Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton this week came out in favor of Israel’s position that Hamas’s rule in Gaza must be terminated and that a ceasefire now would be a sign of surrender.
“A full ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power would be a mistake. For now, pursuing more limited humanitarian pauses that allow aid to get in, and civilians and hostages to get out, is a wiser course,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed published on Tuesday in The Atlantic, titled “Hamas must go.” It argued that a truce would give Hamas “a chance to rearm and perpetuate the cycle of violence.”
Clinton’s position, which is said to be in line with that of the Biden administration, is contrary to the stance of the “Squad,” the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, whose members – such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib – have called for an immediate halt to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Clinton, a former candidate for president, served as secretary of state under former president Barack Obama and his then vice president, Joe Biden, and was instrumental in negotiating a ceasefire following rocket attacks by Hamas on southern Israel in 2012.
Hillary Clinton is right about Hamas
“In 2012, freezing the conflict in Gaza was an outcome we and the Israelis were willing to accept. But Israel’s policy since 2009 of containing rather than destroying Hamas has failed,” she wrote.
Clinton said a ceasefire would only help Hamas. “October 7 made clear that this bloody cycle must end, and that Hamas cannot be allowed to once again retrench, rearm, and launch new attacks,” Clinton wrote. “Hamas would claim that it had won and it would remain a key part of Iran’s so-called axis of resistance. Ceasefires freeze conflicts rather than resolve them.”
Congressman Brad Sherman, co-chair of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus, articulated a similar position. “Ultimately, we have to do the job – to see the Middle East without Hamas,” Sherman told a reception on Tuesday hosted in Washington by the Israel Allies Foundation and The Jerusalem Post after the massive March for Israel rally.
Sherman said that Israel must complete its work in Gaza before a ceasefire allows the terrorist organization to regroup, citing a high-level Hamas official, who told the Arab press, “We need another October 7 and another one after that and another one after that until Israel is destroyed.”
While the White House has mostly backed Israel’s insistence that it will not stop its campaign in Gaza at this stage, both President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have pushed for “humanitarian pauses” for the benefit of Gazan civilians.
A new Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Wednesday found some 68% of Americans – including some three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans – agreed that “Israel should call a ceasefire and try to negotiate.”
According to high-level sources, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has – for now – rejected a deal for a five-day ceasefire with Hamas in return for the release of some of the estimated 239 hostages being held in Gaza. Netanyahu has said repeatedly that there will be no ceasefire without the release of the hostages.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu told soldiers at the IDF Home Front Command training base at Zikim that he had made Israel’s position clear in his most recent telephone call with Biden – yes to humanitarian pauses, no to a ceasefire. “We will not let up. We will eliminate Hamas, achieve total victory, and bring back our hostages, with your help and that of God,” he said.
Israel’s opposition to a ceasefire and insistence that it be able to finish the job and destroy Hamas was most eloquently expressed by Yechiel Leiter, Netanyahu’s former bureau chief, at the funeral on Sunday of his son, Moshe Leiter, who was killed in Gaza last weekend.
Reading out a letter he had written to President Biden, his landsman from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Leiter said: “Stand back, Mr. President. Don’t pressure us. Let us do what we know how to do, indeed what we must do, to defeat evil. This is a war of light against darkness, of truth against lies, of civility against murderous barbarism.”
We agree.