Will they or won’t they?

We are living at a time when life-defining decisions are avoided, and indecision, equivocation and double-dealing prevail.

Wherever one looks these days, one discerns a vista of vacillation stretching as far as the eyes can see.

Ongoing and excruciatingly painful contortions on the part of politicians, national and communal leadership and public alike, point to painful looming outcomes.

When you are faced with a school yard bully who taunts, threatens and physically abuses, the best policy is to demonstrate unswerving determination to retaliate. Every moment spent in trying to dialogue and reason with such low types reinforces a belief that you are not seriously contemplating countermeasures.

What is true for the school bully is equally, if not more, valid for international terror thugs. They thrive on creating fear and indecision and sowing confusion to such an extent that at the end of the day intimidation works to their benefit.

This has always been the historical scenario. The tragedy is that those threatened and those in a position to confront the problem never seem to learn from the painful past.

Take the farce now being enacted over the Russia/Ukraine war and the Islamic Iranian Mullah regime’s suppression of its citizens’ struggle for freedom and its threats against Israel. Add in the disarming of Hamas in Gaza, and you get a trio of two-timing suspects.

Instead of a swift response to naked aggression and an end to subterfuge on a grand scale, we are witnessing an unedifying scenario of ducking and diving dressed up as diplomatic dialogue.

Bombastic pronouncements that vanish like mirages may sound impressive, but left unfulfilled merely prove that those who uttered them are full of hot air.

Deal making with bullies is a losing exercise because handing over trillions of dollars and making promises of future payouts are akin to paying ransom money in order to postpone inevitable disaster.

Trump is on record as previously claiming that Iran has never won a war, but it always manages to win at negotiating.

Given that reality, why on earth would he now be negotiating with the very regime responsible for executing its citizens and facilitating terror proxies?

Witkoff and Kushner may be savvy businessmen, but are they any match for the duplicitous diplomats of the Islamic regime?

Having hinted that the cavalry was on its way to save them the Iranian protesters have now been left literally hanging as fake talks take place in Oman. Iranian regime officials make no secret of their real intentions. They do not even try to disguise their real aims.

In the midst of these dubious dialogues, Iranian threats to attack Israel with missile barrages are issued and the wholesale slaughter of protesters continues.

Arab and Muslim so-called mediators convince Trump to “give Iran the benefit of the doubt”, and despite all evidence to the contrary, the White House plays along. If, as some experts claim, it’s all a strategy designed to get military assets in place, how does that help those being arrested, incarcerated and executed on a daily basis? Why were these forces not in place long before now, given that the writing has been on the wall for quite some time?

Are we witnessing yet another fiasco in slow motion or is it all part of a brilliant strategy?

If it is the former, Israel will, as usual, be left to deal with the aftermath and the inevitable international condemnations. If it is the latter, will regime change actually happen? Without a total clean out of the current terror regime, the long-suffering Persians will be doomed to further oppression and the region will be subjected to increased terror.

Iran has categorically asserted that the only subject up for discussion is their nuclear programme. Given that Trump claimed it had been obliterated after the 12-day war, one wonders what there is left to talk about. Will the Americans fall for this sleight of hand and give up on demanding the removal of offensive Iranian missiles, cessation of supporting terror proxies and human rights abuses?

We wait with bated breath for some sign of irrevocable resolve.

Four long years ago, Russia commenced its war against Ukraine. It has been grinding on ever since with an increasing toll of soldiers and innocent civilians. What was intended to be a quick campaign has descended into a continuous onslaught as Russian troops discover that Ukrainian resistance is far stronger than predicted.

Unsurprisingly, the United Nations has proven impotent and incapable of dealing with this invasion of a sovereign member nation. Trump had originally boasted that he could solve this particular conflict in quick order. The results have certainly not matched his rhetoric.

Rumours abound that deals are in the works, but so far, these have not materialised. Vague guarantees of safeguarding Ukrainian sovereignty have been floated. Based on past performances, these promises of “coming to the rescue” in case of attack would not be worth the paper they might be printed on.

While meetings take place and rhetoric soars forth, innocent civilians in Ukrainian cities and towns bear the brunt of continuing Russian bombardments.

When will the democracies stop their incessant chatter and actually get down to the serious business of defending lives and liberty?

Hamas in Gaza, meanwhile, continues to demonstrate how to get away with murder and frustrate efforts to defang their venomous agenda.

The purported main objective of the war against terror in Gaza was to make sure that Hamas would never again pose a deadly threat to Israelis.

This intention was confirmed by the Trump Administration, and for a few fleeting moments it seemed that, finally, after years of appeasement and double speak, some sort of determined result would be achieved.

That was back in 2023. We are now in 2026, and Hamas is still literally calling the shots. Despite dire warnings by Trump, the terror group is still dictating the script. The inbred “martyr” ideology transmitted from one generation to the next means that, regardless of how many deaths and casualties occur, the main objective remains the elimination of Israel and Jews.

This single-minded agenda, aided and abetted by sympathetic supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey and Qatar, guarantees that Gaza will remain the threat it always has been.

The stark reality cannot be glossed over no matter how many attractive “business deals” may be floated by those who stand to profit from them. Making “nice” with Erdogan of Turkey is a foolish folly and a recipe for disaster. Pretending that everything can be solved by throwing dollars at the core problem is merely a continuation of past failed policies.

The disarmament of Hamas is supposed to be a non-negotiable requirement. Hamas knows that it is highly unlikely that Trump’s Board of Peace is going to be able to force them to do so and therefore they are pretending to offer “reasonable” alternative proposals. Here is what Khaled Mashal, a senior Hamas official, offered at an Al Jazeera forum held in Qatar a week ago.

“Disarmament under Israel is an attempt to turn the Palestinians into an easy target to eliminate. A framework of guarantees could instead be established through the mediators to ensure the continuation of Gaza’s reconstruction process. Hamas had presented various parties with a formula under which guarantees would be provided that the war in Gaza would not resume and that weapons would not be displayed publicly. The idea revolved around how arms could be concealed and preserved without being used or shown. Hamas has also proposed a long term ceasefire lasting several years as an additional guarantee. Mediators are discussing the proposal with US officials.”

If sanity prevailed and Trump’s negotiators and so-called friends (Qatar and Turkey) were indeed genuinely seeking the elimination of terror, the above “proposals” would be dismissed as farcical nonsense.

The fact that any discussion is taking place testifies to the lack of an enforcement plan and points to another spectacular failure coming down the pipeline. Suggestions that Hamas be allowed to keep “light” weapons are insanity concocted by those who prefer to kick the can down the road.

This continual pathetic pandering in the face of blatant bluff and in the name of duplicitous diplomacy guarantees more murderous mayhem.

“Enough already” should be the firm response.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.