Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wronged “the hostages and their families” by blaming the United States for Hamas’s refusal to agree to a ceasefire deal to release the captives, Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team has said.
“That statement is inaccurate in almost every respect and it is unfair to the hostages and their families,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.
Netanyahu’s team asserted that Hamas rejected a “compromise” proposal to secure the release of hostages after the United States declined to veto a United Nations Security Council resolution that the terrorist organization has celebrated.
Miller’s rebuke is the latest sign of tensions between President Joe Biden’s administration and Netanyahu.
“We will not play politics with this most important and difficult issue, and we will remain focused on a deal to free the remaining hostages,” an unnamed senior Biden administration official added to the Times of Israel.
Miller’s rebuke is not the first time that a State Department official has taken another government to task for making statements that imply a hostage deal is more easily achieved than the U.S. believes. When Iran claimed last year that a deal to secure the release of U.S. citizens in Iran was near at hand, Miller’s predecessor called it an “especially cruel lie that only adds to the suffering of their families.”
The latest controversy coincides with a pair of reports that underscore the vulnerability of the hostages. One Israeli woman, Amit Soussana, went on record to state that she was sexually assaulted by a Hamas terrorist prior to her release during a November truce.
“She speaks for all the victims of Hamas’s despicable sexual crimes and abuse. She speaks for all women everywhere,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog posted on social media. “The whole world has the moral duty to stand with Amit — and all the victims — in condemning Hamas’s brutal terror, and in demanding the immediate return of all the hostages.”
In parallel, the family of another hostage, Uriel Baruch, announced that he was murdered in Gaza.
Netanyahu has faced domestic political backlash in recent months from the families of hostages and their advocates, who suspect that his government is deprioritizing the liberation of their loved ones in favor of other war aims.
“We’re celebrating Passover soon, the holiday of freedom, what freedom? What freedom are we talking about?” Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of a hostage, said during a Tuesday protest. “One woman told us what she experienced there — what is happening to the other 19? … It is your responsibility, Netanyahu, to bring them home, whatever the cost.”
Netanyahu has maintained that military pressure is the only effective leverage to induce Hamas to release hostages.
“It’s agonizing [for the families of the hostages],” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dormer told Dan Senor last week. “And words that could very much comfort them might actually be counterproductive [to] getting their loved ones out.”
Hamas touted the passage of the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire as proof that Israel’s diplomatic position is weakening on the international stage.
“Although this resolution came late and there may be some gaps that need to be filled, the resolution itself indicates that the Israeli occupation is experiencing unprecedented political isolation,” Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday in Iran.
Haniyeh met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who suggested that “the patience of people in Gaza” has given Hamas time for global opinion to turn against Israel.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran would never hesitate to support the Palestinian cause and the oppressed and resilient people of Gaza,” Khamenei said, according to Iranian state media.
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Miller, the State Department spokesman, said that Hamas decided to reject the ceasefire deal prior to the passage of the resolution.
“That [Hamas] response was prepared before the U.N. Security Council vote, not after it,” Miller said. “So for the United States, we are not going to engage in rhetorical distractions on this issue. We are going to continue to work to try to bring the hostages home.”