Thanks, Biden: Hamas Now Refuses to Budge on Hostage Talks
Ed Morrissey 10:00 AM | May 10, 2024

Incentives: How do they work again? Perhaps someone needs to explain that concept to the White House.

Republicans and no small number of Democrats (more on that in a moment) warned that Joe Biden's suspension of arms shipments to Israel would take pressure off Hamas in negotiations. It didn't take long before Hamas proved Biden's critics correct in an utterly predictable manner:

    Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a deal to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip and free hostages kidnapped on October 7 appeared to break up with no discernable progress, as the terror group said it had no intention of budging from a proposal already rejected by Israel. ...

    In a message to other Palestinian factions published by the group’s al-Aqsa TV mouthpiece Friday, Hamas said talks had ended after Israel “rejected the proposal submitted by the mediators and raised objections to it.”

    It said Hamas had decided to stick to the terms of the proposal it agreed to Monday, rejecting the possibility of making any concessions.

    “The ball is now completely in the hands of the occupation,” the statement read.

In fairness, why would Hamas budge from its current maximalist position? Israel's closest ally is publicly blaming PM Benjamin Netanyahu for the war that Hamas started. US negotiators have piled pressure on Israel to make more and more concessions, all without bothering to even scold Hamas over the American hostages it holds. Key Democrat leaders in the US have called for Netanyahu to resign to find more compliant politicians in Israel to help Hamas get what it wants out of the talks, and Biden publicly agreed with them.

And now Biden has begun cutting off arms shipments to force Israel to allow Hamas to survive in Rafah.

more
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2024/05/10/thanks-biden-hamas-now-refuses-to-budge-on-hostage-talks-n3788138

When is the Biden Admin going to hold Iran accountable for destablilizing the Middle East and derailing an Arab-Israeli peace agreement?

10:18 AMMay 10, 2024
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rrahman
Westerhout says she saw Trump sign things without reviewing them

 Westerhout told Trump attorney Susan Necheles that she would see Trump signing things without reviewing them.

The witness responded “definitely” when Necheles asked if the former president was a person who multi-tasked.

Prosecutors are attempting to persuade jurors that Trump’s signatures on the checks he is charged over is evidence of his personal knowledge of the hush money arrangements, also highlighting portions of his books that suggest his frugality.

But the defense has leveraged Westerhout and other witnesses to suggest to jurors that aides would constantly ask Trump to sign various documents while in the White House and didn’t actually know what he was signing.

Cross examination is now completed.

— Zach Schonfeld

Here is a list of countries with border walls as of 2021: (scroll down)

https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/evros_border_fence_reuters-scaled.jpg