EDITORIAL: Hamas has little interest in diplomatic solutions

Benjamin Netanyahu might have been too kind this week when he called Hamas’ response to a cease-fire proposal brokered by Qatar “delusional.”

“There is not a commitment — there has to be a negotiation, it’s a process, and at the moment, from what I see from Hamas, it’s not happening,” the Israeli prime minister said Wednesday.

Yet that message has been lost on the Biden administration.

The Hamas terrorists seek a steep ransom for the innocent civilians that they took hostage during their ruthless Oct. 7 massacre. (How many even remain alive?) According to news reports, the group demands that Israel lay down its arms, pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, reinstate the Hamas governance, lift its blockade and agree to turn over scores of violent Palestinian prisoners who have been convicted of crimes in the Jewish state.

Will Iran’s terror proxies then renounce their savage tactics and submit that Israel has a right to exist in peace? Of course not. They will rearm and prepare for the next indiscriminate attack months or years down the road. Hamas has little interest in any true diplomatic resolution to the havoc it created. It certainly could not care less about shielding its own civilians. Indeed, its leaders publicly state that they seek a perpetual war against Israel and, ultimately, its total elimination.

Yet U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken donned his rose-color Ray-Bans and said, “There’s a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.” President Joe Biden allowed that the Hamas response was “a little over the top.”

Clearly, the Hamas strategy is to ride out the war in hopes that the United States and other world actors will lean on Israel to end its military response. At that point, the terrorists will be free to regroup and continue their deadly and barbaric assaults.

If Hamas leaders seek to stop the death and destruction, they have the means to do so. Instead, they repeatedly reject peace and choose to escalate the cycle of mayhem. Rather than sending mixed signals about this nation’s support for one of its staunchest allies, Mr. Blinken should make it abundantly clear to the terror group that it is now paying the consequences for having repeatedly chosen the wrong path.

Let’s remember that the current conflict began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, leaving 1,200 people dead and thousands injured. Israel did not initiate this war. For Hamas to now suggest that Israel should agree to a cease-fire that re-empowers those who seek its destruction is, indeed, delusional.