NewsNation’s Leland Vittert provides his expert analysis and perspective on the Israel-Hamas war in the Oct. 30 edition of his War Notes column.

(NewsNation) — The news in one line: Only pro-Hamas folks want a ceasefire. 

The anti-Israel crowd on America’s college campuses and in the streets can be broken largely into two campus: Those that openly support Hamas chanting “from the river to the sea” and those veiling their support for Hamas with calls for a “ceasefire” or “humanitarian pause” or whatever other restraint on Israel’s right to defend itself. It is a “distinction without a difference.”

Even the United Nations Secretary-General is calling for a ceasefire. To be fair, the United Nations has been pro-Iran and Hamas for a while. They appointed Iran as the Chair of the UN Human Rights Council Social Forum. 

A ceasefire would do a number of things, all of which are helpful to Hamas and detrimental to Israel:

• Hamas will use the lull in fighting to regroup, rearm and rebuild its military structure and facilities.
• Hamas will use the lull in bombing to move the 239 hostages, giving up any intelligence advantage Israel has.
• “Aid” supplies would stream into Gaza. History tells us that much if not all of which would be stolen by Hamas.
  • The New York Times reported there are ample food, fuel and medical supplies in the Hamas tunnels. They just won’t share with the Palestinians.
  • For what it’s worth, the aid supply fixation by the Biden administration is quite curious.
• Again, history tells us that hidden in those aid supplies will be more weapons and weapon parts. The promise of inspections by Egypt is laughable. 
• International pressure will grow about the “plight of the Palestinians,” for which Israel is always blamed. 
• Hamas will escape responsibility for holding Palestinians as human shields, and for keeping Americans and other foreign nationals in Gaza against their will. 
• Iran and the rest of the world will see if they can launch a surprise attack on a sovereign country and kill 1400 civilians in an unthinkably brutal way and kidnap another 240 (at least). When that country begins to defend themselves, the world will call for a ceasefire.
  • Can you imagine the response during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2002 to calls for a ceasefire because of the humanitarian suffering in Kabul under Taliban rule?
• It will continue the double standard the international community and media holds Israel to without forcing Iran to take responsibility for the atrocities of Oct. 7. 
• Domestically in the United States, it will embolden the pro-Hamas, pro-terrorist protesters on America’s college campuses.
• It will validate the American academics who openly celebrate and protect Hamas, like Professor Franke at Columbia that penned an open letter signed by dozens of other justifying Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack as a “military operation,” amongst other things. 
• It will create a moral equivalency that Hamas and Israel are both armies warring over disputed land, rather than Hamas being a terrorist organization trying to wipe out the Jewish people. 

I could go on. There is literally nothing in a ceasefire that will help Israel. They know this. The world knows this. The marchers demanding it know this. This is why the marchers are demanding it. The ground war and increasing suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of Hamas will only intensify this debate. For what it’s worth, the White House talking point that the vast majority of Palestinians don’t support Hamas is dubious at best given polling suggesting otherwise. This cuts both ways. But for the ground war, fighting Hamas with a pro-Hamas population in Gaza only makes it harder for Israel. It also significantly blurs the lines of who is and who is not a civilian. 

Even Elon Musk figured this out. He promised to provide internet for “internationally recognized aid organizations,” and then backed down. This lays bare that most, if not all, “internationally recognized aid organizations” operating in Gaza are extensions of Hamas, or at least, are co-opted by Hamas. That is why they have remained silent about Hamas stealing fuel and aid for military purposes. That is why the UNRWA and World Health Organization will never demand Hamas stop. That is why Doctors Without Borders never blew the whistle on them hiding weapons and command facilities in Gazan hospitals, and propagated the lie that Israel bombed their hospital a few weeks ago. That’s why Save the Children reports Palestinian and Israeli death tolls as the same. 

Last week, we predicted the media holding Israel responsible for Palestinian suffering. Yet, new reporting from the New York Times and others shows Hamas with plenty of food/fuel and medical supplies. Why does Hamas get no blame for the suffering of the Palestinian people? 

An Australian reporter pressed Netanyahu on whether Hamas using civilians as human shields was enough to justify “collective punishment” against Gazans.

Hamas cannot claim to be fighting on behalf of the Palestinian people yet and at the same time keep them as human shields. Furthermore, a ceasefire would stop Israel’s efforts to rescue the hostages militarily, which today succeeded in freeing one hostage. This is further proof that as we predicted Hamas would split up the hostages and a ceasefire would only allow them to make rescue more difficult. 

NewsNation’s Robert Sherman will report from a hospital in Southern Israel that received many of the wounded from Oct. 7 for On Balance tonight, the first American network report from inside the hospital. Hamas rockets have hit the hospital four times since the war began. Yes, Hamas is blowing up hospitals on both sides of this conflict. The complete double standard from the media is troubling. Why hasn’t the New York Times done big breaking news stories each time? Where is the crying from correspondents about the loss of innocent life? Quite the contrary, Hamas actually uses hospitals to house their senior military command and large weapons depots. 

The words matter in times like this, and people genuinely respond to the coverage they see. An example of this is the Associated Press headline about a modern-day pogrom at an airport in Dagestan, Russia. An angry mob comes to the airport to kill Jews, and the AP calls it a “protest.”

It is thus no surprise major news organizations show no desire to talk about Egypt and Jordan’s refusal to take Gazan refugees. It is no surprise there is zero coverage of Iran’s role and, more importantly, their refusal to help. 

Watch carefully over the week about White House messaging on the ceasefire and humanitarian pause language. Vice President Kamala Harris kept talking about “laws of war” last night, and this plays directly into the pro-Hamas crowd’s messaging. The fact that the administration brings it up every day reminds me of the “when did you stop beating your wife?” question. It presupposes that Israel is breaking the “laws of war.” Admiral John Kirby was direct that a ceasefire only helps Hamas, which will pen them in a little bit. That being said, casualties and reported suffering during the ground invasion will increase. Thus, we can’t ignore the domestic political situation. President Joe Biden is bleeding support from the far left over his stance on Israel. Campus protests are growing both in numbers and faculty support. The vast majority of universities are unwilling to take a basic moral stand. 

The calls for a ceasefire will only grow stronger, and only pro-Hamas folks want a ceasefire. 

Tune into “On Balance with Leland Vittert” weeknights at 7/6C on NewsNation. Find your channel here.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.