Has the Biden administration forgotten the injunction to never negotiate with terrorists?
With the White House seeking to placate Hamas while censuring Israel for having the gall to defend itself, it seems the administration has embraced the exact opposite of that old wisdom.
In her daily briefing on Monday, underqualified White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre only supported that impression with her words on a possible deal with Hamas.
A reporter asked her about President Joe Biden’s Sunday call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The significant focus of that … call was obviously on securing the release of all … hostages and paving the way to a prolonged cease-fire that would provide relief to the people of Gaza,” Jean-Pierre said.
“In recent days, there has been new progress in talks, and currently, the onus is indeed on Hamas,” she said.
Oh really?
Well, there’s no way that could possibly backfire.
“There is a deal on the table, and they need to take it,” Jean-Pierre said. “We believe that all efforts need to be brought to bear to convince Hamas to accept the proposal immediately.”
She wrapped it up by saying, “It is a priority to get to a cease-fire. And is obviously … a priority to get that all-important humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
The Jerusalem Post reported the initial deal would include the release of 40 hostages in exchange for a six-week “pause” in Israel’s offensive against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, launched following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which 1,200 people, most of them civilians, were killed.
Speaking Monday at the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said, “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily — extraordinarily — generous on the part of Israel. And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urges #Hamas to accept ‘generous’ ceasefire deal
‘The only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas’ pic.twitter.com/0Z5Xkc9S8E
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 30, 2024
Now, all that probably sounded like good news, but the flaws in this proposed course of action should be immediately apparent.
For one thing, Hamas has its own demands that go far beyond anything Israel would ever accept.
One of the group’s leaders, Khalil al-Hayya, told Al-Jazeera last week that Hamas “will not accept a truce without a permanent ceasefire and a complete halt of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip,” the Arab outlet reported.
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In addition, al-Hayya said the group insisted upon the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, the reconstruction of Gaza and the “unhindered return” of Palestinians to their homes there.
Beyond that, negotiating with terrorists makes a country look weak.
Negotiating with Hamas — depending on its goodwill for peace in the region — would be a tacit admission that the group’s brutal methods worked and were good tactics for achieving what it wanted.
No government should ever be in a position to send that kind of message to a terrorist group.
Further, there hasn’t been any indication that Hamas wouldn’t attack Israeli citizens again.
After all, Hamas and Israel have agreed to cease-fires in the past, and the only significant result of those was the Oct. 7 attack that started this war.
Why has the Biden administration been working so hard on a deal that probably wouldn’t even last?
The fact that Jean-Pierre could prattle on about this proposed deal with a terrorist group as if it were a good thing — as if it would actually solve anything in the region — was nothing short of shameful.
Unfortunately, with Biden at the helm and desperate to placate the virulently anti-Israel segment of the Democratic Party in an election year, it was depressingly predictable.
