US Pushing Israel for Cease-Fire Deal Pushes Hamas to Keep Fighting, Alienating Israel From World

Turning now to Israel's war against Hamas. To discuss the latest developments, we have Blaise Mischel, Vice President for Policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, and Rich Giardino, Sheriff of Fulton County, New York and host of The Rich Giardino Show. Blaise Mischel, Rich Giardino, thank you very much for joining us here today. Now, the U.S. has charged Hamas leaders with terrorism, citing the October 7th massacre. Why now and is it enough? I'll give you guys both a chance to respond to this, but let's start with Blaise. Yeah, well, I think this is a direct result of what we saw unfold this weekend when Israel brought home the bodies of six hostages that had been executed in cold blood by Hamas just hours before the IDF found them, seemingly precisely to ensure that they wouldn't return alive. And one of those hostages was an American citizen. In fact, he was the 43rd American citizen killed by Hamas since October 7th. And I think finally, the United States government is realizing that it needs to put some pressure on Hamas. It needs to turn the screws on Hamas to force them to stop this war and return the hostages. And these indictments are perhaps the first step in that. Although I should note that indicting three dead Hamas leaders really isn't going to do a whole lot to convince Hamas to stop taking hostages. And Rich, do you think this is enough? I agree. I think it's a symbolic thing. I think it's symbolic and I question it because it's an election year and an indictment of this nature means nothing to these people. They deal in death. They want destruction of Israel. They want destruction of the Jewish people, the Jewish state. And simply charging them or indicting them in the United States isn't going to make a difference. These people don't care. Frankly, that's how I feel. This is a religious war that's been going on for hundreds of years. So I agree with Blaise to an extent. I think it's symbolic and a starting point, but I think it has little meat to back it up, especially, you know, we're going to arrest you because we indicted you. And we're out here killing innocent Jewish people, children and hostages. And we indicted them. Great. Now, Blaise, the U.S. is moving forward on what's being called a take it or leave it ceasefire deal. Where do you see this going? I see it going in the same direction that each of the previous take it or leave it ceasefire deals have gone, which is absolutely nowhere. Hamas feels like it holds all the cards, has hostages, still 95 hostages. And it's increasing world pressure on Israel to try to stop this war. Just yesterday, we saw the United Kingdom say that it was going to suspend the sale of some arms to Israel. And as long as Hamas thinks that the world is turning against Israel, as long as it hears that the United States is putting pressure on Israel, not on Hamas, to stop this war, it thinks it's winning. And so why would it take a deal instead of keeping on fighting and seeing Israel get ever further alienated from the rest of the world? One of the sticking points of a potential ceasefire deal is the border along Gaza and Egypt. Blaise, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is standing his ground on keeping troops along that Philadelphia corridor. Can you explain the importance of this region to Israel, its security as a nation and the future of this region? Sure. So, you know, I think there's three goals in this war that the government of Israel has talked about, obviously to return the hostages, to destroy Hamas, but also to ensure that October 7th can never happen again, that a terrorist group in Gaza could ever attack Israel in the way that Hamas did on that tragic day. And one of the reasons that Hamas was able to stage that attack is because they get weapons, money, supplies, fighters, all coming into Gaza, largely through overland and particularly underground tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, through which they smuggle all these goods and weapons. Israel has found over 150 tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt, and those are the lifeblood of Hamas. And so the Philadelphia corridor is a small strip of land that runs along that southern border of Gaza under which the tunnels have been built. And ensuring that Hamas is cut off from Egypt, ensuring that weapons can't be smuggled into Gaza again, is really fundamental to the future security of Israel, to making sure that Gaza doesn't threaten Israel again. And so for the Israelis, making sure that they have control, making sure that they can destroy those tunnels, and make sure that no more tunnels are built, is really fundamental to achieving their war aims. Now, Rich, pro-Palestinian protests have resumed on Columbia University and other college campuses like Cornell and Michigan, although not to the extent we saw last spring. If these protests escalate, how could universities respond? First of all, I think that it's disgusting the way they've responded to date. They have to keep the individuals who are antagonists, who are sent in to be disruptors. There's a big difference between your freedom of speech, threatening Jewish individuals, students who are there, also destroying property. And there has to be an immediate consequence, and there is none. They've arrested a few people. We have to separate those who are peaceful protesters who have a right to protest, even if it's an unpopular view, and those who are violating the law by causing riots, by damaging property, and also by threatening students of Jewish ancestry. This is terrible. And I agree with Blaise about the border between the countries. Prime Minister Netanyahu is right. They have to have control of that to defend their country. The stated mission of Hamas is to kill and eliminate the Jewish country and Jewish state. That's their mission, and they've made no bones about it. And we in the United States, our government has dropped the ball. There's light between the president and the vice president. There's light between Congress and the official policy of the White House. These things have to be cleared up, and there has to be a stand with Israel pledge, because Israel didn't start the war on October 7th. Blaise Mischel, Rich Giardino, thank you very much for joining here today. Thank you for having us.