On Tuesday, a Hamas official responded to President-elect Donald Trump’s warning that there would be “all hell to pay” if Israeli hostages in Gaza weren’t released by his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Trump didn’t mention Hamas by name in his warning but appeared to threaten US strikes on the Palestinian group, saying, “Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America.”
Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, said Trump’s threat should be directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing his efforts to sabotage a hostage and ceasefire deal. Israeli officials and media reports have also blamed Netanyahu for the lack of a deal.
“Hamas understands that Trump’s message is, in fact, directed primarily at Netanyahu and his government,” Naim said, according to The Palestine Chronicle.
Naim said the Netanyahu government had been using negotiations as a cover to advance its own agenda. “Netanyahu’s government must put an end to this deceptive charade,” he said.
Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was recently fired by Netanyahu, said that the prime minister sabotaged the chances of a hostage deal by demanding Israel maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border.
“I can tell you what there was not, security considerations. The IDF chief and I said there was no security reason for remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor,” Gallant told hostage families on November 7. “Netanyahu said that it was a diplomatic consideration, I’m telling you there was no diplomatic consideration.”
There are believed to be 97 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, and Israeli media reported back in September that Netanyahu told a Knesset committee that only half of the hostages were believed to be alive.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported in October that the Israeli government was done with ceasefire talks and was instead focused on annexing portions of the Gaza Strip. There’s been some recent efforts by mediators to restart talks, but there’s no sign the effort is going anywhere, and there’s no end in sight to the daily slaughter in Gaza.
"Hamas understands that Trump’s message is, in fact, directed primarily at Netanyahu and his government" Just how stupid can Niam be to make this statement?
Not any where near as stupid as you are in not understanding what Niam was saying.
Lol, I tried to dissuade him from talking nonsense but @disqus_lbkuZ0DrY6:disqus is a glutton for punishment. Is there no way of saving him?
Are you saying that you believe Trump's message was directed at Netanyahu as claimed by Niam?
I'm saying Niam was employing sarcasm.
As for where Trump's message was directed, Sinclair Lewis had something to say about that:
"Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It"
Trump has 100 million reasons to not understand who is blocking the negotiations.
Yea, right. Diplomats always use sarcasm. But nice try. Niam had to know that Trump's message was directed at Hamas and friends, not Netanyahu. Or he is just stupid.
“Diplomats always use sarcasm.”
Wrong. Diplomats sometimes use sarcasm.
“Niam had to know that Trump’s message was directed at Hamas and friends, not Netanyahu.”
Of course. At least you understand that much. Naim’s whole point was about where the message should have been directed versus where it was directed.
You really are fucking stupid. And here I thought you were pretending to be without a clue.
Back to using the f word again. What a low class individual you are.
Oh, fuck that noise.
As compared to someone who has continually condoned the brutal savagery hoisted upon a defenseless population that consists of a majority of women and children? I couldn't stoop that low no matter how many F-bombs I drop.
Oh, fuck that noise.
Tom, you are better than that.
No, I'm not. That's my favorite word and I use it often and loudly.
Clearly, you are the stupid one . The top headline reads,
"Hamas Responds to Trump’s Threat, Says It Should Be Directed at Netanyahu". But you did not care to look carefully. Your racism is blinding you.
That is the top headline. Niam used the wording, "in fact", not me. Niam is either stupid to make that statement or he is lying. Which one?
Have you stopped beating your wife? Yes or No.
"Trump’s message is, in fact, directed primarily at Netanyahu and his government,"
As I said on X, this is an idiotic statement. If this idiot actually believes that, Hamas has a real problem with leadership.
Hamas does understand, like about the rest of the world that Trump is a complete and utter moron who insofar as he understands anything going on in the world it is at best at the level of a severely cognitively impaired toddler. Well, maybe with this difference that the toddler could still learn some simple things and become a responsible and productive adult yet.
But in any case to reason with a toddler at a grown up level is about the definition of a senseless activity. I would think Basem Naim is aware of this and wouldn't engage in this fruitless exercise as much as philosophizing about the ontology of gravity within prospected quantum gravity theories with a small cat.
So he directs his comments to the public with a semi-clever logical deduction. Since Trump blurted out he likes to adorn his coronation with something he didn't do, like the release of hostages then he has indeed to address Netanyahu, since this buddy of his, is precisely the one standing in the way of that.
