Biden admin’s politically motivated push for Gaza ceasefire may still be doomed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning from another trip to Israel. As the Israel-Hamas war ceasefire negotiations ebb and flow with no real progress, President Joe Biden’s administration is more desperate to get some result it can claim as a victory after three-and-a-half years of foreign policy failure. Blinken’s problem is that he pressures the wrong audience — Israeli officials – when he negotiates.

Ninth Trip to Israel for Blinken

Blinken began his ninth trip to the Israeli capital since Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack. After 11 months of fighting, not one of the chief US diplomat’s trips has brought the region closer to the end of the Israel-Hamas war. The New York Times report on the US ceasefire initiative explained the Foggy Bottom leader’s task this way:

“Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in Israel on Sunday [Aug. 18] to try to clinch a deal that could end the war in Gaza, even as the Middle East remained on edge amid the looming threat of wider regional conflict. The visit, part of an intensive diplomatic campaign led by the Biden administration, comes days after Israel’s negotiating team held talks in Qatar with senior American officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian representatives who are mediating between Israel and Hamas.”

However intensely the Biden-Harris foreign policy team wants Blinken to be successful, the obstacle in the ceasefire negotiations has consistently been Hamas. As in the past, the Iran-backed Hamas terrorist organization has rejected the latest ceasefire proposal. According to the Institute for the Study of War’s (ISW) Iran Update, August 18, 2024, Hamas objected to what it called “new conditions and demands” made by Israel. The sticking points were Israel’s not accepting a permanent ceasefire, not agreeing to the withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza, and Israel’s proposal to exchange all the hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinian leadership supports only the ceasefire-hostage plan it submitted; since the details of that have not been released to the public, its contents are unknown.

ISW reported that the United States offered a plan that would have Israel reduce some of its forces but retain a presence to monitor the movement of Palestinian Gazans back to their homes. Additionally, the Palestinian Authority would manage the Rafah border crossing with Israeli supervision. The Jewish state would release a “large” number of Palestinian prisoners in return for Hamas to release Israeli and other hostages. “Israel would retain the right to veto the release of at least 100 Palestinian prisoners that Hamas demands,” ISW explained. And Hamas continues to demand that it will have some residual participation in a Gaza government.

Jerusalem finds the last Hamas assumption to be delusional. As Liberty Nation News reported, “The post-fighting demands of Hamas reveal the terrorist organization’s total misunderstanding of its plight … If anyone has been listening to Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, they would know that Israel has no intention of leaving any remnant of Hamas to govern anything.” There is no indication that Israel will accept a ceasefire condition, leaving Hamas to reconstitute its forces and continue its attacks on Israel.

When Blinken landed in Tel Aviv, Israeli President Isaac Herzog greeted him, and each made remarks. Herzog opened with a reminder that Israel is not necessarily in the mood to be conciliatory. “In the last 24 hours, we have witnessed ongoing terror attacks by Palestinian terrorists. We have suffered the loss of Gideon Perry, a 38-year-old father of three, husband, a lover of music, who went to work in a plant and one of his pals in the working place decided to murder him simply because he’s a Jew and an Israeli – a very great tragedy,” Herzog observed. He went on to give an account of a possible suicide bomber in Tel Aviv and two soldiers being attacked on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Tel Aviv Discussions May Be Contentious

Herzog also gave Blinken some idea of what his follow-on discussion with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would entail. “At the end, at the bottom line of it, people have to understand it starts with the refusal of Hamas to move forward,” Herzog explained. During his opportunity to speak, Blinken revealed the urgency of his visit, counseling:

“And this is a decisive moment – probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security. But the focus of my visit is intensely on getting the hostages back, getting the ceasefire done. It is time for everyone to get to yes and to not look for any excuses to say no.”

Israel has no intention of negotiating a situation in which it faces the horrors of another Hamas terrorist attack. Consequently, if any progress is to be made in a ceasefire and hostage-Palestinian prisoner exchange, the Hamas terrorists must be the recipients of Blinken’s message. Otherwise, the top US diplomat can just count on more frequent flyer miles.

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