This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Vice President-elect JD Vance told "Fox News Sunday" what his interpretation of President-elect Donald Trump's threat there would be "hell to pay" for Hamas if the terrorist group did not release the remaining 99 hostages – both dead and alive – before his Jan. 20 inauguration.
In a wide-ranging interview with Shannon Bream on Sunday, which included talk about the release of peaceful Jan. 6, 2021 protesters, Vance outlined what Trump meant when he threatened Gaza's Islamist rulers if the remaining hostages in Hamas captivity were not returned in short order.
"If you talk to world leaders, it's very clear that President Trump threatening Hamas, and making it clear there is going to be hell to pay, is part of the reason why we've made progress on getting some hostages out," he said.
"We're hopeful there's gonna be a deal struck toward the very end of [President Joe] Biden's administration – maybe the last day or two – but regardless of when that deal is struck it will be because people are terrified that there are going to be consequences for Hamas."
It was at this point Vance expanded what there being "hell to pay" would practically look like, rather than a theoretical notion: "Number one, it means enabling the Israelis to knock out the final couple battalions of Hamas and their leadership. It means very aggressive sanctions, financial penalties on those supporting terrorist organizations in the Middle East. It means actually doing the job of American leadership, which Donald Trump did very well for four years."
Vance did not elaborate on the kind of financial sanctions which might be considered, although the Biden administration has imposed sanctions against the terrorist group and issued arrest warrants for many of its leaders – albeit that most of the main ones, certainly those with knowledge of the planning of Oct. 7 have now been eliminated by the IDF.
Given both Turkey and Qatar are significant sponsors of terrorism in the Middle East, and cannot be seen as honest brokers, despite Doha's role in the hostage release negotiations, does this imply a change of emphasis in the Trump White House? It seems unlikely; Turkey, in spite of the machinations under its increasingly Islamist and dictatorial president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is still a NATO member, and Qatar is a major non-NATO ally given an almost unprecedented position due to its hosting of a large U.S. military base.
In January of last year, the U.S. extended its presence in the desert kingdom for another 10 years. Indeed, if the Trump administration is set on being taken seriously about countering these two nefarious actors in the region, it must look closely at the relationship it has with them and change the current direction of travel.
