Rep. Mike Waltz, who is set to become President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser, warned that those who take Americans hostage will think twice after January 20, as the consequences will be too severe to ignore. During a podcast conversation with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, Waltz pointed out that the four American hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza have been imprisoned longer than the Americans taken during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.

“That’s totally unacceptable, and I think writ large, there has never been enough consequences,” Waltz remarked. He emphasized the need for harsher measures against those who capture Americans, stating, “That’s what we need to be talking about with these people. [If] You take an American,… There is going to be all hell to pay. There are going to be nothing but consequences for you financially, and maybe even a bullet in your […] forehead.”

Looking ahead to the future, Waltz predicted that under Trump’s leadership, hostage-takers would reconsider their actions, saying, “The next time you think about it… a lot of these groups are going to say, ‘Woah, it’s just not worth it under Donald Trump.’”

Waltz elaborated further on the importance of sending a clear message to those who would take Americans hostage, adding, “If the bad guys are incentivized to take more because they keep getting more, then they’re going to keep doing it. If the bad guys feel nothing but cost and pain for taking our people, they’re going to stop doing it,” summarizing the strategy.

Later in the interview, Waltz praised Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their bold and effective operation that simultaneously disabled Hezbollah’s communication systems, resulting in thousands of Hezbollah operatives being injured. “There’s going to be some amazing movie about that one day — one of the gutsiest, most effective covert action ops in modern history. Because of that, taking down Hezbollah, [which] everybody said couldn’t be done and would be too provocative — [it] expos[ed] Iran’s air defenses so that they literally are naked right now and on their back foot,” Waltz stated, aligning himself with Netanyahu’s narrative while also highlighting the growing isolation of Hamas.

He concluded by asserting that Hamas now faces limited options, noting, “Hamas has every exit blocked except one, and that’s to release our hostages if you want to live,” signaling that Hamas’s situation is dire.

{Matzav.com}