Top House Armed Services Dem: Biden’s Israel Threat ‘Took Pressure off of Hamas’ and Decreased Odds of CeasefireIan Hanchett 11 May 2024
On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold certain weapons from Israel if it goes into Rafah’s population centers “doesn’t help” and “took pressure off of Hamas, when it shouldn’t have.”
Co-host John Berman asked, “Do you agree with the policy of threatening to withhold certain weapons if Israel goes further into Rafah?”
Smith responded, “I don’t think he should have done it publicly. I think the private conversations were very appropriate. I think the other possibility is end-use restrictions. We’ve done that, for instance, in Ukraine, here [are] your weapons, can’t fire into Russia.”
Berman then cut in to ask, “Why don’t you think he should have done it publicly?”
Smith answered, “Because, look, the biggest block to a ceasefire right now is Hamas. And that’s being largely underreported. There has been a ceasefire agreement on the table for months, which the President brokered, to allow for the return of hostages and a temporary ceasefire. Hamas has blocked that and said, no, Israel has to completely withdraw, permanent ceasefire, and oh, by the way, we’re only going to return some of the hostages over an extended period of time. That offer’s been on the table. We have to keep the pressure on Hamas to agree to that ceasefire.”
Berman then asked, “So, what then, does making the public threat to withhold weapons do?”
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