Israel Pulls Negotiators After Hamas Rejection, Blames US & UN

Chalk up another failure in Joe Biden’s strategic diplomacy. After ramping up pressure on Israel to give his administration more credibility in Dearborn as well as in Qatar, Biden and his team allowed the UN Security Council to pass a cease-fire demand without the condition of Hamas releasing the hostages it kidnapped. Supposedly, this momentum would press Israel to offer more concessions and allow Hamas to moderate its hardline demands.

And Lucy would really let Charlie Brown kick the football, too! 

No … not really:

Palestinian terror group Hamas said Monday night that it informed mediators seeking the release of Israeli hostages that it will stick to its original position on demanding a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, a return of displaced Palestinians and a “real” exchange of “prisoners” — demands Israel has already rejected as delusional. …

Hamas claimed in a statement on Monday that Israel “did not respond to any of the basic demands of our people and our resistance (Hamas): a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, and a real exchange of prisoners.” The statement appeared to constitute a rejection of the latest proposal on offer in Doha, where Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks via mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

The only people surprised by this development would work in either the White House or at Turtle Bay. The conundrum hasn’t changed since the eight-day pause in late November. Hamas will not give up its hostages or its human shields, nor will it ever agree to leave Gaza, because they remain convinced that Israel wants an excuse to stop fighting — and/or that the US and West will force Israel to withdraw without any concessions. Hamas also doesn’t give a rat’s ass what happens to the civilians in this war, a point they have proven every day since seizing total control of Gaza in the 2006 elections. 

Concessions don’t make Hamas more reasonable. They make them more aggressive in using that leverage for ultimate victory. That’s why it used to be Western policy to refuse to negotiate with terrorists, let alone offer them concessions that rewarded their terror tactics and strategies.

Instead, Hamas hasn’t moderated its demands a bit. They have re-escalated them to their previous maximalist positions.  Hamas’ leadership senses weakness and want to use it to isolate Israel as much as possible — and appear to have outplayed Biden and Antony Blinken in doing so.

Having been knifed in the back by both the US and UN, Israel pulled out of talks in Qatar today. And they didn’t do so quietly, either:

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Hamas’s decision to reject a US-brokered compromise is “clear proof it is not interested in continuing talks, and a sad testament to the damage caused by the UN Security Council resolution,” referring to a call for a ceasefire passed Monday night that the US did not veto, thus enabling its passage. …

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a radio interview Tuesday morning that the US decision to withhold a veto on the Security Council resolution would hurt Israel in talks to free its hostages.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a radio interview Tuesday morning that the US decision to withhold a veto on the Security Council resolution would hurt Israel in talks to free its hostages. …

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday that the US decision gave Hamas reason to believe “they’re going to get a ceasefire without giving up the hostages.”

The White House is still whining about Netanyahu today. They’re claiming that the Russia-China cease-fire resolution still mentioned the hostages and that the Israelis could have adopted their own passive view of it. Blaming Israel ignores a lot of recent context in the US, however:

“It seems like the Prime Minister’s Office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in a press briefing.

Oh really? The “perception of daylight” started yesterday at the UN, and not when Chuck Schumer demanded new elections in Israel over the direction of the war? And not when Joe Biden announced his support for Schumer’s speech a couple of days later? Or when Kamala Harris declared the day before the UNSC vote that the US had not ruled out “consequences” for Israel if they moved forward to finish the war Hamas started by destroying their brigades in Rafah?

Kirby disgraces himself with this sophistry. It has become very clear that Biden’s a lot more worried about Dearborn than about the survival of an ally under constant attack for almost two decades by a barbaric terrorist army. The White House has done nothing to demand our own hostages back, or to hold Hamas accountable for kidnapping them while murdering thirty-plus Americans on October 7. It’s not the Israelis creating a ‘perception of daylight,’ but Biden and the rest of the Kabul Bug-Out authors making sure everyone sees the ‘daylight’ they’re creating from Israel. 

Perhaps this time the Israelis have had enough. Dermer suggested, in the most diplomatic way possible, that theUS should basically STFU and get ready for the inevitable in Rafah. And unless Hamas suddenly decides to capitulate and leave the territory, that advice will likely apply to everyone.