The Biden administration and the Kamala Harris campaign may have reached a wise resolution that would shield them against further mayhem in Gaza and from responsibility for said mayhem. According to the Washington Post, citing senior administration official, the United States has been in discussions with Egypt and Qatar about the framework of a final “take it or leave it” deal that it plans to present to Israel and Hamas in the coming weeks. If the two sides do not accept this proposal, it could signal the end of the American-led negotiations. Biden administration officials noted that it remains unclear whether the recent discovery of the six hostages will increase or decrease the likelihood of Israel and Hamas reaching an agreement in the coming weeks.
Biden is going to meet with his national security team on Monday morning to determine the strategy for the final push regarding the deal, a source familiar with the issue told Axios. Vice President Kamala Harris will join Biden during a meeting with the US hostage deal negotiating team on Monday, according to the White House schedule.
The senior administration official told The Post, “You can’t keep negotiating this. This process has to be called at some point,” and added, “Does it derail the deal? No. If anything, it should add additional urgency in this closing phase, which we were already in.”
Barak Ravid reported it was White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan who told family members of US hostages in Gaza about the “take it or leave it” deal. Sullivan and Middle East adviser Brett McGurk held a Zoom meeting with the families and told them they were unsure if a deal would be finalized but mentioned there was such a possibility, expressing hope that it could happen within the next two weeks, because in a few days, the US may present an updated version of its bridging proposal to both Israel and Hamas, giving the parties another week to respond with either a yes or no.
Sullivan and McGurk mentioned that the updated bridging text would include a US proposal concerning the Philadelphi corridor, which they hoped Egypt and Hamas could accept.
In a later statement, the families said that Sullivan informed them that “the next few days will be critical” in the efforts to free the hostages. They also emphasized that they urged Sullivan to ensure that all parties unite in demanding that Prime Minister Netanyahu finalize the deal with Hamas and bring the hostages home.
As always, it goes back to Bibi who must surrender to Hamas’s demands in southern Gaza, or else Biden and Harris would wash their hands of the entire thing.
One must ask, why are so many successful, educated grownups in two countries so eager to serve as Yahya Sinwar’s useful idiots?
