Not only does this announcement reinforce Israel’s unity government policy after the 10/7 massacres, it’s also a clear statement of fact. Seventeen years of constant rocket fire from Hamas-controlled Gaza and oft-repeated rounds of cease-fires and Hamas violations make this a declaration of the obvious from Benjamin Netanyahu.

And for that matter, it’s also an acknowledgment of Hamas’ own claims that war will not end until either they or Israel are annihilated. Netanyahu alludes to this with his use of “never again”:

In a video statement, Netanyahu says the chief goals of the war are “eliminating” the Gaza-ruling terror group, bringing home all hostages taken in the October 7 massacres, and ensuring the enclave “never again returns to being a threat to Israel.”

Ahead of the expected release of a sixth group of hostages this evening, Netanyahu hails the return of abducted Israelis, which he says last week sounded “imaginary.”

“In recent days I’ve heard a question: Will Israel return to fighting after this stage of returning our hostages is over? My response is an unequivocal yes,” the premier says. “There is no way we won’t return to fighting until the end.”

Netanyahu gave these remarks in Hebrew, without English subtitles. The caption on this translates via Google to “continue with all power,” which gives a pretty good hint at what Netanyahu intends:

ממשיכים בכל הכוח >> pic.twitter.com/7ZyZAXK78H

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) November 29, 2023

In case anyone sees a way in which the 17-year war with Hamas ends without its destruction, let’s refer back to what Hamas itself says. Their revised 2017 charter insists on destroying “the Zionist project” in lands that Hamas claims for Palestine, ie, the entirety of Israel. That is explicit throughout the charter but especially in Points 18-20 especially:

18. The following are considered null and void: the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate Document, the UN Palestine Partition Resolution, and whatever resolutions and measures that derive from them or are similar to them. The establishment of “Israel” is entirely illegal and contravenes the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and goes against their will and the will of the Ummah; it is also in violation of human rights that are guaranteed by international conventions, foremost among them is the right to self-determination.

19. There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Whatever has befallen the land of Palestine in terms of occupation, settlement building, judaisation or changes to its features or falsification of facts is illegitimate. Rights never lapse.

20. Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus.

One could take all day dismantling these arguments. First off, if rights never lapse, then the entire areas of Judea and Samaria belong to the Jews, not the Arabs, including all of Jerusalem and most of the West Bank. Second, the lands described in Point 18 were not taken from Arabs, but from the Turks in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. And “Judaization” began long before Islam in this area, and a significant part of the Israeli population came not from Europe but from other parts of the former Ottoman Empire, where the Turks began expelling them long before the Balfour Declaration. These Mizrahi Jews comprise a significant part of the Israeli population and are at least as ‘indigenous’ as the Arabs that began identifying as Palestinian at the end of World War I at the earliest.

But to argue the finer points is to miss the overall ambition of Hamas. Ghazi Hamad, a senior member of Hamas leadership outside of Gaza, made that clear five weeks ago:

Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel Is Annihilated.

Stay Up to date with Salem News Channel & https://t.co/pz06TOfmIV pic.twitter.com/NhPTGEnlZM

— Salem News Channel (@WatchSalemNews) November 1, 2023

It doesn’t get plainer than that. As long as Hamas exists with the capabilities to wage war, it will keep attacking Israel and Jews until both are destroyed. Hamas has declared — and has been declaring — a continuous state of war against Israel. They use cease-fires to stock up on arms and recruits, and then routinely violate them to continue their war of annihilation. They have followed this pattern for 17 years, along with a near-constant missile/rocket bombardment of Israeli population centers even during cease-fire periods.

Why should anyone expect anything to change, especially after October 7? The Israelis have patiently complied with Western leaders on these fruitless cease-fires for almost two decades only to watch 1400 or more massacred by Hamas. For political, security, and economic reasons, co-existence is no longer sustainable, even if Hamas suddenly agreed to abide by it.

At least Hamas seems to take Netanyahu at his word. Now they want a four-day extension to the present operational pause, and are willing to trade all remaining hostages for it:

Hamas on Wednesday “informed the mediators that it is willing to extend the truce for four days,” a source close to the terror group told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Under that arrangement, Hamas “would be able to release Israeli prisoners that it, other resistance movements and other parties hold during this period, according to the terms of the existing truce,” the source added.

This is a continuation of the same “trickle” strategy that Jazz analyzed earlier today. They desperately need to keep the inertia in place to increase pressure on Netanyahu to settle for another useless cease-fire that allows Hamas to rebuild in Gaza. But Hamas may have underestimated the impact their massacres would have — and seriously overestimated how much Israel would defer such decisions to their allies.

Update: I put this in the Headlines marquee, but it’s worth adding to this post as well. Netanyahu’s partners in the unity government gave full-throated backing for his declaration later in the day:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Wednesday that the war to destroy terror group Hamas will resume as soon as an ongoing process to secure the release of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip comes to an end.

His vow to continue the fight was echoed by the other two members of the war cabinet, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister Benny Gantz, as well as by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, who all issued statements of readiness to immediately progress with the military campaign.

That’s not just a message to Hamas. It’s a message to the White House about the newly formed limits of their influence.