Saying 'Yes' to the Agreement

If you delve into the details, you find weaknesses in the 15-point agreement. But it seems that the main point is the headlines that spread across every media channel in the world: Hamas is ready to disarm. It is not exactly disarming. It is storing. And it is immunity for Hamas and Islamic Jihad members from Israeli action. But all the other points and all the stages and all the minute details, which are not entirely clear, are just scenery for a headline that is almost unbelievable: Hamas is ready to disarm. After all, this is what we prayed for. And here it comes. It may not be a total victory, but if it is true — we are the closest to it since October 7.

Is it a fraudulent agreement, as critics on panels are already claiming? It could be. Is there a chance that something will actually come out of this agreement? The chances are slim. Hamas is the same Hamas and Islamic Jihad is the same Islamic Jihad. When these murderous terrorist organizations set out for the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — it is doubtful they knew that regardless of the military front, where they suffered heavy losses, they would achieve unprecedented international gains. They led Israel to the most severe political low in its history.

It is scary to read the polls that are published almost every week in the USA. As of now — a reversal. Most Americans support either reducing or stopping aid to Israel and sympathize more with the Palestinians than with us. This is a scary change: a terrorist organization set out to commit a massacre against an ally — and the result is that the ally is hitting a low. It is about the same as if Americans supported Al-Qaeda more, after the September 11 attacks, than the USA itself.

The thing is that this low did not happen out of nowhere. True, there is Qatari funding for hatred of Israel. True, universities in the USA have become a hotbed of delusional ideas for denying Israel's right to exist. True, progressives are taking over public opinion, and the antisemitic right in the style of Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens is flourishing. But it is also about Israeli policy. A few weeks after October 7, headlines began to appear: Hamas agrees to a ceasefire and Israel refuses. This, of course, worsened with more and more foolish statements by senior officials from Israel, not only Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who presented Israel as colonialist and fascist and the residents of Gaza as victims of the extreme right-wing government in Israel.

So even if these are deceptive statements regarding disarmament, they are another stage in the strategic war against Israel. Because in the past, before the takeover of the "full-right" in Israel, we could claim, and it was true, that Israel says yes and the Palestinian side says no. Even in the Israeli response to Donald Trump's vision of peace, there was a brief return to a policy that only benefited Israel because Benjamin Netanyahu said yes, even some Arab countries responded positively, but the Palestinians, as is their habit, responded in the negative.

In the current strategic war, the important question, at least at the current stage, is not whether the agreement will be realized. The question is who can be blamed for its failure. As of now, the impression is that Hamas says yes. It is true that when you get into the details it is not exactly like that. There are conditions. But in the strategic chess game — Hamas is gaining points. The question is how Israel will react. Benjamin Netanyahu has been keeping silent for many long hours. That is already something. But it is not enough. Because Hamas is acting strategically and saying "yes". If Israel acts politically and says "no", that is exactly what will cause another low in its status in the world in general, in the Arab world, and especially in the USA. Hamas has already managed to drive a wedge between Israel and the Democrats and public opinion in the USA. An Israeli "no" to Hamas's "yes", which has already been adopted by Donald Trump — will also drive a wedge between Israel and the American president.

Israel has made countless strategic mistakes since October 7. Hamas is preparing another trap for it, hoping that Israel will make another mistake. One must say yes. If Hamas indeed disarms — we have gained. And if Hamas is exposed in its refusal — at least we have not lost.