Instead of discussing disarmament, Hamas is discussing succession. Instead of preparing to relinquish power, it is choosing who will govern.By Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone InstituteNearly three years after the October 7, 2023, massacre—the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust—the Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas has calmly elected a new head of its “Political Bureau.”This simple fact should alarm everyone who believed that the terrorist organization had been defeated or dismantled.Organizations that have been defeated do not hold orderly leadership elections. Organizations that have ceased to exist do not choose successors, debate candidates, and prepare for the future. Hamas does.Its election of Khalil al-Hayya demonstrates that the terrorist group remains sufficiently organized to manage internal political affairs while continuing to rule much of the Gaza Strip and dictate the lives of more than two million Palestinians.The election is therefore not merely an internal Hamas matter. It is evidence that efforts to remove Hamas from power have failed.Instead of preparing to surrender its weapons or dissolve itself after the atrocities of October 7, Hamas is preparing for its future. Holding internal elections means that Hamas expects to remain a permanent player in Palestinian politics.This completely contradicts any expectation that Hamas will eventually disappear from the Gaza Strip.More than seven months after US President Donald J. Trump’s 20-point peace plan called for the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, the terrorist group remains intact.Instead of discussing disarmament, Hamas is discussing succession. Instead of preparing to relinquish power, it is choosing who will govern.The election of al-Hayya also exposes the failure of current American strategy.For months, the Trump Administration and its “Board of Peace” have continued believing that negotiations could somehow persuade Hamas to disarm voluntarily. What has happened is the opposite.Hamas never intended to disappear. It never intended to surrender its weapons. It never, as its internal election proves, intended to leave the Gaza Strip.Terrorist organizations do not negotiate themselves out of existence.The assumption that al-Hayya is more pragmatic than his predecessor, the late Yahya Sinwar (the mastermind of the October 7 massacre), is dangerously misleading.Changing from military fatigues to a business suit does not transform a terrorist into a statesman.Al-Hayya was Sinwar’s closest associate. He served as Sinwar’s deputy. He helped shape Hamas policy before and after October 7.After the massacre, al-Hayya praised October 7 as “a source of pride for our people… to be passed down from generation to generation.”Those are not the words of a moderate. Al-Hayya has never renounced Hamas’s 1988 charter calling for Israel’s elimination.He also never apologized for the murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping of Israeli civilians—and he has consistently rejected demands that Hamas disarm.His election signals not change but continuity.Perhaps the biggest winner is Iran’s regime. Al-Hayya has long maintained close relations with the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).His victory over Khaled Mashaal consolidates the influence of Hamas’s most pro-Iran faction.Iran, despite repeated declarations that Hamas had been weakened, therefore retains one of its most valuable terrorist proxies.The election sends a clear message throughout the Middle East: The Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” remains intact.It also explains why al-Hayya’s first public remarks as Hamas leader included thanks to Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Iraqi Shiite militias.His loyalties are clear.Another troubling question: Why is al-Hayya still living safely in Qatar? Why do senior Hamas officials continue enjoying sanctuary in Qatar and Turkey?At least 43 American citizens were among those murdered on October 7, while another 12 were taken hostage to the Gaza Strip. Al-Hayya was one of the leaders of Hamas on October 7.Why has Washington not demanded his extradition? If Hamas leaders planned attacks that killed Americans, why are they still free?The continued protection afforded to Hamas leaders by terrorist-supporting “friends” of Trump, such as Qatar, Turkey, and Pakistan, undermines international efforts to combat terrorism.The people paying the highest price remain the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Instead of rebuilding homes, reconstructing schools, restoring hospitals, and creating jobs, Hamas is holding leadership elections.Its priorities could not be clearer. Its leaders are busy securing their own political future while ordinary Palestinians continue living amid destruction.Hamas repeatedly insists that Palestinian suffering is a necessary sacrifice. Its leaders celebrate martyrdom while living comfortably abroad.This is precisely the mentality that Sinwar embraced. Al-Hayya has recently echoed the same rhetoric:“We tell the occupiers that we are the owners of a cause. Neither the killing of our children nor the martyrdom of our leaders will frighten us or instill fear in our hearts.”The election of al-Hayya should finally end the fantasy that Hamas may evolve into a political movement willing to coexist peacefully with Israel. It should also end the illusion that negotiations alone will persuade Hamas to disarm.Instead, the election confirms that Hamas remains committed to the same ideology, alliance with Iran, and strategy of perpetual jihad (holy war) that produced the October 7 massacre.A terrorist organization that can calmly elect a new leader nearly three years after committing one of the worst atrocities in modern history is not collapsing. It is adapting.That is why Hamas has no place in Gaza’s future – not as a government, not as a political party, and certainly not as an armed movement.Allowing Hamas to survive politically after October 7 would send a message to terrorist organizations and the Iranian regime: that committing mass murder carries no lasting consequences and that even after one of this century’s worst terrorist atrocities, its perpetrators can simply elect a new leader and carry on as before.The post Hamas’s new leader, same old jihad appeared first on World Israel News.