MEF Chief Editor Jim Hanson discusses with FOX News what led to the signing of the ceasefire and what the likely effects will be for Israel, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran.
Transcript:
FOX:Jim Hanson is Chief Editor of Middle East Forum.He served in the US Army Special Forces. Who does the ceasefire work for?
Hanson:It works best for Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas may be the odd man out here
because Israel is going to go back hard at them to try and finish that war.
I mean, ceasefires are good and this was a result of the Biden administration putting a soft embargo on some of the munitions and other supplies that Israel needed so they couldn’t fight a two-front war.
I think it’s a a sign of how desperate they are to have some sort of accomplishment in an otherwise dismal set of failures that’s been their foreign policy.
FOX: But I understand too, Hamas has never been, been, they immediately,
the day of the October 7th attack, immediately Israel starts thinking we’re gonna go into Gaza. October 8th, Hezbollah shelling starts. So the people eventually have to evacuate from the north of their country.
If those can go back and they can get the IDF a break, what do you think this does for the hostages, the pursuit, and what do you think it means for Iran, who’s had their nuclear program damaged and their missile defense destroyed?
Hanson: I think the biggest win for Israel is if their people can return to their homes in Northern Israel. If Hezbollah withdraws north of the Litani River, which there was a UN resolution 1701 requiring that, and the Lebanese government and army actually enforce that, which the US can make them do, we pay them a lot of money. So if we use that money as leverage and force them to stay up there, then Israel gets those those about plus people returning home, that’s great.
Then they can go ahead and as I mentioned, finish the war against Hamas
and then start figuring out what the end game is with Iran. Ideally, the people of Iran decide they need a better government and go ahead and remove the mullahs themselves.
Then everyone can go ahead and breathe a little easier.
FOX: Jim, it’s not a good time to be the Grand Ayatollah. Trump’s coming to town.
Maximum pressure is about to come back. Their air defense has been destroyed, their radar has been destroyed, their nuclear program’s been damaged, and they’re out of their two big bodyguards, Hamas and Hezbollah, all flat on their backs. Not a good time for Iran, that Iranian government.
Hanson: You’re giving me all that joyous vibe there, Brian.
I like the way that sounds.
And the grand Ayatollah and the rest of the leadership of the Islamic Republic should be worried.
They failed. They put all of their, you know, chess pieces into play against Israel in a seven plus front war, and they have failed miserably. They’ve been, you know, Hezbollah got wiped out, essentially, their entire leadership taken off the board. Hamas is on its last legs.
The Houthis will will catch their trouble later.
So I think they’re the ones now who have to be wondering how much time they’ve got left. And, you know, Israel was was light on the places they hit. They hit one nuke site that wasn’t declared.
But I think they need to be worried about the rest of their toys in in the homeland there.
FOX: Yeah, sometimes you have to have war to get peace. Jim Hanson,
thanks so much.
