By The New York Post Editorial Board
Hamas announced with great fanfare that it had accepted a ceasefire proposal. There were celebrations in Gaza, and the White House said it was “reviewing” the deal.
Except: The Israelis knew nothing about it.
The supposed agreement wasn’t even on the table. Hamas had changed the terms of a previous treaty to one more favorable to the terror group. To take just one horrific alteration: Rather than turn over hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, Hamas would surrender dead bodies of the hostages it had killed.
That Hamas would try to pull this ruse, with the help of negotiators in Egypt and Qatar, is typical. It wants to pretend that Israel was the one “rejecting” a ceasefire it never knew about. Anti-Israel protesters in the US and a compliant media would eat it up, and they did.
But there’s a shameful twist. Axios reports that the US was aware of the Hamas deal but did not brief Israeli officials.
“Two Israeli officials said the feeling is that ‘Israel got played’ by the U.S. and the mediators who drafted ‘a new deal’ and weren’t transparent about it,” the outlet says.
Just as those same officials are willing to give Iran everything and more for the terrible nuclear deal, so Biden would bend over backwards for Hamas if only it will placate the Israel-haters on his left.
It’s no wonder Israel decided to begin its Rafah operation last night. When its supposed “closest ally” doesn’t have its back, it has no choice. Israel must stop this threat to its existence.
Biden could have been a partner in that. Instead, he went down in ignominy as a traitor to a friend.
{Matzav.com}