The message is ofcourse understood, no uncertainty there, to be completely wasted on Trump, much like philosophy on a cat, so there you go. The Isreali are going to continue with their Holocaust and Trump is going to help them accelarate it in any way he can. Because he is completely shit at being human. My words, everybodies reality.
Hamas knows how to speak truth to power….
Trump’s inhoguration!
“These boots were made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do! One of these days, they’re gonna Walk All Over YOU!”
Hamas has already paid Hell numerous times Mr. president…!
In other words, "No more Mr Nice Guy in Gaza! We're finally going get tough with you Palestinians!"
Let's hope that doesn't mean building Gas chambers and crematoria in Khan Younis. Although that would probably be a quicker and more humane genocide than what we've been witnessing.
Actually, it is the PALESTINIANS that have been held hostage by Israel for over 70 years! If Trump is a REAL "fixer", he will consider this FACT first and foremost! How can a REAL leader be considered as such by NOT acknowledging the death and destruction Israel has inflicted on defenseless innocent people? Trump, who I've voted for THREE times now, can go down (popularity-wise) just as fast as he rose by taking sides with a ruthless war criminal! The yoke of Israeli influence in a government that I pay TAXES to must be held accountable and REMOVED!
Hamas is a paper tiger
I hope you get better soon.
How is hummas anything but?
Trump here shows his ignorance and arrogance. He's a supremacist bully in love with himself posing as Mr. Magnificent. Naim is being ironic.
A few complicating notes on the DT statement:
1/ Amid pre-election Zionist pitch, Trump angled for pro-Gaza vote:
a/ "For Many Arab Americans in Dearborn, Trump Made the Case for Their Votes: After supporting…Biden in 2020, the majority-Arab…city…delivered an unlikely win for…Trump, who promised to bring peace to ME. (NYT, 11/6/24)
b/ "T tells Palestinian pres he wants to end Gaza war" Axios, 11/8/24
c/ "Gazans Heard Trump’s Promises." (Nation 11/13/24)
2/ Also, pre-election, Trump told Netanyahu he wanted war ended by time of entering office – without putting target sign on Hamas:
"Trump told Netanyahu he wants Gaza war over by time he enters office — sources: Republican nominee has repeatedly called for Israel to end war quickly, but ex-Trump aide and Israeli official are first to reveal that the request has a timeline attached" (Times Israel 10/24)
3/ As Antiwar article mentions, there are signs – unreliable of course – of negotiations starting once again. (see e.g., "Israel-Hamas ceasefire now ‘more likely,’ US security official," (VA, 12/1/24)
4/ Upshot – as Krystal Ball speculates, DT's game may be positioning himself to take credit for any pre-office ceasefire deal – the way Reagan did w/ the Iran hostage crisis before entering office. 'Credit'which is already a right-wing spin:
a/ "social media posts misleadingly claim…Trump’s victory…led Hamas to call for an end to the war in Gaza" (FactCheck 11/26)
b/ "Trump wants a Gaza ceasefire deal ‘now,’ Graham" (MSN 11/30)
c/ "Tr To Hamas: 'HELL TO PAY' If No Hostage Release" (BP 12/3)
One more note – in calling for hostage release, T is actually taking the 'liberal' genocidaire Israeli and American position.
ie – hard right Zionists – like Netanyahu – want talk of hostages off the table – do not care about them, and their main goal, instead, is to kill and displace Gazans to take over Gaza permanently, once and for all.
Anecdotal experience of this:
In my largely Jewish neighborhood of Queens, NYC, 'liberal' enablers of Israel's genocide – who nonetheless care about hostages – constantly slap stickers on utility poles etc with 'release the hostages' and pics of individual hostages…
…stickers quickly defaced w/black spray paint or torn down – as I have watched – by the far-right genocidaires in my neighborhood, who do not want Americans or Israelis to think of the hostages as a consideration or issue…
…because these Zionists oppose the substantial 'peace for hostages' demographic of Israelis demanding Netanyahu prioritize hostage release over ethnically cleansing and genociding for permanent seizure
There is no limit to the abject stupidity of the vast majority of America's political class. Nor do they score any higher when it comes to basic human decency.