Well, I guess I shouldn’t have worried. Across the board, Israelis overwhelmingly reject this ridiculous proposal from Hamas for release of our hostages. Minister of Defense Gallant told Secretary of State Blinken he thinks Hamas deliberately worded the proposal in such a way as to invite Israeli rejection. Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed it completely as “delusional,” saying that “agreeing to it would lead to another massacre of Israelis.” He told Blinken that our troops were in touching distance of complete victory. He has directed the fighting to continue in the last bastions of Hamas resistance, also ordering that all cooperation with UNWRA be stopped. He said that in the next few days, proposals on how to stop aid reaching Hamas would be studied.

Netanyahu reminded Blinken that the original agreement to send in aid trucks were based on aid not going to Hamas. Now that it has been proven that all the aid has been stolen by Hamas, he reminded Blinken of the assurances he had been given that in that case it would be stopped. Israelis, he told Blinken, are demanding that the aid trucks be stopped until all hostages are released.

Meanwhile, what are the Gazans thinking? Let’s look at the online posts, translated by Abu Ali Express:

• “Yes, it’s over! Hamas has demanded they set up new camps! Congratulations!” writes one. “Even if the entire nation perishes it’s not a problem, the important thing is that Yayah Sinwar survives,” writes another, perhaps in irony, hard to tell with these people.
• “Even if Hamas gets everything it’s asking for, it hasn’t accomplished anything,” writes another, who thinks even these delusional demands aren’t enough.
• “It won’t repair 20 percent of the damages of the war. There will be no political or territorial gains [or, as he puts it, ‘freeing new parts of the homeland’].”
• “My advice to Hamas: don’t behave so high and mighty, I swear by Allah, they will finish you and us off if you continue this way.”
• “I don’t care. Just let it be over already, I’m weary.”

Blinken said that although what happened to Israelis on October 7 was dehumanizing. that Israel shouldn’t dehumanize others in response. Or something like that.

No chance of that with the Palestinians. They’ve already done it to themselves, as shown by this more scientific approach to public opinion in Gaza and the West Bank offered by Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and Palestinian-based Arab World for Research and Development (AWRAD). Following the onset of the Gaza war, these organizations conducted a poll in November 2023 among 668 respondents from the south of the Gaza Strip, Deir al Balah, Khan Yunis, Rafah and the West Bank.

The survey is, of course, prejudiced by the kinds of questions asked. For example, they were asked no brainers like: Do you want a ceasefire? (100 percent yes. But you don’t need a survey for that!) But no one asked them if they agreed with the atrocities committed in their name. However, the answer to that can still be read between the lines: 98% said October 7 made them proud (i.e., they were prouder now of their identity of being Palestinian than before the war.)

Other answers paint a clear picture of Gazans and their Palestinian counterparts in the West Bank, with no discernable differences between them, as a deluded people steeped in hatred with no desire for a more peaceful future, who have learned nothing from their suffering and are only concerned with relieving the mess they’ve gotten themselves into.

• 77% want to destroy Israel.
• 98% reported they will never forget and never forgive.
• 89% said Israel had October 7 coming to it because of “ contemporary and historical oppression.”
• 68% said their desire for a two-state solution has declined.
• 100% said there was no safe place for them in Gaza, yet …
• 75% still expected a victory in which Gaza repels Israeli forces, and …
• 79% expected it to lead to the release of all Palestinian prisoners.
• 87% said their conviction of reaching a permanent peace deal with Israel has declined, while 9% said it had increased.
• 88% in the West Bank approve of Hamas, and Islamic Jihad had an even higher rating of 93%. Interestingly, only 14% of Gazans say they want Hamas to take over after the war. I guess that’s one lesson they have learned.
• Asked to assess the role of different factions in the war, the most positively appraised of all were terror groups, topped by the worst murderers, the Al Qassam Brigades, Islamic Jihad, Al Aqsa Brigades, and Hamas.

I couldn’t read the Arabic parts of the poll, but Brigitte Gabriel has posted the following based on the same website: “Respondents were largely negative in their assessments of Egypt, Jordan, Western media, the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Particularly of note to our friends in the White House advocating for the ‘poor Palestinians,’ 98% hate America. 92% hate the E.U. and 88% hate the U.N. (!)

Amazingly, considering its waffling advocacy for Israel, 100% hate Great Britain.”

Brigitte describes Gazans and West Bank Palestinians as “a death cult who hate everyone and want everyone dead.”

Stop making excuses for the “poor Palestinians.” Their lives, despite the billions poured into their coffers, are the miserable outcome of their prejudice, ignorance and disgustingly evil choices. In the same way we should not mourn Nazi Berliners decimated by Allied bombing, we should not mourn the consequences supporters of Hamas have brought down upon their own heads.

Sorry Blinken. No can do.

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