U.S. Secretary of State Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on Saturday made a stunning admission explaining how U.S. pressure on Israel emboldened the terrorist group Hamas and made it toughen its stance on the issue of hostage release.
Whenever there was open disagreement between the U.S. and Israel, Hamas backtracked on hostage release, the outgoing secretary of state acknowledged.
“Whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel,” he said an interview with The New York Times. “[W]e’ve seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of hostages.”
Blinken’s shocking admission was met with sharp criticism in the Israeli press. The newspaper Israel Hayom commented: “Now, as the hostage release deal nears completion, the cat is out of the bag,” In an interview with The New York Times, acknowledged the damage that American pressure on Israel caused to the hostage release efforts.”
Noting Blinken’s own role in weakening Israel’s negotiating position, prominent Israeli author and commentator Caroline Glick wrote that “Blinken himself has devoted most of his energies to pressuring and castigating Israel.”
Glick commented in her Sunday’s column for the Jewish New Syndicate (JNS):
The hostages have been held in Gaza for 457 days. And the question of why they are still there, why has Israel been unable to bring them home, gets asked with increased frustration and alarm every day from all quarters.On Saturday, we received an answer to that question. Shortly after news broke of the release of the video of Liri Albag, The New York Times published an interview with outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken. Blinken said that Hamas has refused to agree to release the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire for two reasons.Under harsh questioning from the Times’ anti-Israel reporter Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Blinken revealed that U.S. pressure on Israel began immediately after Oct. 7, 2023, and became a central feature of U.S. policy in relation to the war from its very earliest days. From the outset, the provision of unlimited supplies to Gaza—euphemistically referred to as humanitarian aid—has been the constant focus of U.S. pressure on Israel.Almost immediately after the Oct. 7 invasion, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced a siege of Gaza. The move was self-explanatory. The Gazans had taken 256 Israelis hostage to Gaza. So long as they weren’t released, Gaza would remain under siege. Siege warfare has long been considered one of the most humane, least destructive forms of warfare, and it is legal under the laws of war.
Hamas was also hoping to drag Israel into a wider regional conflict, Blinken told the NYT:
“There have been two major impediments, and they both go to what drives Hamas. One has been whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel and the perception that pressure was growing on Israel, we’ve seen it: Hamas has pulled back from agreeing to a ceasefire and the release of hostages.“The other thing that got Hamas to pull back was their belief, their hope that there would be a wider conflict, that Hezbollah would attack Israel, that Iran would attack Israel, that other actors would attack Israel, and that Israel would have its hands full and Hamas could continue what it was doing.”
Blinken’s made those remarks as Hamas on Saturday released another propaganda video showing a distressed Israeli female hostage. Liri Albag, a 19-year-old girl who has been in Hamas captivity for 457 days, was shown trembling and weeping in a 3-minute video released by the terrorist group.
In recent months, Hamas has released a series of hostage videos in a bid to pressure Israel into agreeing to a ceasefire without committing to release all the hostages. “Hostage videos released by Hamas are part of the terror organization’s ongoing engagement in psychological warfare,” the Jerusalem Post noted.
During the latest round of negotiations, the Gaza-based terrorist group has refused to name the living hostages in its captivity. Hamas holds nearly 100 Israeli hostages taken on October 7, 2023. According to official Israeli sources, 64 hostages are still believed to be alive after 15 months of captivity under inhuman conditions.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) eliminated a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist who infiltrated Israel on October 7. Sa’ed Saeed Zaki Dahnoun, a PIJ terror commander, was killed in “close-quarters combat” in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the military said.
The slain terrorist was a “Company Commander and Deputy Head of the Rocket Array in the northern Gaza Strip for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization,” the IDF revealed in a press statement Sunday. He “infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the brutal massacre on October 7th. Additionally, he planned and led several ambushes against our troops in the Beit Lahia area.”
The Israel military reportedly is continuing with its operation to destroy Syrian military assets the wake of the fall of the Assad regime. Israeli airstrikes and special ground operations come as jihadst groups consolidate power in a post-Assad era.
“The Israeli military struck military bases in Damascus, Syria, according to local reports,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Sunday evening. The IDF did not comment on the latest reports.
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