 2025

Extracts:

• ceasefire deals - some restraint and rethinking is necessary

As such, I am glad that as Trump took office, Trump pushed through implementation of Biden’s “stage one” – so that I and all Israelis can rejoice a bit in the hostage lives that have been saved

I look forward to shedding additional buckets of tears of relief as more Israeli hostages are released soon as healthy as possible

But nobody has the right to declare skeptics of the current deal and those of us concerned about imprudent next stage deals, to be “war criminals”
Nobody has the right to take me and nine million other Israelis hostage in an untamed campaign of complete character assassination

It may be politically incorrect these days to question the tactics – never mind the goals and total discourse dominance – of the movement for hostage release “now, now, now”

I have been told that it is “brave” and even “unwise” to pen an op-ed column like this
But I think some restraint and rethinking is necessary

*The writer David M. Weinberg is managing senior fellow at the Jerusalem-based Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy The views expressed here are his own. Weinberg's diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 28 years are at davidmweinberg.com

From: Al Jazeera February 21, 2025
Hamas: No interest in ‘keeping any bodies’ of Israeli captives

Hamas says it is aware of the claims over the body of a captive released yesterday and looking into them “with complete seriousness”.

“We also point out the possibility of an error or overlap regarding the bodies, which may have resulted from the occupation targeting and bombing the place where the family was with other Palestinians,” the group said in a statement published on Telegram.

Hamas said it would inform the mediators of the results of the investigation, also calling for the return of the body that Israel claims belonged to a Palestinian woman. The group added it “will announce the results transparently”.

Hamas stressed it has no interest in “keeping any bodies” of the captives.

From: The Guardian February 21, 2025
Middle East crisis: Israel claims Hamas killed Bibas children with their ‘bare hands’

Statement from IDF spokesman contradicts Hamas claim the family was killed in an airstrike

Israelis and Palestinians are bracing for another tense exchange of hostages, prisoners and detainees on Saturday after uproar in Israel over allegations that two child hostages were “brutally murdered” by Hamas, and the group’s failure to deliver the body of their mother, instead returning the corpse of an unidentified woman.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Friday afternoon that autopsy results and military intelligence concluded that members of Hamas, when they were seized in October 2023 “used their bare hands” to kill:
1. Ariel Bibas 4 years
2. and his 10-month-old brother, Kfir

“Their father, [the recently released hostage] Yarden Bibas, looked me in the eyes and asked that the whole world know and be shocked by the way they murdered his children,” the military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, in a video address.

In Israel and around the world, the fate of the Bibas family has come to embody the trauma of the Hamas attack that ignited the war in Gaza.

Hamas said early in the conflict that the boys and their mother, Shiri 32 were killed in an Israeli bombing in November 2023
There was no immediate comment from the militant group on the IDF’s allegation.

From: Al Jazeera February 21, 2025
China will work to ‘correct historical injustice’, restore peace: Top diplomat

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the pledge during talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud at the G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Wang told the Saudi foreign minister, according to a statement: “With the Palestinian issue at the core of the Middle East issue, China will:
1. continue to stand firmly with Arab brothers
2. and make efforts to correct historical injustice thoroughly,
3. and restore lasting peace in the region at an early date”

And Ukraine's injustice by Russia...
Wang also lauded Saudi Arabia’s “active mediation on hot issues and is pleased to see Saudi Arabia play a constructive role in regional peace and stability”
the statement said, in an apparent reference to Riyadh hosting talks between the US and Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

From: Al Jazeera February 21, 2025
Hamas calls on Arab League to support keeping group in post-war Gaza’s consensus government

The armed wing of Hamas, Qassam Brigades, has released a statement expressing surprise at reports that the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, has suggested that Hamas’s relinquishing power in Gaza would represent the interest of the Palestinian people.

“We have shown the utmost flexibility in formulating political and administrative approaches to managing the Gaza Strip during the various dialogues, especially with our brothers in Egypt, including agreeing to form a national consensus government,”

True supreme interest of the Palestinian people at the heart of October 7, 2023 massacre...

“We also call on the Arab League to support this position and not to allow the passage of any projects that would threaten the Arab national security system,”

From: All Israel news February 21, 2025

US State Sec Rubio calls Hamas 'evil, terrible people', says 'no country can coexist alongside them’
Rubio – ‘If a group like Hamas existed on our border, US would eliminate them’

In an interview on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would wipe out a group like Hamas if it were on its own border.

Sitting down with independent journalist Catherine Herridge, Rubio spoke about the first 30 days of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, his role in the administration, and current issues facing the U.S. government around the world, including the Israel-Hamas war.

The interview was filmed just after the Hamas handover of the hostages’ remains, and before Israel discovered that the fourth body released was not the body of Shiri Bibas, but an unidentified person.

When asked to respond to the release, Rubio stated,
“It's not just that they did it and that they [the Bibas family] died in their captivity,” Rubio continued. “Who does that? I mean, who kidnaps families?”

Rubio also called attention to the Hamas-staged spectacle during the release.
“And then the way even that they were released, you know, with people cheering in the streets, it just tells you who we're dealing with, with Hamas,”

“This is not a government. This is not a simply an ideological movement. These are evil, terrible people.
And the idea that they would ever be allowed to continue to have arms, to be militarized, and to control territory anywhere in the world is unfathomable.”

After Herridge asked Rubio about Hamas’ strength, given the apparent number of terrorists involved in the release ceremonies, Rubio stated that the group had been weakened despite the apparent show of force.

Rubio stated, affirming the Trump administration’s stance that Hamas cannot remain in Gaza:
“They clearly have enough people to still be a threat at some level, but they can't be allowed to reconstitute,”

Hamas cannot be allowed to once again be a group that can do three things: They just can't be, to:
1. terrorize the people of Gaza,
2. attack Israel,
3. and actually be a government or anything like a government anywhere in the world.

