“It’s a line we’ve heard in countless movies and TV shows: a terrorist group hijacks a plane, kidnaps an American, or takes over something on U.S. soil, and the country’s leaders are discussing what to do. Usually, the president or someone else in the administration says that inevitable line: ‘We do not negotiate with terrorists!’
But if we are to believe a report from NBC, that’s not the case anymore. Or, as my colleague Ed Morrissey put it: ‘Old and busted: America doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. New hotness: We’d rather cut a deal with terrorists than support our ally.’
NBC is reporting that the White House is ready to work on a deal to get five hostages back from Hamas along with the remains of three dead hostages while leaving Israel out of the loop. Biden administration officials have discussed potentially negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans being held hostage in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current senior U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials. Such negotiations would not include Israel and would be conducted through Qatari intermediaries, as current talks have been, said the officials, all of whom have been briefed on the discussions.
Leave it to the administration that has gotten every foreign policy wrong to make a decision like this one. Only the misguided Biden administration would risk further alienating an important ally like Israel at a time like this.
‘The officials did not know what the United States might give Hamas in exchange for the release of American hostages,’ NBC reports. ‘But, the officials said, Hamas could have an incentive to cut a unilateral deal with Washington because doing so would likely further strain relations between the U.S. and Israel and put additional domestic political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.’
The timing of this move is curious after the IDF daringly rescued four hostages over the weekend. Rather than telling Israel to keep up the good work, the White House is considering going behind Israel’s back to negotiate with the terrorists who want to see Israel’s defeat. Additionally, as PJ Media’s Richard Fernandez shared on Saturday, CENTCOM is distancing itself from the good news, instead clarifying that the IDF didn’t use Biden’s precious pier to rescue the hostages.
There is no other explanation for this move than the administration’s attempts to further alienate Israel — especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It’s not the only move the administration is making against Israel this week: ‘Not only is this effort from Biden and Antony Blinken despicable, it’s incredibly stupid,’ Ed Morrissey wrote. ‘They want to reward Hamas for the October 7 massacre and want to punish the Israelis for grasping its existential import.’
Add this to the growing list of Biden’s foreign policy failures. ‘I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,’ former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said of Biden 10 years ago. Make that five decades because his treatment of Israel is shameful and wrong.”
