The gaps that will never be bridged between Hamas and Israel

Is anyone shocked to hear that Hamas will not agree to disarm? In my November 5, 2025, article called, “Why is Israel underestimating Hamas yet again?” I wrote, “the deal of disarmament, in exchange for withdrawal of our troops, is a win-win situation for Hamas, who can appear to be handing over their weapons, knowing that replacing them is as easy as pie, especially if they have a sizable cache under the ground, ready for the taking.”

Well, it didn’t even come to that. Hamas never turned over their weapons, and have no intention of doing so, despite their once agreeing to those terms. Now, Trump’s much-touted “Board of Peace,” is not having too much luck, trying to enforce the worthless pledge of Hamas.

In true form, much like their Iranian counterparts, they are very skillful in knowing how to delay and feign cooperation, as if they mean business – when they don’t at all. Consequently, while they’re not saying a definite “no,” they’re also not saying yes!

Working well for them, they successfully buy more time while never committing to anything. It’s how they live to see another day, are able to plan their next move and how they intend to ultimately destroy Israel.

So, while meeting after meeting takes place, between senior officials of the Board of Peace and Hamas, no agreement is ever forged. As slippery and dishonest terrorists are given the benefit of the doubt, each time they do their utmost to appear to be moving in the right direction, but, in the end, they quickly retreat to their default position of “it ain’t happening.”

It’s the usual cat and mouse game, where a never-ending contest persists, with no decisive win for either side. And no one is better at playing it than them. But while they manage to evade the accountability, those demanding it from them don’t seem to realize that they are losing more and more credibility.

After all, how many chances can you keep giving someone who is making a fool out of you, pretending to be compliant, when clearly no changes are forthcoming? It seems to be that this is what they’re counting on – a continuous cycle of second chances with no expiration date. 

In essence, there are two things you can count on – the duplicity of Hamas who is skilled at deceit and fraud as well as the stupidity of naïve leaders who are willing to give a brutal enemy endless opportunities to make good on their word.

This is where we need to ask – is this a deliberate game, intended to prolong a conflict which could have already been settled, had someone just had the needed resolve to pull the trigger on this nonsense?

Now, Israel is expected to “coordinate with the Board of Peace and the U.S. administration to plan the next steps following Hamas’s refusal.”

Last week, a meeting between Prime Minister Netanyahu and others, who serve on the Board, was described as “positive.” But how many times can we hear those words, without seeing any movement in the right direction? Are we supposed to ignore the reports meant to put a positive spin on negotiations that are going nowhere? Because without results, that’s exactly what it is – spin!

But it all comes down to this. Who actually thought that heartless, cruel, savage murderers were reliable enough to keep their word? While some might point to the devastation of Gaza, as the reason that Hamas would come to the table, we mustn’t forget that their nature is to lie and deceive, but not to ever surrender.

That was the loud and clear message of Palestinian political activist Samer Sinijlawi in his last Jerusalem Post article of April 24, 2026, titled, “This is not surrender,” where he wrote, ”What is unfolding is the first credible opening for a structured transition in Gaza – from armed factional control to institutional governance capable of enforcing disarmament. The key is not the number of rifles Hamas is willing to surrender. It is the scope of authority it is signaling readiness to transfer.’’

When you try to make sense of an otherwise cryptic sleight of hand, you can just make out the deception. “Institutional governance capable of enforcing disarmament” is code for “we’ll install our people who will be the ones to take away the weapons.”

What he doesn’t say is that the people comprising the “institutional governance” might very well be the same Hamas individuals, which is what I suspected in my article, “Replacing Hamas with Hamas,”

In Sinijlawi’s writing, nothing is clarified, especially not the identity of the institutional governance, which he introduces as the magic pill that will make all the difference in whether or not Hamas remains armed. 

For every agreed upon term between Israel and Hamas terrorists, each condition must be meticulously spelled out so that there remains no ambiguity or room for misunderstanding.  That means that identities of prospective leaders must be revealed, and nothing can be left obscured or up in the air.

That way, everyone is laboring under the same understanding. For now, the Board of Peace envisions “a first phase where Hamas would give up its heavy offensive weapons and its tunnels would be destroyed in a later phase. Hamas operatives, or members of any other organization, would not be permitted to possess even light weapons.”

But is that the vision held by Hamas? Clearly, we already know that it isn’t! And while it is Israel’s firm position that disarmament will happen one way or another, who believes that a full-out resumption of the war will not be necessary to make sure that happens?

The present standoff, shared by both Israel and the U.S., as it relates to Hamas and Iran, could go on indefinitely, and that’s the hope on the enemy’s side. For the clearheaded, there must be the obvious conclusion that nothing will change, unless force is applied.

Because these gaps are just too consequential and far-apart to ever be bridged. If that were possible, peace would have been achieved long ago. The fact that the goals of Hamas remain unyielding, as they continue their plans for annihilation, shows that time is just being wasted, waiting for the agreement that will never come.

This is the moment for “Peace through strength,” because that’s the only way to get there!