National Security spokesman John Kirby appeared on ABC’s "This Week" on Sunday and admitted that negotiations for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire are basically going nowhere. The completely unsurprising reason? Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unwilling to negotiate "in good faith." Imagine that, a terrorist is being difficult. Who could have predicted such a thing?
Kirby responded to a question by one of our least favorite journalists, George Stephanopoulos:
STEPHANOPOULOS: It appears that the Gaza ceasefire talks have gone cold. Is that right?
KIRBY: I would say that we are not achieving any progress here in the last week to two weeks. We have -- not for lack of trying, but it doesn’t appear, like Mr. Sinwar is prepared at all to keep negotiating in good faith, especially after he murdered six hostages in a tunnel.
So, I mean, just an execution style. So, it doesn’t appear as if he’s willing to move this -- move this forward.
Watch:
Kirby was asked whether escalation was inevitable. He’s still hoping for diplomacy despite all the Biden-Harris administration's failed attempts at securing a deal:
KIRBY: We believe that there are better ways to try to get those Israeli citizens back in their homes up in the north, and to keep those that are there, there safely, than a war, than an escalation, than opening up a second front there at that border with Lebanon against Hezbollah.
We still believe that there can be time and space for a diplomatic solution here, and that's what we're working on.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Working on that, but how so? Because we just heard Prime Minister Netanyahu right there seems to be disregarding whatever the United States is calling for.
KIRBY: Well, look, the prime minister can speak for himself and what policy he's trying to pursue, what operations he's trying to conduct. We all, of course, recognize that the tensions are much higher now than they were even just a few days ago. We certainly have been monitoring the reports of strikes back and forth across that border.
The reality is that negotiating with terrorists like Hamas never seems to work out well. You can give in to their excessive demands and release all your prisoners—who will then go on to kill more people—or you can just unilaterally stand down and call it a “ceasefire.”
There is one deal, however, that would end the conflict immediately: Hamas releases all the hostages and disarms. All these chats with murderers, even as they continue to kill hostages, seem like roads to nowhere.