On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said the media have downplayed how much Hamas has blocked a ceasefire and specifically called out The New York Times for its reporting on Hamas supposedly accepting a ceasefire offer close to what Israel wanted that “wasn’t even close.”
Smith stated that “the biggest block to a ceasefire right now is Hamas. And that’s being largely underreported. There has been a ceasefire agreement on the table for months, which the President brokered, to allow for the return of hostages and a temporary ceasefire. Hamas has blocked that and said, no, Israel has to completely withdraw, permanent ceasefire, and oh, by the way, we’re only going to return some of the hostages over an extended period of time.”
Later, in response to a question on if President Joe Biden’s public threat to Israel over an invasion of Rafah’s population centers, “disincentivizes Hamas from making a deal, some kind of a pause?” Smith said, “Look, some of the broader reporting on this is part of the problem too. The New York Times initially reported, Hamas agrees to a ceasefire, and it’s largely what Israel was asking for. That’s not what it was. It wasn’t even close. A lot of the global reporting has under[reported] the problems that Hamas is presenting, and I think that’s a problem.”
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