Gazans stand next to a burning tank inside the border fence with Israel in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. October 7, 2023. Photo by Yousef Mohammed/FLASH90

I’m old enough to know that no matter who was sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, one rock-solid firm policy existed that was not breached: We do not ever negotiate with terrorists.

My, how the world has changed.

For all the good things, wise things, right things that President Trump and those in his cabinet have been doing, and getting right, he and they show their utter lack of historical and Biblical understanding in having this foolish belief that entities such as Hamas can be negotiated with in good faith. That they would respond in kind as a Western, rational group or organization would.

It’s an utter failure to understand Islam, history, the Middle East, and most importantly, God’s inerrant word.

Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law are not the people fluent in the above to do the right thing for Israel, for America, for the people of the Middle East, and for the world.

Hamas, Islam is laughing.

President Trump has given Hamas almost weekly ultimatums and deadlines. Release the hostages and lay down your arms, or else! On a weekly basis. Going back to before he was even inaugurated last January

Donald Trump’s Gaza Ultimatum: Hostage Deadline and Middle East Consequences

Hamas, Islam, evil knows he hasn’t and won’t follow through.

Because he won’t. The Nobel Peace Prize has too much of an allure to him to do what should be done, should have been done in Gaza going back two years now.

You might not like this, you may not agree — but the facts are, President Trump has given Hamas almost daily ultimatums in the past month. The last one stated they had until 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 5th, or face total destruction.

Well, what happened?

Just more words. Like a silverback gorilla pounding his chest behind thick glass in a zoo.

President Trump picked the wrong people to negotiate with Islamist terrorists. And I believe history will bear out my stating this.

If refusing to understand Islam, terrorism, the Middle East, and most importantly the Scriptures, and believing the truth with regard to Islam, terrorism, the Middle East, the history, and what God has personally told anyone and everyone in His word, well, it will not go the way it will be sold to people, and it will not go according to plan.

The refusal to eliminate — yes, ELIMINATE the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic terrorism organizations when given the opportunity to do so has and will continue to reveal the weakness, the lack of understanding of Islam, history, the Middle East, and what is clearly written for even a child to understand within God’s word.

But one must believe. Then act accordingly.

And no American president ever has, or will.

The proof is in our past and present history.

Watch and see.

Read on…

Ken Pullen, Wednesday, October 8th, 2025

On allowing Hamas to be rescued from Gaza

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has a plan to rescue Hamas from the destruction it so deserves.

October 8, 2025

By Moshe Phillips

Reprinted from Israel365News

U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has a plan to rescue Hamas from the destruction it so deserves.

This reminds me of when Dennis Ross appeared on MSNBC on November 21, 2023. Then, Ross said that “the way to end the war in Gaza” would be for Israel to allow the Hamas leadership to leave the territory in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages. Ross said that he hoped the Biden administration would promote such a proposal. Now Witkoff is channeling Ross and his Biden-era playbook.

In 2023, Ross cited a precedent: Israel’s decision in 1982, under U.S. pressure, to allow Yasser Arafat and the rest of the PLO terrorist leadership to escape from Beirut.

At that time, Ross forgot to mention what happened after Arafat was allowed to leave Lebanon. The PLO and Arafat did not ride off into the sunset of some quiet and peaceful retirement. He sailed to Tunisia, set up PLO terrorist headquarters there, and embarked on twenty more years of deadly terrorism—shootings and stabbings, bus bombings and intifadas. Thousands of Israelis were murdered or maimed.

And now Witkoff wants Israel to repeat that tragic mistake—this time with the much more dangerous Hamas. Once again, an American envoy wants to see terrorist leaders rescued, which would leave them with the capacity to orchestrate more October 7-style massacres.

Dennis Ross has never been very good at learning the lessons—even the lessons from his own actions—but one would have hoped that Witkoff was made of better stuff.

This is, after all, the same Dennis Ross who publicly admitted—on the op-ed page of The Washington Post—that he pressured Israel to let Hamas import concrete. Ross insisted the concrete would be used to build houses. Israel was afraid it would be used to build terror tunnels. But under Ross’s pressure, the Israelis gave in, despite the danger.

Years later, when the damage was already done, Ross admitted that the Israelis were right to be worried.

Israeli families paid the price for Ross’s mistake. Hundreds of innocent Israelis—and other foreign nationals, including American citizens—were kidnapped and taken to those terrorist tunnels, which were built with the concrete Ross helped bring into Gaza.

Former American diplomats often lead a charmed life. Ross and the other ex-Middle East envoys—Daniel Kurtzer, Aaron Miller, Richard Haass, David Makovsky—have comfortable, paid positions in various think tanks and universities. Perched in those ivory towers, they dish out unsolicited advice on how Israel should conduct itself.

They are quoted regularly in The New York Times, and appear frequently on television shows where they are asked softball questions. They are treated as if the fact that they were involved in past Middle East diplomatic efforts somehow makes them experts on how to bring peace to that part of the world today.

Nobody seems to notice that all their diplomacy, spanning over three decades, were utter failures. Not only did they fail to achieve anything remotely resembling peace—they actually made things worse. Much worse.

They pressured Israel to make one-sided concessions that were never reciprocated. They intimidated Israel into setting free hundreds of terrorists in worthless “gestures.” They emboldened Palestinian Arab extremism by covering up the Palestinian Authority’s constant violations of the Oslo Accords. And they helped turn world public opinion against Israel by constantly blaming it as the main obstacle to peace.

And after all that, now they have the gall to show up on op-ed pages and talk shows, posing as neutral experts, trotting out new proposals that are supposed to magically succeed where every previous proposal of theirs has failed.

Ex-diplomats never have to deal with the consequences of their bad advice. After their diplomatic efforts flop, they return to comfortable jobs and the warmth of friendly television shows. They continue to enjoy the feeling of importance that comes from being quoted in the news, and they are deluged with prestigious speaking invitations. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, innocent Israeli women and children have to face the snipers, stabbers, kidnappers, and bombers whom those diplomats helped set free.

Isn’t it time to learn some lessons from history? Isn’t it time to learn from the mistakes of the past? Rescuing terrorist leaders always leads to more terrorism and atrocities.

That’s what happened with Arafat in 1978, when Jimmy Carter and his administration stopped Israel from completing Operation Litani against the PLO in southern Lebanon.

That’s what happened again with Arafat in 1982, when Ronald Reagan and his administration stopped the IDF from destroying the PLO when it was cornered in Beirut.

That’s what will happen if the Netanyahu government listens to the Trump team this time.

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Trump envoys join Gaza talks, say they won’t leave until deal signed – report | World Israel News

Moshe Phillips is the national chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI: www.AFSI.org), a leading pro-Israel advocacy and education organization.