If Hamas showed anything in its negotiations, it’s that it always ups the ante.
By Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Magazine
Even as the Biden administration is still trying to undermine Israel by pushing its proposed deal which would save Hamas and leave it in charge in Gaza, the administration is also considering a private deal with Hamas.
Biden administration officials have discussed potentially negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans being held hostage in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current senior U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials.
Such negotiations would not include Israel and would be conducted through Qatari interlocutors, as current talks have been, said the officials, all of whom have been briefed on the discussions.
Qatar is the state sponsor of Hamas and other Islamic terror groups. The last time we negotiated through Qatar, the Taliban ended up in control of Afghanistan.
The only question is what would Biden offer Hamas?
Biden traded a top arms dealer to terrorists and enemies to the Russians in exchange for an America-hating basketball player. He traded hostages with Iran, another state sponsor of Hamas, in exchange for $6 billion and the release of Iranian agents who then remained in America.
It’s hard to think of a worse deal than to trade Iranian agents who then stay in America, but give Biden a shot.
What would Hamas want from Biden? The release of a CAIR leader among other things.
Senior Hamas leader Ali Baraka told Russia’s RT propaganda network, “There are also prisoners in the U.S. We want them. Of course. There are Hamas members sentenced for life in the U.S. We want them too. Of course. We demand that the U.S. free our sons from prisons. The U.S. conducts prisoner swaps. Only recently, it did one with Iran. Why wouldn’t it conduct a prisoner swap with us?”
Barakeh went into more specifics about which Hamas members he meant in another interview.
“There are Palestinians held in America. We will ask for their release. There are Palestinians who are detained by the United States on charges of supporting the resistance in Palestine. They were detained in America because they were accused of running charity organizations that support the people besieged in the Gaza.”
This almost certainly refers to the Holy Land Foundation case in which key figures in the largest Islamic charity in America were convicted of helping to send millions to Hamas.
Hamas would have a special interest in at least one of the terror convicts. Mufid Abdulqader, the half brother of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who is currently serving out his 20 years in prison sentence in a low security federal prison in Seagoville, Texas.
Biden has released much worse terrorists so that one will be on the table, but if Hamas showed anything in its negotiations, it’s that it always ups the ante.
And that could cover billions in development aid, which Biden already promised as part of the recent ‘deal’.
But what else? Weapons? Actions taken against Israel. Recognition of Hamas? Assume anything might be on the table, especially with Iranian regime agents and Islamic terror supporters deep inside this administration.