Maccabee Nation Podcast

As Israeli prisoners were freed these past weeks from Gaza in depraved release ceremonies, I felt my hopes for a future two-state solution dramatically diminish. As I witnessed Hamas commit each of the acts below, what shreds of hope I had remaining for a future peaceful Palestinian state neighboring Israel dissolved entirely:

⚠️Hamas paraded around bodies of the Bibas children they beat to death, while young Palestinian civilians danced and cheered.

⚠️Hamas intentionally returned the wrong bodies with mismatched keys to coffins filled to the brim with vile propaganda.

⚠️Hamas coerced hostages to kiss their captors with the assistance of the Red Cross.

⚠️Hamas has even subjected other hostages to witness the release of their fellow countrymen, while they themselves were forced to remain captive.

It’s easy to say what won’t work, but it’s much harder to propose a possible solution. Let’s go back to first principals I believe are true before we posit any solutions.

(1) The conflict was never about land, so trading land will not solve it.

Palestinians have already rejected numerous generous ‘land for peace’ deals in the past that gave them pretty much all of Gaza and the West Bank (with some land swaps to carve out specific settlements). With support for a two-state solution at all time lows in Israel, it’s unlikely any better deals will be offered in the future.

Also, attacks and massacres against Jews carried out by Islamist regimes have occurred for centuries, well before the creation of Israel. Here’s a giant list of them. To claim the conflict would evaporate if only Israel ceased to exist in the Middle East is simply a cynical misdirection that only historically illiterate people fall for.

(2) Most Palestinians will never accept living next to a Jewish State without overwhelming intervention from moderate Arab states (unlikely) or overwhelming force that leads to unconditional surrender or displacement.

Even after all the suffering both Israelis and Palestinians have endured this past year, according to most polls Palestinians still overwhelmingly support Hamas. Hamas is even more highly regarded in the “West Bank” where recently a failed bus bombing originated that could have killed hundreds.

It’s also well documented that many Palestinian civilians also participated in October 7th attacks and helped to imprison hostages. To try and completely segregate Palestinian culture from Hamas may sound politically correct, but is far from reality.

The truth is there is no credible way to deprogram a population who has been indoctrinated from very young ages to believe their singular goal is to murder Jews and destroy the world’s only Jewish state. Arab leaders from nations that have succeeded in this type of endeavor in their own countries are not exactly lining up to jeopardize their security to fight this battle on behalf of Israel.

Once you accept these two realities are true, then it is nearly impossible to still endorse a two-state solution as anything more then a fantasy.

So where do we go from here?

Trump’s press conference the other week finally brought some new ideas to the table when he proposed pressuring Arab states to take ownership over the Palestinian population within their own borders. Afterall, Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, and Lebanese governments have used the Palestinians as political pawns in their war against Israel and are responsible, both directly and indirectly, for a large amount of their suffering. It seems only logical that those same states should bear the brunt of remedying the painful conflict they helped cultivate.

Unfortunately, Trump’s plan to relocated Palestinians hand waved over a lot of complex details. That said, I am not willing to abandon exploring ANY solution that doesn’t violate the tenants of the principals above (which I now believe are intractable), just because the plan lacked specificity.

Most of the world will still hate Jews regardless of what course we take. We may as well choose the path that prioritizes our security, even if it means suffering some damaging headlines in the near term. To those who claim moving Palestinians in Gaza form Israel is impossible, I must ask why it was not impossible for the IDF to violently remove ALL Jews from Gaza in 2005?

Populations have migrated due to political and military disputes since the dawn of time. Conveniently, the world likes to forget that more than 850,000 Jews were forced out of Arab countries during the 20th century from their ancestral homes where they lived for over 2,500 years!

I ask you to remember Hillel Neuer speech where he reminded the UN how the Middle East was systematically cleansed of Jews in the recent past.

“Israel’s 1.5 million Arabs, whatever challenges they face, enjoy full rights to vote and to be elected in the Knesset, they work as doctors and lawyers, they serve on the Supreme Court.

Now I’d like to ask the members of that commission, that commissioned that report, the Arab states from which we just heard. Egypt, Iraq, and the others:

How many Jews live in your countries? How many Jews live in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco? Once upon a time, the Middle East was full of Jews.

Algeria had 140,000 Jews. Algeria, where are your Jews?

Egypt used to have 75,000 Jews. Where are your Jews?

Syria, you had tens of thousands of Jews. Where are your Jews?

Iraq, you had over 135,000 Jews. Where are your Jews?”

With Hamas refusing to release the remaining hostages, time is truly up.

One thing is certain, peace will not materialize from endorsing a moral solution that just looks good on paper, but is impossible. We must abandon our fear that we’ll become social pariah's for thinking differently in the eyes of people who never had any skin in the game to begin with.

All complex problems require us to think differently. Let’s stop caring about what sounds silly and work backwards from what’s possible instead.

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Sources:

36 Palestinian prisoners serving life terms for terror https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-releasing-369-palestinian-prisoners-including-36-serving-life-terms-for-terror/

Palestinian rejectionism of land for peace deals https://leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-arabs-not-israelis-have-always-rejected-middle-east-peace

Trump’s plan to relocated Gazans https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-trumps-proposal-for-gaza

Palestinian support for Hamas remains robust https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/poll-over-70-palestinians-still-maintain-hamas-correct-to-commit-oct-7-atrocities/

Three in four Palestinians believe Hamas attack on Israel was correct https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14/

Hamas murdered Bibas kids with bare hands https://www.yahoo.com/news/hamas-killed-bibas-children-bare-161821348.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall

Bibi Vampire poster https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/middleeast/hamas-israel-hostages-release-bibas-intl-hnk/index.html

Palestinians cheer and celebrate dead Biba’s children https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/depraved-gazans-were-cheering-bibas-kids-coffins-top-trump-official-charges/

Wrong keys, wrong bodies https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/netanyahu-vows-revenge-after-israel-says-hamas-sent-back-wrong-body-for-shiri-bibas/ar-AA1zvpFz

Coerced to kiss captors https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/ss3m6a

Forced to watch release of other hostages before returning to captivity https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-843279

Failed bus bombings https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-3-empty-busses-explode-in-central-israel-in-failed-terror-attack

European car ramming’s continue to increase https://theweek.com/crime/terror-on-wheels-the-history-of-vehicle-ramming-attacks

Death to Israel chants also precede Death to America as well https://www.foxnews.com/world/hezbollah-thousands-times-stronger-warns-us-israel-report

Where are your Jews? https://civicrm.unwatch.org/civicrm/mailing/view?reset=1&id=1253

Jews forced from Arab Lands https://democracychronicles.org/jewish-exodus-map/

Micah Avni video https://x.com/micahavni/status/1893298265895899173?s=51&t=-lHZOgMP6Y3wrYPKw4Va-A

US Aid funded Hamas Terrorism https://www.city-journal.org/article/usaid-spending-hamas-gaza-terror

Trump Endorses removing Palestinians https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2025/02/16/trump-gaza-proposal-netanyahu-praises-trumps-bold-vision-for-gaza-takeover-after-rubio-meeting/

IDF forcibly removes Jews from Gaza https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/on-this-day-in-2005-israel-completes-disengagement-from-the-gaza-strip-679288

Palestinian civilians participated in October 7th attacks https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/hamas-palestinians-pogrom-israel