There is a saying, that only your true friends will tell you what’s good for you. A report on Saturday states a top Al-Qaeda advisor finally said what needs to be said to Hamas: Give it up.
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Reports from an American Jihadist monitoring organization called SITE say that Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Masri, made a declaration to Hamas online Friday. He is believed to be the advisor and father-in-law of Saif al-Adel, the man who is now believed to be the leader of Al-Qaeda.
Of course, he hailed Yahya Sinwar as a martyr and hero. But then he called on Hamas to release the hostages and think instead of the plight of Palestinian prisoners:
Hamas must now “immediately” return the hostages and their bodies, and “this file must be closed and not opened again, as we know its consequences,” according to the statement.
“No one cares about the Palestinian prisoners, neither in the media, in negotiations, nor in demonstrations,” it adds.
Read related: WILD: Incredible Footage Shows Hamas Leader Yahya Sinwar Up-Close and Personal Just Before His Death
It should be noted that although Al-Qaeda has affiliates in Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Mali, it is expected to have little sway over Hamas. That’s what happens when you get beat down in the way the Americans beat down Al-Qaeda— you lose your influence and power.
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If there is anyone who can give advice to Hamas, it’s Al-Qaeda. They too once were proud of their accomplishment of 9/11, but their leader died like America promised he would. They were ultimately crushed to the point of losing their power over the region, and they have never rebuilt to the same strength and prominence. If their story is prophetic, the timeline for Hamas is on an even faster track. America took Bin Laden out 10 years after his attack. Israel has taken out all the senior-tier leadership of Hamas in one year, and is double-tasking with Hezbollah at the same time.
The question does remain: With Sinwar, Haniyeh, Deif, Nasrallah, (and Nasrallah‘s replacement’s, replacement) eliminated… what else is needed for this war to end?
The answer is twofold. From a purely military perspective, Israel can keep pummeling their enemies, taking ground, and progressively maintaining control of the area. There may never be a “white flag” moment. It might be more gradual until they maintain all of the area and the dissidents are too weak to fight.
But for the hostages to be released? That’s more complicated. Hamas has made it clear that they don’t intend to give them up. They may hold them out over weeks, months, or as long as needed. Unfortunately, they also might decide to execute them rather than allow them to be rescued, as we saw with the six who were murdered.
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The smart thing for them to do is to surrender. Take the offer of amnesty in trade for the hostages. There are even businessmen now offering cash rewards for every hostage exchanged. But Hamas has shown that they don’t make smart choices. When they are losing everything, the one thing they hold onto is their martyrdom ideology.
The end of this war is in sight. Israel will win. The terrorists will die. The fate of the hostages is the detail that still remains. If any of the Hamas operatives still value their life, they will trade now the only thing that Israel wants— its people. They should listen to Al-Qaeda, who learned their lesson the hard way, too.