From Joel B. Pollak’s Friday article at breitbart.com:
President Joe Biden announced a proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas on Friday — but its terms repeat those that Hamas has already rejected in recent weeks.
Biden spoke after the onset of the Jewish Sabbath in Israel, meaning that the Israeli government would not be able to respond to his comments, at least officially, for about 24 hours.
He claimed that Israel had offered the new deal, and that it had been transferred, via Qatari mediators, to Hamas. However, he later criticized members of the Israeli government who, he said, opposed the terms.
The Times of Israel said it was unclear whether the Israeli government had actually accepted the terms.
The proposed deal, Biden said, would have three phases:
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- A six-week ceasefire, in which some hostages would be released, including the five American hostages. Israel would release a certain number of Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian civilians would be able to return to their homes all over Gaza, and humanitarian aid would be surged into the territory for distribution to those civilians.
- Negotiations would begin for a permanent ceasefire, and the temporary ceasefire would continue even past the six-week deadline, as long as talks were ongoing. All remaining hostages would be freed if talks were successful.
- A program for the major reconstruction of Gaza would be implemented, and remains of dead hostages returned.
From Joel B. Pollak’s Saturday article at breitbart.com:
Reactions from parties in Israel’s governing coalition confirmed Saturday that U.S. President Joe Biden lied to the world when he claimed a proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal had come from the Israeli government.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden presented a three-part proposal on Friday and claimed, four times, that it was Israel’s proposal,
Biden waited until the onset of the Jewish Sabbath to make his remarks, making it more difficult for the Israeli government to respond. Notably, the proposal did not call for the destruction or disarmament of Hamas, and Biden told Israelis in his speech that they could not expect “total victory.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued two separate statements indicating that Biden’s proposal was not, in fact, Israel’s proposal. Former President Barack Obama let slip that the proposal was actually Biden’s, and not Israel’s proposal.
Hamas, however, reacted favorably, since the deal would allow the terror group to survive.
As the Sabbath ended, two of the right-wing parties in Netanyahu’s coalition blasted the deal and said they would not be part of any government that allowed Hamas to survive the war, nor agree to a deal that would do the same.
It was a confirmation that the so-called Israeli “proposal” had not, in fact, been proposed by the Israeli government at all.
Biden’s intent appears to have been to box Israel into a deal that Hamas would have approved, making it harder for Israel to reject it.
If you support Israel, and/or if you support a president who has even a scintilla of honesty or integrity, this should make you sick to your stomach.
If you don’t support either, congratulations to the Biden administration and its tlaib/omar/ocasio-cortez wing (which seems, more and more, to be in charge) are in order.
Your call.
