The Cost of Friendship

These words are taken, word-for-word, from the Hamas Charter of 1988:

“Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it. As it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)

“Allah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.” (Article Eight.)

These few words were chosen at random.  Every word of the Hamas Charter of 1988 reeks with the wretched stench of antisemitism. Its position on the establishment of the state of Israel is totally uncompromising and unyielding. In its antisemitic discourse, Jews are consistently painted as the apotheosis of evil. They are simply “infidels” whose only purpose on earth is to be eliminated.

According to the Charter, repeated ad nauseam, by Imams in the mosques, and teachers in schools and summer camps, all of Palestine, including the existence of Israel, is considered Holy Muslim soil. No human being has the right to negotiate it away. Ever. Jihad, or Holy War, is the one way of liberating the land, and every Muslim has a personal responsibility to commit jihad.

On September 29, 2025, President Trump unveiled his 20-point plan for Gaza.  He clearly stated that “Gaza would be a deradicalized terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbors.” He continued to explain how the land will be directed to the people of Gaza, “who have suffered long enough”; how “all military operations will be suspended”, and that “within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting this agreement, all hostages, alive and deceased, will be returned.” In return, Israel is to release 250 life sentence- Palestinian prisoners, plus 1700 more, and 15 per every remaining hostage.

Excuse me? All hostages? What of the case of Ran Gvili? Ran Gvili was murdered on October 7, 2023, trying to defend Kibbutz Alumim. A member of the Yasam Police Unit, his body is still being held in Gaza. Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square. His father, Yitzchak addressed the crowd, saying, “Everyone tells us that we are a strong family, but without all of your strength we would be nothing,” Itzik Gvili told those present.

And where, exactly is the disarming of Hamas? The 20 Point Plan clearly states that “Once all hostages are returned, Hamas members who commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided safe passage to receiving countries.”

Without understanding the deep resonance of the Hamas Charter in the fervid imaginations of young Palestinians, President Trump has declared that he is ready to proceed to Stage II.

Do people not realize that Hamas, which throughout 2025 had demonstrated the capacity to regrow, regenerate and reassert itself in the parts of Gaza that Israel was forced to withdraw from? They are rebuilding tunnels and continue to use guerrilla tactics.

Hamas has rebuilt its force this past year, from 12,000 to 25,000 more young recruits. Hamas receives a great deal of regional support from both the Islamic Republic of Iran, (whose brutal regime still remains in control), and from Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders in Doha. Monsters such as Khaled Mashal, a founder of Hamas, who has been living there safely since 2012, making Qatar a central nexus for the Hamas movement.

The Qataris have dubiously inserted themselves as the current “moderates’, allegedly negotiating the release of Israeli hostages. Why then were they starved, tortured, beaten and molested for so many months, (and in many cases), years?

Which brings me to the most disturbing aspect of this report:  Qatari Minister Ali Al Thawadi has just been appointed by President Trump to serve on the Gazan Executive Board. We know that Qatar’s interests are not even remotely in line with the continuous survival of the state of Israel.

Beyond that, however, is the vexing fact that President Trump has just invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to serve on the Board of Peace with Gaza. President Erdogan has continuously blamed Israel, and Prime Minister Netayahu for the destabilization of the entire Middle East and  a “genocide” of Gazans.

He then  appointed Hakan Fidan, somewhat of an unlikely candidate because his father was Kurdish, yet he has also served as Erdogan’s assistant secretary and security advisor. He is seen as a mouthpiece for Erdogan and a possible successor for his Justice and Development Party. Unfortunately, he has helped to formulate Syria President Ahmed al-Shaara’s geopolitical strategy of support for Turkey within Syria.

On October 25, 2023, Fidan expressed his support for the Palestinian cause, saying that “those who support Israel are accomplices to its crimes.”

On numerous occasions, President Trump has said he “is the best friend Israel has ever had”.

One might do well to ask: Is this the price Israel must pay for this friendship?

Sarah N. Stern is the Founder and President of EMET, a Middle East think tank in Washington, DC.