He claimed,“As long as Hamas is in Gaza, there will never be peace in Gaza because:
1. they are going to go back to attacking Israel,
2. and Israel is going to have to respond.”

The secretary of state also argued that even the U.S. government would not tolerate a group like Hamas on its border.

Rubio stated firmly, We would eliminate them We would wipe them out.
1. “If a group like that was operating on the other side of our border with Canada or Mexico, constantly launching attacks,
2. if a group existed in Mexico that came across our border, kidnapped Americans, babies, and launched rockets”

"No country in the world can coexist alongside a group whose intended purpose is the destruction of your state and is willing to commit atrocities like this in the pursuance of it.”

Day 505
Israel was asleep at the wheel -- on its knees... forced to negotiate with evil, terrible Terrorists still calling the shots


"A lot of anger, a lot of questions about where the army was"
They were not even aware Hamas was inside Israel, running amok, for hours

From: Al Jazeera February 21, 2025
Prisoners’ Media Office: Israel expected to release 602 Palestinian prisoners tomorrow

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office (ASRA) says:
Israel is expected to release a total of 602 Palestinian prisoners tomorrow after Hamas frees 6 Israeli captives, including:

50 prisoners with life sentences
60 with lengthy sentences
47 Palestinians who were re-arrested after being released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange – also known as Wafa al-Ahrar – in 2011
445 prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7, 2023

Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be
The Jerusalem Post by Seth J. Frantzman 18 February 2025

Extracts:

• Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be Sadly.... true

Hamas feels it has support internationally and also in various places such as among human rights NGOs that do not condemn its treatment of the hostages

Hamas wants the ceasefire to continue into phase two, which is supposed to be discussed as the first phase comes to an end in the coming weeks
1. Hamas has gotten used to the ceasefire.
2. Its men are enjoying the sunlight in Gaza and parading in uniforms as they are used to, rather than hiding in hospitals
3. Hamas now feels secure again
4. It feels like it weathered the storm of war

Hamas’s policy is clear because it is saying in its own words that it wants to move to phase two
It wants the ceasefire to continue and so do its backers abroad in Doha, Tehran and Ankara

For instance, IRNA media in Iran said on February 18
Also, according to the report,
The report went on to note,

Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be
The Jerusalem Post by Seth J. Frantzman 18 February 2025

Extracts:

• 'Old' Israel would never have let 07 October 2023 happen

For Hamas, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy

It attacked on October 7 because it assumed it could get away with murdering more than 1,000 Jews, the most killed on any day since the Shoah

Exactly right! Hamas assumes Israel today is not the Israel of the 1950s when Israeli leaders would never have let,
1. their kibbutzim be overrun by terrorists
2. and their soldiers carted off to captivity

Hamas looks at Israel today and it consults with its backers in Doha, Ankara and Tehran and it assumes the changing world order means that Sadly.... true

Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be
The Jerusalem Post by Seth J. Frantzman 18 February 2025

Extracts:

• Previous Israeli generals may have acted differently

Previous generations of Israeli generals would have defeated Hamas quickly

1. Those were the generations that won the 1967 war in six days
2. They also faced terror threats but they dealt with them efficiently and decisively
3. Then again, they would never have let 07 October 2023 happen, in the first place

When terrorists took Jews hostage at Entebbe, more than 2,000 miles away, Israel didn’t wait for months, it ordered a raid, within a week

• Operation Thunderbolt

04 July 1976 Israeli forces conducted one of the most audacious, daring and successful military operations in the nation's history, to rescue Jewish civilian hostages held by terrorists, at the Entebbe Airport, in Uganda


Hamas today assumes Israel is incapable of removing it from Gaza because Hamas thinks that Israel’s leadership fears the Palestinian Authority more than Hamas

Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be
The Jerusalem Post by Seth J. Frantzman 18 February 2025

Extracts:

• high prices; for hostages

As such, Hamas assumes today that it is in Israel’s interests to keep the ceasefire

This is not only because Israel wants all the hostages home
It is also because Hamas knows Israel needs to say that it also won the war

If both Hamas and Israel can declare victory, then both have an interest in keeping the deal going

Hamas says it is working with Qatar and Egypt to make sure that the agreement is implemented

Hamas is expecting that heavy machinery will enter Gaza so that it can begin to move rubble and rebuild
This is in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s statements about how Gaza is a demolition site and people should leave

Hamas wants to do the work and keep the people in Gaza
Hamas has done this before after previous wars Terrorists invulnerable As such deterrence Israel's only security

Hamas is acting as if Israel is no longer what it used to be
The Jerusalem Post by Seth J. Frantzman 18 February 2025

Extracts:

• Hamas doesn’t fear any repercussions

Hamas is set to release more hostages this week

Some of them are deceased and Hamas knows that Israel will be less inclined to keep going with the ceasefire if Hamas hands over mostly bodies
Therefore Hamas will try to make sure that it is able to keep moving forward while not forcing Israel to continue fighting

The first phase of the ceasefire will end on March 1 according to how it was structured

Then a second new phase is supposed to begin
It’s possible there may be some changes and flexibility in this regard on both sides

Hamas today thinks it got away with October 7 by all accounts Hamas has....
It knows that Israel thrives on the slogan “never again” and it feels it was able to commit another massacre of Jews

It is increasingly self-assured, in its statements This is reflected in many ways,
1. Hamas behaves in Gaza
2. and the propaganda videos it makes of the hostages


Sadly.... true Hamas feels,
1. it has support internationally
2. also in various places such as among human rights NGOs that do not condemn its treatment of the hostages