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On Friday night on The Record with Greta Van Susteren, the veteran host delivered a blunt read of Hamas’s latest reply to President Trump’s Gaza peace plan, saying plainly, “I don’t see this as an acceptance.” Her skepticism echoed what many of us who have watched these terror groups for years already suspected: ambiguous statements and hostage-tied maneuvering are not a deal, they are a delaying tactic.
President Trump put a clear, public deadline on the table and warned that refusal would bring consequences, forcing the issue out of backroom diplomacy and into real accountability. The White House set a tight timeline — a firm ultimatum meant to make terrorists choose between a pathway to relief for civilians or the unrestrained force Israel and its allies are prepared to use.
What followed from Hamas was predictably conditional: a so-called “positive response” that still insisted on major concessions and left key questions — like disarmament and governance — mysteriously vague. Major outlets reported the group’s posture as partial and contingent, which is exactly why Van Susteren and other sober observers are warning Americans not to mistake hedged language for surrender.
In a dramatic, but necessary, move after Hamas showed it might be willing to negotiate on only some points, the president ordered a pause to Israel’s strikes to allow for hostage recoveries and to test whether the group would follow words with action. That pragmatic pressure — halting bloodshed to save lives while keeping teeth exposed if negotiations collapse — is the kind of firm, muscular diplomacy conservatives have been arguing for all along.
Make no mistake: Hamas has perfected the art of using civilians and hostages as bargaining chips while courting international sympathy, and Washington’s job is to strip away those games. Newsmax guests and former diplomats on Van Susteren’s show rightly urged Hamas to stop playing theater and take the deal that frees hostages and secures a path forward for Gaza—if it truly cares about its people and not its own power.
Patriotic Americans should back a policy that demands real disarmament, real accountability, and real results, not press conferences and caveats. We need leaders who will stand with our ally Israel and get hostages home, and we should applaud any president who forces terrorists to choose between peace and destruction. America and our friends deserve nothing less than victory and the safety that comes with it.
