Hamas kind of accepts Trump's peace plan but questions remain...
Plus, Mr. Carney goes to Washington
This newsletter is brought you by Beer Canada and their Here for Beer campaign.
Hamas accepted some parts of Donald Trump’s peace plan on Friday, not all of it. Still, it was enough for Trump to agree to move forward.
The American president had given Hamas until 6pm ET on Sunday to accept his plan or else.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted to Truth Social just after 10am ET on Friday.
On Friday, Hamas issued a statement where they agreed “to release all Israeli prisoners — both living and deceased — in accordance with the exchange formula outlined in President Trump’s proposal, and contingent upon the necessary field conditions for carrying out the exchange.”
They did not however accept all parts of Trump’s proposal.
“As for what was included in President Trump’s proposal regarding other issues related to the future of the Gaza Strip and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, this… will be discussed through a comprehensive Palestinian national framework, which Hamas will be part of,” the statement read.
For a few hours it wasn’t clear if that would be enough for Trump to accept, he has been clear that Hamas should have no role in governing the Gaza strip going forward. The offer to release all hostages dead or alive appears to have been enough for Trump to agree to move forward.
“Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE. Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out. This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” he posted just after 5pm.
It really is too early at this point to know if this will hold, be real or how it will take shape but there is hope.
The area that I worry about is whether a real and lasting peace can be established.
Now, a word from our sponsor…
Every year on April 1, Canada’s beer taxes automatically go up without a vote in Parliament. Since 2017, this escalator has hit brewers, bars, restaurants, and Canadian consumers with eight consecutive tax hikes, driving up costs and threatening local jobs. Businesses are already struggling with inflation, rising inputs, and global supply chain pressures. They don’t need automatic tax increases making things worse. Taxes should be debated and voted on, not imposed by Ottawa’s bureaucrats. Visit HereForBeer.ca today to email your MP and call for Parliament to take back control and protect jobs in your community.
Contact your local MP now to say no to higher beer taxes.
Building a lasting peace…
How do we make sure we don’t end up back here in a year or in five years?
As the news about Hamas accepting part of Trump’s plan was breaking, I was hosting the afternoon drive show on Toronto’s Newstalk 1010. Professor Christian Leuprecht a defence and security expert from Queen’s University and the Royal Military College joined me for a discussion.
He said the key to ensuring a lasting peace is to build a real governing infrastructure that can provide the services the people of Gaza need. That hasn’t happened in decades with the Palestinian Authority failing to deliver leading to Hamas seizing power in 2005 before corrupting the entire system and oppressing the people of Gaza to fund their war efforts.
Mr. Carney goes to Washington…
Mark Carney will head to Washington, D.C. on Monday evening ahead of a day of working meetings on Tuesday. Given what Trump is dealing with in the Middle East it is surprising he has time for Canada.
The announcement of the meeting is also a surprise given what has been said in recent days.
“There haven’t been real talks in weeks,” a senior government source said earlier this week regarding trade talks.
Talks fizzled out at the end of August and didn’t pick up in any meaningful way over the last month. This week, something clicked and Carney and Trump will meet for at least part of the day Tuesday.
Citing an unnamed source, CTV is reporting that the Canadian team is “cautiously optimistic” that there will be a reduction in steel and aluminum tariffs.
We have to hope that to be true, despite Carney’s new found love of the current situation, it is hurting Canadian industry.
The tariffs Canada is facing are worse now than during the election, despite that Carney has gone from saying, “Trump is trying to break us, so that America can own us,” to claiming we have the best trade deal of any country in the world. We have more products facing tariffs and the tariffs are higher, but Carney is singing a different tune.
We need a win in Washington, let’s hope the Canadian team is willing to take one and not keep playing politics based on domestic issues.
Hamas is squirming to retain some body of power. The release if all the hostages seems to be the catalyst for moving forward in talks. Hamas if not totally removed will rise again to create war.
I do not recall the allied making a deal in 1945 with Germany, letting a big swath of Nazis get off the hook and possibly have a hand in ruling post war Germany.
Let’s hope that Trump in his hasty eagerness to make a “deal” will be serious about Hamas having absolute no further role in the future of Gaza. Better would have been ordering Hamas to unconditionally surrender. Bartering with them will result in another Israel/ Gaza/ Westbank conflict in a few years. Negotiating with Hamas will elevate their standing in Gaza/Westbank, producing an image of Hamas being able dictating terms to the president of the USA.