Hamas’s slain leader and October 7 massacre mastermind Yahya Sinwar reportedly urged his negotiators to reject a hostage deal, pointing to the Biden-Harris administration’s increasing pressure on Israel over Gaza as strengthening his terror group’s position while undermining the Jewish state’s.
In a pivotal moment during negotiations this year, Sinwar instructed his team to reject a hostage deal, believing that growing pressure from the Biden-Harris administration to reduce Gaza’s humanitarian crisis would work in Hamas’ favor, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
As mediators worked to accelerate ceasefire negotiations, the Hamas head reportedly urged the organization’s political leaders based outside Gaza to resist making concessions, emphasizing that “high civilian casualties would create worldwide pressure on Israel,” according to the Journal.
Counting on the Biden-Harris administration’s shifting priorities, Sinwar sought to delay negotiations and exploit political divisions.
The report highlights a significant miscalculation in the Biden-Harris administration’s strategy: While pushing Israel to negotiate a hostage deal and simultaneously criticizing it over Gaza, the approach completely backfired. Sinwar interpreted the administration’s stance as a sign of weakness amid diminishing support for Israel, ultimately leading him to reject any compromise. By applying intense pressure on Israel for a deal, the administration thus empowered Hamas’s demands, derailing any chance for a workable agreement.
Critics were quick to respond to the report.
“The Biden-Harris administration emboldened Hamas,” journalist Daniel Greenfield wrote.
“The level of material support Obama-Biden-Harris provided to Iran and all of its tentacles of terror is incalculably high,” wrote author Benjamin Weingarten.
“Pressure on Israel, which Biden & Harris believed would lead to a deal, encouraged Sinwar to hold out for more,” wrote political analyst Michael Scott Doran. “Team Biden should have learned about this dynamic freshman year, in Negotiations 101, but they skipped the class to fulfill their DEI requirement instead.”
Throughout the current conflict, as Hamas prolonged negotiations, the Biden-Harris administration faced growing pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. This pressure, according to the report, emboldened Sinwar, as he believed Hamas, an Iranian-backed terror proxy, could leverage the dynamics to their advantage.
In August, Minnesota “squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar called for a “policy shift” on Israel and Gaza amid her fears of another Trump presidency, warning Harris that refusal to capitulate to her district’s massive radical pro-Palestinian “uncommitted” movement could cost Democrats the election.
With elections looming, the Biden-Harris team seems to have sought to balance between pandering to the growing anti-Israel base within the Democratic party and supporting Israel, a longtime U.S. ally.
Despite previous failed attempts to target Sinwar, Israeli forces eliminated him in October following months of efforts to locate him after the October 7 attacks, which left nearly 1,200 dead and more than 240 hostages taken, of which roughly 100 remain in Gaza.
The report comes as the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy has left the world in utter chaos and teetering on the brink of World War III — from the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal to the Israel-Hamas war — all while Russia, China, and Iran, once restrained under Trump’s tough stance, are emboldened, raising concerns that a Harris term would spell irreversible disaster.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned that the current administration’s “weakness” emboldened Iranian proxies, leading to catastrophic consequences across the Middle East. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also asserted that the Biden-Harris administration policies have “emboldened all the evil leaders of the world.”
World-renowned military historian and professor Dr. Victor Davis Hanson has long insisted that the election of a tough conservative president this year is all but ensured thanks to “useful Western idiots” supporting the Palestinian cause, who he argues have alienated many Americans.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
