Trump shows who’s in charge with threat to unleash hell

President Donald Trump’s bold ultimatum that threatens Hamas with major repercussions unless it releases all Israeli hostages has the potential to place US military forces on a war footing not seen since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis (“ ‘Release all hostages Saturday, or all hell will break loose’: Trump”, 11/2).

After noting the last three Israeli hostages released from captivity looked like “Holocaust survivors”, Trump has signalled that the US, Israel and the rest of the civilised world will no longer tolerate a crime strongly resembling the worst genocide committed in human history.

Moreover, not only does this set the geopolitical stage for major powers such as Russia, China and Iran to put maximum pressure on Hamas to abide by Trump’s ultimatum but it also signals that the recurring threat of an Armageddon could be just around the corner this time.

Vincent Zankin, Rivett, ACT

Looking at the shocking images of the recently released three hos­tages, one has to ask where the Red Cross has been these past 16 months. The world can now see through their images who we are dealing with when we deal with Hamas.

Robert Krochmalik, Bellevue Hill, NSW

I’m all for Donald Trump’s two-state solution: Israel and the US. We have been bogged down for too long in pursuing an unworkable Israel-Palestine two-state solution that one party has no real interest in resolving for their own nefarious reasons.

Terry Walmsley, Benowa, Qld

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s actions are the more deplorable because he is Jewish (“Drefus defends ALP anti-Semitism stand”, 11/2). He has been silent since October 7, 2023, and now he speaks up for political reasons. Shameful.

I wonder what goes through his mind when he sees what Hamas did to the recently released men.

Andrea Kalowski, Rose Bay, NSW

Greg Sheridan is spot-on to label Anthony Albanese’s “I don’t comment on legal proceedings” response to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu as “fatuous and cowardly”.

A prime minister unable or unwilling to make the distinction between democratic Israel and the terrorist organisation Hamas, and between self-defence and barbaric provocation, is a prime minister in name only.

One of the ICC charges levelled at the Israeli Prime Minister is for the “war crime of starvation as a method of warfare”.

Have Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong not seen the three emaciated Israeli hos­tages recently released by Hamas operatives?

Donald Trump tells it like it is: “they looked like Holocaust survivors”. And good on Peter Dutton, who has noted “the prospect of Australia abandoning the ICC should be on the table”.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

Your editorial (“ABC’s woeful moral equivalence”, 10/2) rightly condemns the ABC’s bias in prioritising the alleged maltreatment of the released 183 Palestinian prisoners over the glaringly obvious maltreatment of the three emaciated, clearly traumatised, Israeli hostages.

Moral equivalence is too generous a term for the blatant bias consistently demonstrated by the ABC through emphasis, omission and the terminology it uses.

Recently, there was a brief period, in response to the deluge of anti-Semitic attacks in Australia, when the ABC, forced by the sheer inescapable nature of what was happening, reported on anti-Semitism and for a time actually referred to Hamas as a “terrorist organisation”.

However, the ABC’s natural “balance” now seems to have been restored. Any mention of anti-Semitism includes the mandatory “and Islamophobia”, while Hamas is once again, “militant” rather than “terrorist”.

Deborah Morrison, Malvern East, Vic

Hamas broke an existing ceasefire to murder more than 1000 people and kidnap hundreds more. Hamas has treated the kidnap victims the way the world feared.

Hamas willingly sacrificed the lives of tens of thousands of its own people to be able to do so.

You cannot negotiate with cancer.

Anthony Caughey, Elwood, Vic