Israel and Hamas are reportedly close to a ceasefire deal that will get the hostages released. But the final details continue to be difficult. Will the impending arrival of a new Trump Administration change the dynamic? Jim Hanson believes it will.
Transcript
FOX: When we hear all hell is going to break out over what’s happening in Israel and Gaza, is that is that a threat that could actually cause change or are we going to have to find out what that threat means?
Hanson: I think Hamas is going to find out that the Biden administration has been really slow rolling everything Israel has tried to do in their response to the horrific acts of October 7th by Hamas. And the ongoing, you know, keeping hostages as a negotiating tool. So while Gaza has been fairly well devastated, the Israelis have done considerably less than they’re capable of because they needed our assistance.
So I think when President Trump says let something like that, as you pointed out earlier in the show. Posturing matters. You know, when the the leaders of Hamas hear that that’s a possibility, they’re more likely to make terms that are actually acceptable to the Israeli people. Yeah,
FOX: When we talk about the the main, I guess, linchpin right now, that the the hanging point is this idea that they could get a list of hostages to be set free. I look at this to say it kind of looks like Hamas has the upper hand because. Israel, you know, Netanyahu, through their own people, they’re so desperate to get names to find out who may be alive, who who may be, you know, may have an opportunity to come back home.
It’s almost like you’re you’re so hanging on to hope as far as the Israeli people go, that Hamas has more of a bargaining chip there. But on the other side, that’s the only bargaining chip they have.
Hanson: They’ve got no capabilities left. What they have is that belief, and Israel has shown over the years that they will go to extraordinary lengths to secure the release of prisoners or hostages, or sadly, to get their bodies back if they’ve already been killed.
And they don’t know specifically and definitively who’s alive and who’s dead. So this war has been dragging on for a long time because of that, you know, desire by the Israelis to get their people back.
And I think Netanyahu is under tremendous pressure, you know, domestically to do whatever he can to get any remaining living hostages home. I think they’ll make some sort of deal. And at the point where they find out who’s alive and who’s dead, President Trump’s words may come into play and there’s hell to play who for whoever’s left in the Hamas leadership.
