Leland Vittert’s War Notes: Truce Extended and Hamas is the Only W

NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonight’s 7 p.m. ET show.

Hamas and Iran aren’t tired of winning

For all the rightful excitement this weekend over the release of hostages and truce extension, it only makes the situation worse for everybody — that is, everybody but Hamas.

Biggest loser: You and peace-loving people around the world.

The past month proves:
- Iran and its proxies can kill 1,200 people, torture and rape innocent civilians, take 250 hostages, attack U.S. bases, and the world will sit on its hands and demand the attacked country cease fire and trade convicted terrorists for women and children.
- The media will create a moral equivalency for Iran and its terrorist proxies.
- The progressive movement in America will rally support for the terrorists.
That is a dangerous precedent to set.

Let’s break it down:

Yes, it’s a good thing 20 more hostages will come home in an extended truce, but then what?
The clock is ticking, and there are approximately 190 hostages left. Do the math: The truce can only last till mid-December.

When the truce ends, Hamas is the only group in a more powerful position:

As we told you:
- Hamas spent the weekend regrouping, rearming and moving hostages underground.
- Hamas consolidated power in the West Bank by winning the release of terrorists held by Israel.
- Hamas brought the Palestinian issue back to the forefront of international discussion.
- The international media treated innocent hostages and released terrorists the same, giving Hamas a PR win.
  - Example from The New York Times: Check out the subheading in this article: “A disfigured woman whose case has become well known is among the Palestinians released.” She was disfigured by the car bomb she drove to kill Israelis when it detonated too early.
  - There is more on this from our friend Batya Ungar-Sargon below.
  - Turns out all the things the media got wrong about Gaza were Hamas talking points.
  - And Hamas executed two Palestinians, but you won’t hear about it.
    - Thought bubble: For all the demands of moral clarity about the coverage of former President Trump from CNN, The New York Times and MSNBC, there is remarkably little about terrorists who roasted babies in ovens.

Netanyahu Put Israel in a Pickle

At some point, Israel must restart a war against massive international pressure to fulfill the promise of destroying Hamas.

The media gives Israel no credit for releasing terrorists for innocent civilians. They treat everything as morally equivalent:

As Batya Ungar-Sargon said about the terrorists for hostages swap: “The NYT spent the weekend trying to convince you that there is a moral equivalency between three-years-olds snatched by butchers who murdered their parents and people who tried to commit such atrocities but weren’t as successful.”

At some point in the near future, war will be the only option.

If Prime Minister Netanyahu agrees to the truce extension for less than ten hostages per day and/or doesn’t restart war and follow through on his promise to destroy Hamas, he will look like a wimp.

President Biden Enters This Week in a Pickle.

White House strategy: The White House hopes “Hamas will do the right thing”… wait, what?

Hamas sympathizers in Nantucket, of all places, chanted, “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

Thought bubble: The pro-Hamas versus pro-Israel divide in the Democratic Party will only get worse.

The Washington Post dropped a big Sunday story about divisions inside Biden’s White House over support for Israel.

Attacks on American service members continue, with the count at 73 now.

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen tried to sink a navy destroyer with ballistic missiles.
How long can Biden wait before responding in a way Iran understands?

Did Thanksgiving Break Help or Hurt Biden?

Biden played wartime president on vacation, eating ice cream in Nantucket while holding press conferences about hostage releases. For a president known to spend more time away from WH than most, this weekend will either turn public opinion around or reinforce the idea he’s not up to the job.

Politico reports that “the polls keep getting worse for Biden.”

Smart question: What are the tea leaves to watch for that Biden is looking at the 2024 exit ramp? Morning Joe Segments? Polling? New York Times and Washington Post columns? Vice President Kamala Harris’s travel schedule?
Respond to this email with your thoughts or hit us up on social media @lelandvittert.

This weekend was a preview of the 2024 campaign: Trump held rallies and tossed coins at football games while Biden stayed in the bubble.

What Would Thurgood Marshall Say?

The Wall Street Journal reports that a “high school in Evanston, Ill., offers so-called affinity classes, in which Black and Latino students are separated from white students.”

Remember the celebration of Brown v. Board of Education. Separate was declared unequal. Now, separate is good if it celebrates the “oppressed.”
- Thought bubble: Imagine if segregationist governor of Alabama George Wallace had said he wanted all-Black classrooms because it would help Black students learn.
The original fight was for us to all be treated equally, but now, progressives want different treatment based on race, sex, identity et cetera. To that end, progressives keep trying to divide us into more and more narrow groups. Every time they add a letter or group designation, we become more divided.
Neo-Marxist thinking says that people aren’t people. They are defined by group characteristics that define your place on the oppressed versus oppressor and more versus less powerful scales. If a group is powerful, it is evil. If a group is less powerful, it must be given power at the expense of the powerful, regardless of merit.
Bottom line: We as a country changed (for the better) because of the Civil Rights Movement and gay rights movement rightfully demanding equal treatment. Now, progressive inheritors of those movements want to divide everyone by treating groups differently.

It is backfiring big time:

The DEI Disney disaster
- Disney went all in on “woke” ideology; now, it warns it might crush its business:
  - From the Mouse’s latest SEC filing: “We face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products.”
- Jonathan Turley wrote for our partners The Hill: “For shareholders, it may seem counterintuitive that corporate executives would trade off profits for political or social agendas. However, it does serve as a rationale for individual corporate executives who are professionally advanced when they champion such causes.”
A DEI consulting firm warns the gig is up.
Axios reports, “DEI backlash hits corporate America.”
- Axios reports the consulting firm said, “External forces are no longer pushing companies to invest in DEI; instead, in some cases, external forces are pushing back on companies’ investment in DEI.”