Shalom all.

It’s been another turbulent week for Israel — a week that exposed, once again, the widening gap between political rhetoric and reality on the ground. We witnessed continued maneuvering over Gaza’s future, fresh talk in Washington of ceasefire “frameworks” that sound more like fantasies than feasible plans, and the harsh reminder that Israel’s enemies remain resolute in their aims.

Amid this turmoil, one reality remains painfully clear: A month after the ceasefire agreement, Hamas still hasn’t returned all of the bodies of hostages killed in the 7 October attacks. Five families continue to wait in anguish, unable to mourn properly, while international diplomacy struggles to enforce even the most basic human decency.

At the same time, we heard a startling claim from Steve Witkoff, reported by World Israel News, that Hamas had privately agreed to disarm during a meeting with Jared Kushner before the ceasefire. If true, it’s the kind of statement that would have made headlines in any other part of the world – but in the Middle East, words are easy, weapons are not.

The “Disarmament” That Never Happened

According to Witkoff’s account, Hamas representatives told him and Kushner that they were ready to lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty and a sweeping reconstruction plan for Gaza. In his telling, the U.S. was preparing a process – a kind of “decommissioning plan” — that would grant economic rehabilitation in return for genuine demilitarization.

It was a momentary spark of optimism. But the ink had barely dried on the news before Hamas made its real position clear: it has no intention of fully disarming.

Not only does Hamas continue to parade its fighters openly in Gaza, it maintains operational control of key neighborhoods, re-activates tunnel networks, and coordinates attacks under the cover of local “security units.” If this is what “disarmament” looks like, the word has lost all meaning.

Further undermining the credibility of the disarmament narrative is the recent report by the Algemeiner that Hamas and Hezbollah convened in Beirut and publicly rejected all regional peace initiatives and vows to continue fighting Israel, emphasising that weapons are central to their identity and survival. This declaration reveals the deep gulf between private assurances and public vows of resistance and war.

Together, these facts demonstrate that the word “disarmament” is a hollow term in Gaza, with no practical application.

This pattern – promise and pretense – is familiar to anyone who has watched Middle East events for any reasonable period. Western negotiators hear what they want to hear. Hamas says what it needs to say. And Israel, caught between diplomatic pressure and existential threat, is forced to navigate between illusions and survival.

A Pathetic Display of Gratitude

Adding to the irony was the visit of Donald Trump to Israel a month ago. The former U.S. president, hailed as a steadfast ally, was greeted with applause, photo-ops, and effusive words of thanks. He was praised as a friend of Israel, a man who “stood with us” – and, in many ways, he did.

But, beneath the smiles was something tragic. Trump’s earlier statements – that Hamas rule would end, that a ceasefire would mark the dawn of a new order in Gaza – now stand in stark contrast to the grim reality: Hamas remains entrenched, armed, and unrepentant.

The gratitude showered upon him feels misplaced. Not because Trump’s support for Israel was insignificant – it wasn’t – but because the optics of thankfulness without accountability cheapen the struggle for truth. The applause rings hollow when hostages’ remains are still being withheld, rockets can continue to fly, and the same terrorist leaders who vowed Israel’s destruction are still dictating terms and threatening to continue its actions against Israel.

Sometimes, the most painful truth is that good intentions and strong words are not enough. Israel doesn’t need another “deal” or “photo moment.” It needs its enemies disarmed – actually disarmed – and the world needs to stop mistaking symbolic gestures for progress.

The West Still Doesn’t Understand the Middle East

There is a deeper blindness at work here. The West still tries to view the Middle East through the lens of transactional diplomacy: “If you give us peace, we’ll give you aid.” It is the same formula that failed in Oslo, in Camp David, and in every round of “confidence-building” since the 1990s.

But this region doesn’t work that way. For Hamas, weapons are not bargaining chips – they are identity. Power in Gaza is not earned at the ballot box, but enforced at the barrel of a gun. The Western belief that economic incentives will tame militant ideology misunderstands the psychological fabric of a movement that glorifies martyrdom and despises compromise.

You cannot buy peace from an organization that sees negotiation as a tactic, not a goal. You cannot trade reconstruction for demilitarization when the act of surrendering weapons would destroy the very legitimacy Hamas claims as “the resistance.”

