VP Vance In Israel: ‘If Hamas Doesn’t Cooperate, Then It Will Be Obliterated’

Vice President JD Vance spoke to reporters in southern Israel Tuesday evening while on a mission to bolster the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, laying out his assessment of the early days of the U.S. diplomatic push.

“We are one week into President Trump’s historic peace plan in the Middle East, and things are going, frankly, better than I expected that they would,” Vance said as he opened his remarks.

Asked about Ankara’s potential part in enforcing the truce and helping stabilize Gaza — despite Turkey’s past backing for Hamas — Vance said multiple actors will be needed to address the region’s humanitarian and security challenges.

“We think everybody has a role to play here,” Vance responded. “Some of that’s going to be financial, some of that’s going to be in reconstruction, some of that’s just in communication with the various parties.”

He stressed that any deployment of foreign forces would be decided with Israel’s consent, while praising steps Turkey has already taken in the process.

“We’re not going to force anything on our Israeli friends when it comes to foreign troops on their soil, but we do think that there’s a constructive role for the Turks to play, and frankly, they’ve already played a very constructive role,” he added.

Vance acknowledged difficult history when addressing Turkey’s ties to Hamas, but urged forward-looking cooperation as the best path to lasting calm.

He noted that Turkey “has supported Hamas is the past,” but argued that pointing fingers won’t replace the work needed to secure a stable future: “no one who is a party to this conflict can look at the conflict and not point at something that they don’t like and that they disagree with … The way that we’re going to get to peace is to focus on the future, which is what the President of the United States has asked us to do.”

On the sensitive subject of recovering the remains of hostages still in Gaza, Vance said bringing the deceased home is a shared priority for all involved.

“it is a focus of everybody here to get those bodies back home to their families so that they can have a proper burial.”

But he warned the public that the recovery effort faces severe practical obstacles and that results will not be immediate.

“some of these hostages are buried under thousands of pounds of rubble. Some of the hostages – nobody even knows where they are. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work to get them, and that doesn’t mean we don’t have confidence that we will. It’s just a reason to counsel in favor of a little bit of patience.”

Turning his remarks directly to Hamas, Vance reiterated the core demands of the administration’s plan and the consequences of refusal to comply.

“Our warning to Hamas is very straightforward. The terms of the 20-point plan that the President put out there are very clear,” he continued. “It’s that Hamas has to disarm, it’s that Hamas has to actually behave itself, and it’s that Hamas – while all the fighters can be given some sort of clemency, they’re not going to be able to kill each other and they’re not going to be able to kill their fellow Palestinians. Now again, that’s going to take time … but right now, where I stand, I feel confident we’re going to be in a place where this place lasts, where it’s durable.”

He concluded with a stark threat should the group refuse to cooperate, while stopping short of setting a deadline for compliance.

“If Hamas doesn’t cooperate, then as the President of the United States has said, Hamas is going to be obliterated.”

{Matzav.com}