President Joe Biden claimed on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a deal to free hostages from Hamas.
Biden made the critique as he returned to the White House from a two-week vacation in California and at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The president said that negotiations for a deal to free over 100 hostages believed to be held by Hamas are “very close” to a deal. He added at “hope springs eternal” that a deal will be reached.
Biden was asked if Netanyahu is doing enough to secure the deal, and the president responded: “No.”
Q: Do you think Netanyahu is doing enough?
BIDEN: No pic.twitter.com/IGz44B6M3B
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 2, 2024
An Israeli official pushed back, suggesting that Biden should be applying pressure to Hamas to cut a deal and release the hostages instead of Israel. Israel has maintained that it cannot accept a deal that would foreclose the destruction of Hamas as an organization.
“It is puzzling that President Biden is pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to the U.S. proposal as early as May 31 and to the U.S. bridging proposal on August 16, and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who continues to vehemently refuse any deal,” the Israeli official said. The official added that Biden’s remark “is especially dangerous when it is made just days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, including an American citizen.”
🚨🚨A senior Israeli source said "it is puzzling that President Biden is pressing Prime Minister Netanyahu, who agreed to the U.S. proposal as early as May 31 and to the U.S. bridging proposal on August 16, and not Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who continues to vehemently refuse any… https://t.co/7ndO8iZEEr
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) September 2, 2024
The comments from Biden come after Israeli troops found the body of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken captive by Hamas on October 7. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers found Goldberg-Polin’s body along with those of five other hostages in a tunnel underneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday.
The Israeli military said the hostages were killed shortly before their bodies were discovered. Hamas published videos of the six dead hostages on Monday in an attempt to increase pressure on Israel for a ceasefire deal, according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior analyst Joe Truzman.
“Hamas published footage of the six Israeli captives who were murdered by the group in recent days. The propaganda video demonstrates that Hamas is attempting to exploit the current unrest in Israel in order to force a ceasefire deal on their terms,” Truzman said in a post on social media.
Hamas published footage of the six Israeli captives who were murdered by the group in recent days. The propaganda video demonstrates that Hamas is attempting to exploit the current unrest in Israel in order to force a ceasefire deal on their terms.
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 2, 2024
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Netanyahu and the Israeli government for months earlier this year to halt military operations in Rafah, where Goldberg-Polin and the other dead hostages were discovered and where Israeli forces have rescued at least nine other hostages from Hamas terrorists.
“We have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake,” Harris said in an interview in March.
In May, Biden said in an interview on CNN: “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem.”
Prior to the interview, the Biden administration suspended a weapons shipment to Israel that contained 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs.
