Last week, President Biden told reporters that he hoped Hamas would accept what he called “a rational offer” for a ceasefire, to which he added, “There’s got to be a ceasefire because [of] Ramadan,” and if there isn’t the situation could become “very dangerous.” Hamas rejected the ceasefire offer, so anti-Israel activists are now trying to portray Israel’s continuation of the war during Ramadan, which began Sunday evening, as evidence of Israeli evil. Of course, Hamas had no scruples about attacking Israeli civilians on Simchat Torah.

The truth is that Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, wants the war to continue through Ramadan because he hopes the fighting will spread to the West Bank and Lebanon while sparking an Arab uprising within Israel. Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh explain:

Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of 240 others, the Iran-backed terror group’s leaders in Gaza have been trying to drag other Arabs and Muslims into a confrontation with Israel. To this end, Hamas’s branding of the October 7 massacre as the “Aqsa Flood” followed Palestinian Authority leader Yasir Arafat’s similar branding of the “Aqsa intifada” that began in 2000 when Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount. . . . Sinwar views himself as a great Muslim warrior who successfully planned an invasion of Israel, giving him “street credit” with Palestinians.

To Diker and Abu Toameh, Washington is responding precisely the wrong way:

The Iranian regime and its Palestinian, Lebanese, and Yemeni proxies are counting on American pressure on Israel to stop the war. Instead, the United States should place pressure on the Iranian regime. Sinwar is betting on the upcoming November 2024 elections in the United States to pressure Israel for a ceasefire. Hamas and Iran interpret their close observation of American administration statements by the likes of Biden and Harris to mean that their long-term strategy is working.

Robert Satloff has some harsh words for the U.S. government in this regard, words I take especially seriously because Satloff is someone inclined to political moderation. Why, he asks, have American diplomats failed to achieve anything in their endless rounds of talks in Doha and Cairo? Because

there is simply not enough pressure on Hamas to change course, accept a deal, and release the remaining October 7 hostages, stuck in nightmarish captivity. . . . In this environment, why should Hamas change course?

Publicly, the U.S. should bite the bullet and urge Israel to complete the main battle operations in Gaza—i.e., the Rafah operation—as swiftly and efficiently as possible. We should be assertively assisting with the humanitarian side of this.

Satloff had more to say about the hostages, especially the five American ones, in a speech he gave recently:

I am ashamed—ashamed of how we have allowed the story of the hostages to get lost in the noise of the war that followed their capture; ashamed of how we have permitted their release to be a bargaining chip in some larger political negotiation; ashamed of how we have failed to give them the respect and dignity and our wholehearted demand for Red Cross access and care and medicine that is our normal, usual demand for hostages.

If they were taken by Boko Haram, everyone would know their name. If they were taken by the Taliban, everyone would tie a yellow ribbon around a tree for them. If they were taken by Islamic State, kids would learn about them in school.

It is repugnant to see their freedom as just one item on the bargaining table with Hamas, as though they were chattel. These are Americans—and they deserve to be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.