Egypt under al-Sissi has been a ferocious enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and is likely to act in Gaza to thwart it. That will ally it with UAE and Saudi Arabia in opposing Turkey and Qatar.
After al-Sissi took power in 2013, his forces massacred over 700 Muslim Brotherhood activists holed up in the Rabaa mosque in Cairo, all in a day's work.
After the Abraham Accords the world of international diplomacy should have learned not to underestimate President Donald Trump. He was able to push Turkey and Qatar to pressure Hamas and reach this lopsided deal in Israel's favor. He may well succeed in getting Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel in the near future.
One of your best. Perfect mix of hard-headed realism with hard-headed hope. In either case, this is a real turning point. For that alone, we should be grateful. Plus, by giving that speech, at that moment, Trump did a lot to signal the bigots on his right and left where his and America's heart lies. I also got a kick out of his heavily New York City mannerisms and ways of phrasing that I bet a lot of Knesset members know well due to their Brooklyn ties.
I am the furthest thing from an expert so this is meant with best intentions. What would have been the reaction to a Democrat negotiating this identical deal?
"Hamas is reportedly consolidating power in Gaza by murdering its rivals."
I didn't know Hamas had any rivals in Gaza. In any event, how do we know this to be true? I haven't read it elsewhere.
"Because it’s Hamas, not Israel, that is now directly killing Palestinians, the campus protesters and their friends in the press do not care. It suggests that what the campus protesters and their friends in the press really care about is not Palestinians but demonizing Israel and the Jews."
Why do the campus protesters want to demonize Israel and the Jews? What's in it for them?
As to Jew hate, yes, Bernard Lewis is correct. The Jew is the always available ultimate sacrificial scapegoat. The search for scapegoats accelerates when tensions in a society accelerate. Of late, we have seen the rise of an ideology (DEI, woke, whatever you want to call it) that in its essence defines the tensions as due to an oppressor versus the oppressed. Since Jews are in general a successful group, they stand out as figures easily demonized, as the wire pullers operating behind the scenes on behalf of the oppressor class. And since taking on the entire oppressor class (capitalists, all white people) is too difficult to endure, signaling out the Jews is more convenient. October 7 made this option all the more attractive to those who feel so aggrieved.
"Hamas executed at least 25 men within the Doghmush clan in Gaza City over the weekend, reportedly using ambulances to infiltrate the family's compound and round up its members. The family issued a statement Monday afternoon in which it condemned the terror group's attacks and called for an emergency gathering of Gazan clans to confront Hamas's internal security units."
One key test will be whether the leaders assembled under the words "Peace in the Middle East" insist that Hamas give up its "personal weapons" now being used to kill opponents in Gaza.
Another key test will be whether anti-Israel forces now attempt to capture new hostages, and if so, how the world will respond.
Another thing to watch is how many people will be killed by the 250 Palestinian Arabs serving life terms who were released today.
Egypt under al-Sissi has been a ferocious enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and is likely to act in Gaza to thwart it. That will ally it with UAE and Saudi Arabia in opposing Turkey and Qatar.
After al-Sissi took power in 2013, his forces massacred over 700 Muslim Brotherhood activists holed up in the Rabaa mosque in Cairo, all in a day's work.
After the Abraham Accords the world of international diplomacy should have learned not to underestimate President Donald Trump. He was able to push Turkey and Qatar to pressure Hamas and reach this lopsided deal in Israel's favor. He may well succeed in getting Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel in the near future.
Fortunately, the Arab world is not a democracy.
One of your best. Perfect mix of hard-headed realism with hard-headed hope. In either case, this is a real turning point. For that alone, we should be grateful. Plus, by giving that speech, at that moment, Trump did a lot to signal the bigots on his right and left where his and America's heart lies. I also got a kick out of his heavily New York City mannerisms and ways of phrasing that I bet a lot of Knesset members know well due to their Brooklyn ties.
I am the furthest thing from an expert so this is meant with best intentions. What would have been the reaction to a Democrat negotiating this identical deal?
"Hamas is reportedly consolidating power in Gaza by murdering its rivals."
I didn't know Hamas had any rivals in Gaza. In any event, how do we know this to be true? I haven't read it elsewhere.
"Because it’s Hamas, not Israel, that is now directly killing Palestinians, the campus protesters and their friends in the press do not care. It suggests that what the campus protesters and their friends in the press really care about is not Palestinians but demonizing Israel and the Jews."
Why do the campus protesters want to demonize Israel and the Jews? What's in it for them?
Here are a few sources: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-deploys-fighters-hostages-released-show-strength-2025-10-13/ ... https://www.ft.com/content/ab1ed3ec-a93b-4aa7-99b3-cdc1eaf0302f ... https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/12/middleeast/gaza-hamas-security-war-intl ... https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-reappears-on-gazas-streets-and-two-of-three-militias-that-fought-it-go-quiet/
In terms of the "why," Jew-hate is irrational. But Bernard Lewis had a pretty good handle on it... https://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2023/10/bernard-lewis-on-the-new-antisemitism
It's also worth noting that some of the anti-Israel protesters are paid (as I reported for the WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/some-anti-israel-protesters-are-paid-soros-rockefeller-funding-activism-hamas-fba26c20 and, according to the US Govt (during Biden administration) some are Iran-backed https://www.theeditors.com/p/iran-paid-anti-israel-protesters
As to Jew hate, yes, Bernard Lewis is correct. The Jew is the always available ultimate sacrificial scapegoat. The search for scapegoats accelerates when tensions in a society accelerate. Of late, we have seen the rise of an ideology (DEI, woke, whatever you want to call it) that in its essence defines the tensions as due to an oppressor versus the oppressed. Since Jews are in general a successful group, they stand out as figures easily demonized, as the wire pullers operating behind the scenes on behalf of the oppressor class. And since taking on the entire oppressor class (capitalists, all white people) is too difficult to endure, signaling out the Jews is more convenient. October 7 made this option all the more attractive to those who feel so aggrieved.
More details (including hyperlinks to statements from the targeted clan at https://freebeacon.com/israel/hamas-storms-through-gaza-executing-opposition-groups-in-attempt-to-cling-to-power/
"Hamas executed at least 25 men within the Doghmush clan in Gaza City over the weekend, reportedly using ambulances to infiltrate the family's compound and round up its members. The family issued a statement Monday afternoon in which it condemned the terror group's attacks and called for an emergency gathering of Gazan clans to confront Hamas's internal security units."
One key test will be whether the leaders assembled under the words "Peace in the Middle East" insist that Hamas give up its "personal weapons" now being used to kill opponents in Gaza.
Another key test will be whether anti-Israel forces now attempt to capture new hostages, and if so, how the world will respond.
Another thing to watch is how many people will be killed by the 250 Palestinian Arabs serving life terms who were released today.
One can imagine good answers on these 3 criteria. But the father of one of the hostages released today is skeptical, as described at https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ben-gvir-backs-father-of-hostage-calling-for-resumption-of-war/. The article doesn't hyperlink to the video but it is at https://x.com/forum_tikva/status/1977285646466027651
As a historical note, I suggested similar criteria on 12 November 1974 in a letter in the NYT (page 38 at https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/11/12/issue.html). The NYT said much the same in an editorial the next day (page 42 at https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1974/11/13/issue.html). Hopefully the result will be better this time.