On Sunday evening, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari, and Doron Steinbrecher returned to Israel after nearly 16 months in captivity by the terrorist organization Hamas. In images from Gaza, Hamas soldiers in uniform and an excited crowd can be seen celebrating the deal.

This is how the release unfolded:
• 5:07 PM: The three women leave Hamas custody in central Gaza
• 5:38 PM: The Red Cross hands them over to Israeli special forces
• 5:53 PM: The women arrive in Israeli territory
• Thereafter: Transport to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv

Still, hundreds of hostages, the exact number unknown, remain with the Palestinian terrorist organization.

Swedish-Israeli Jonathan Conricus is a former spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces. Today, he is a senior fellow at the FDD think tank.

Bulletin: Why is Israel entering into an agreement that leads to Hamas celebrating in the streets of Gaza?

”It’s like when an armed robber holds a loaded gun to your head and says ’give me your wallet.’ That’s basically the situation, and Israel is handing over the wallet to an armed robber,” says Jonathan Conricus.

Bulletin: Why then does Israel accept this deal? Hamas appears to be weaker than ever.

”The only thing I hope is that such an experienced and shrewd politician as Netanyahu has ensured that there are additional parts of the agreement that we haven’t seen that have a broader scope, where there are understandings and promises to Israel from [the U.S.’s] incoming president [Donald Trump] regarding Iran, regarding Saudi Arabia and other things that are important for future peace and prosperity in the region. That’s the only thing I can imagine that could possibly justify such a scandalous deal,” says Jonathan Conricus.

If such secret agreements don’t exist, Jonathan Conricus views the situation very seriously:

”Then this becomes yet another failure for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that can be added to his failure to prepare for October 7, the failure of his policy towards Egypt, the failure of his actions towards Qatar, and most importantly his long-term failure to handle Hamas,” he says.

Hamas Celebrates

He particularly points to how Hamas now parades in uniforms in Gaza.

”Very interesting to see how Gaza is now flooded with uniformed Hamas personnel. During 15 months of fighting, I didn’t see a single uniform in the clips they released [...] But now when it’s safe to go out, we see them in well-ironed uniforms,” says Jonathan Conricus.

Must Be Eliminated

Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians have previously made promises to eliminate Hamas, and not just Hamas inside Gaza, but in every part of the world where the Muslim terrorist organization hides.

Bulletin: What happens to the promise of eliminating Hamas?

”[The promise] must be fulfilled. And I believe that it will eventually be fulfilled [...] Israel will have no choice but to return to the fight and get rid of Hamas. Even if it will require a lot of effort and be unpopular, that’s what Israel must do,” says Jonathan Conricus.

Jonathan Conricus warns that many in the world have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation:

”There is unfortunately no peace to be achieved with a genocidal organization like Hamas. Just as there was no peace to be achieved with the Nazis, no peace with Japanese or Italian fascists. And there was no peace to be achieved with ISIS. [It’s] exactly the same thing,” he says.

Jonathan Conricus emphasizes that Hamas’s real goal is bigger than Gaza:

”When they talk about ending [what they call] the occupation, they don’t mean Gaza. When they say occupation, they mean the entire state of Israel. Not [just areas] after ’67, not Judea and Samaria, but Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Ashdod, Safed, Tiberias, Beersheba, every city in Israel and everything in between.”

Bulletin: What should Swedish readers following the development keep an eye on going forward?

”Bulletin readers obviously know better, but for other Swedes it’s important to understand the amount of disinformation in this conflict. So many lies are being spread about alleged genocide, which is a total lie [...] Never in human history has any people undergone genocide and then proclaimed themselves victors the next day,” says Jonathan Conricus.