Wendy Sherman: “The scenes from Gaza are horrendous, and people want the fighting to end. Some call for a cease-fire. Hamas needs to…”

“The scenes from Gaza are horrendous, and people want the fighting to end. Some call for a cease-fire. Hamas needs to hear those calls and agree to free the hostages and turn over its rockets, and then we can have that cease-fire. There was a cease-fire on October 6. Hamas broke it and killed 1,400 Israelis. What would happen if we had a cease-fire leaving the rockets and arms in Hamas' hands? Today, Ghazi Hamad, a high-ranking Hamas official, said exactly what would happen. He said: We will repeat October 7 one, two, three, four, five times, as many times as it takes, until Israel is annihilated. We need a true cease-fire, and we can achieve it only if Hamas is disarmed. I have been a pro-Israel activist for 60 years and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for nearly 30. Israel has one friend in the world. Hamas knows that. America is divided and partisan. Hamas knows that. The terrible scenes in Gaza show that Hamas is willing to die for one thing, and that is to put those scenes on American television to undercut support for Israel to make sure that that support is not bipartisan. Last week, we showed bipartisan support, with 97 percent of the Democrats and 99 percent of the Republicans voting for a strong resolution. Unfortunately, our Speaker has decided to undercut that and, in doing so, help Hamas achieve its most important geopolitical objective.…”