And you cannot impose Western diplomatic logic on a region where honor, survival, and “divine mandate” outweigh every rational cost-benefit equation.

The Multinational Mirage

Now, the same Western capitals that misread Hamas are floating a new “solution”, discussed last week: a multinational policing force to oversee Gaza “for the time being”.

On paper, it sounds reasonable – a neutral stabilizing presence to prevent further escalation. But anyone with memory knows how such forces perform in the Middle East. They arrive with noble language and limited rules of engagement. They report violations but rarely intervene. They “monitor” terrorism rather than stop it. If this force enters Gaza without full Israeli coordination and operational control, it will quickly become a hostage of Hamas itself – a shield for terrorists, not a guard for civilians.

Israel cannot subcontract its security. Not to the UN, not to NATO, and not to any coalition that lacks the will to fight the kind of war Hamas insists on waging.

Meanwhile in New York: The Political Earthquake

Thousands of miles away, Israel’s allies in the diaspora are facing their own wake-up call. The election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s new mayor – an outspoken anti-Israel activist aligned with the far-left Democratic Socialist movement – has stunned the Jewish community. See here and here.

Publications captured the sense of dread and disbelief. For decades, New York was a bastion of Jewish civic influence and support for Israel. Now, the city that once prided itself on standing with the Jewish people is led by a man who has openly praised BDS, called Israel an apartheid state, has been accused by critics of aligning with Hamas’s resistance narrative, and has said that the Palestinian cause was “central to [his] identity”.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has even launched a “Mamdani Monitor” – an unprecedented move to track anti-Jewish and anti-Israel actions coming from the mayor’s office.

The symbolism is profound: if the cultural capital of the Jewish diaspora can elect an avowed opponent of Zionism, what does that say about the shifting moral compass of the West? It should serve as a warning to all pro-Israel voices, Jewish and Christian alike, that silence and complacency carry consequences. Anti-Israel activism is not confined to Gaza or university campuses. It has entered the political mainstream of the Western world.

The Cost of Leaving Hamas Armed — and Hezbollah Reorganizing

Back in the region, the implications of leaving Hamas armed are immediate and dire. Every day that Hamas retains even partial control of Gaza’s arsenals, it strengthens its claim to survival. It can re-arm through tunnels from Sinai, receive Iranian funding, and rebuild its military infrastructure under the cover of “reconstruction”.

Worse, Hezbollah is already watching and learning. The longer Hamas is allowed to survive, the more it emboldens Hezbollah to re-organize and test Israel’s northern border. What happens in Gaza doesn’t stay in Gaza – it sets a precedent.

If Hamas survives politically, Hezbollah thrives strategically. Despite Iran’s humiliation in its 12-day war with Israel in June, both terrorist organizations remain Iranian satellites. Both depend on the same ideological oxygen: Israel must fall, the West must retreat, and Islamism must rise. Every ceasefire that leaves Hamas breathing is a warning shot for the next war.

What Israel — and Its Friends — Must Remember

Israel’s leadership must resist the temptation of optics over outcome. No disarmament without verification. No ceasefire without control. No trust in pledges whispered in hotel rooms while rockets can still fly. No consideration of a second stage of a 20-point peace plan when the first stage is incomplete and has been repeatedly violated.

And Israel’s allies – in America, in Europe, in the evangelical world – must remember that moral clarity is more precious than diplomatic comfort. There is no “both-sides” here. There is no moral equivalence between a democracy defending its citizens and a terror regime that hides behind its own.

The West must rediscover the courage to call evil by its name, and Israel must stay strong enough to stand alone, if necessary. This is increasingly significant in light of Israel’s present willingness to allow foreign troops to have boots on Israeli soil.

A Final Word: This week exposed a truth that polite diplomacy would rather hide: the promises of men mean little when the will to enforce them is absent.

Hamas has not disarmed. Hezbollah is re-arming. The West still misunderstands the region it seeks to “fix.” And in the echo chambers of global politics, applause and gratitude continue to substitute for courage.

But Israel’s security – Israel’s survival – has never depended on applause. It has depended on resolve. And that, thank God, is something Israel still has in abundance.

Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. (Psalm 146:3)
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my Savior, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (Psalm 18:2)

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.

Marvin