White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a press briefing Monday that “Hamas is the main obstacle” to a hostage deal that would lead to a ceasefire — despite the administration’s pressure on Israel.
Last week, President Joe Biden attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, claiming that he was not doing enough to advance a hostage deal, after Hamas murdered six hostages, including U.S. citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
But as Netanyahu noted in a press conference, the Biden administration itself had noted on several occasions that Israel had compromised to agree to the terms for a deal that the White House had proposed — and Hamas had not.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre added, later in Monday’s briefing, that while the murder of the six hostages highlighted the “urgency” of a hostage deal, Hamas had been the obstacle to negotiations.
Jean-Pierre also confirmed reports that Hamas had added new demands for a ceasefire deal.
The New York Times reported last week: “recently added new demands for the release of hostages, asking for more Palestinian prisoners to be released in the opening phase of any agreement.”
Hamas previously claimed that Israel had added to its own conditions for a deal.
The Biden administration had been set to offer — or impose — a “final” version of a proposed hostage-and-ceasefire deal, but it is unclear whether it will actually do so, lest it be seen as rewarding Hamas’s murder of the hostages.
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.
