Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Monday with Israeli officials and pushed for a hostage and ceasefire deal as Democrats kicked off their convention in Chicago, with the goal of a deal by the end of the week.
President Joe Biden laid out the end-of-week goal on Saturday, and Blinken claimed that it was the “last opportunity” for an agreement — though it was not clear why, other than the political goal of reaching a deal during the convention.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Blinken, and told the media afterwards that Hamas, not Israel, was blocking a hostage deal:
We are surrounded by terror from four corners of the earth, and we are fighting back as a resilient and strong nation, and this also is reflected in the attitude of Hamas in the negotiations for the release of our hostages. Because one has to remember the refusal, the adamant refusal, and I’ve been following your statements on this for months, At the end, at the bottom line of it, people have to understand it starts with a refusal of Hamas to move forward.
In his own remarks following the meeting with Herzog, Blinken declined to blame Hamas, and put pressure on Israel:
I’m here as part of an intensive diplomatic effort on President Biden’s instructions to try to get this agreement to the line, and ultimately over the line. It’s time for it to get done. It’s also time to make sure that no one takes any steps that could derail this process. So we’re looking to make sure that there is no escalation, that there are no provocations, that there are no actions that in any way could move us away from getting this deal over the line, or for that matter, escalating the conflict to other places and to greater intensity.
Blinken added: “It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no.”
Getting to Yes is the title of a popular book on negotiation used in introductory negotiating classes, notably at Harvard University.
The Democratic Party platform, which was released Sunday evening and which names President Biden, not Vice President Kamala Harris, as the party’s candidate, calls for a hostage deal that “results in a durable end to the war in Gaza; and sets the stage for a lasting regional peace.”
Blinken later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. Netanyahu’s office issued a statement: “The meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary Antony Blinken has concluded; the meeting was positive and was held in a good atmosphere.
“The meeting lasted approximately three hours. The Prime Minister reiterated Israel’s commitment to the current American proposal on the release of our hostages, which takes into account Israel’s security needs, which he strongly insists on.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
