Biden Claimed For Months That Gaza Ceasefire Was In Sight — Now His Own Officials Reportedly Think It’s A Pipe Dream
Even after multiple assurances from President Joe Biden over recent weeks and months that an Israel-Hamas ceasefire could be right around the corner, U.S. officials are reportedly privately starting to concede that he won’t be able to help secure a deal before his term ends.
Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 sparked a broader regional war and sent an already chaotic Middle East further into turmoil, prompting the Biden-Harris administration to try to pursue diplomatic solutions to end the conflict and reduce tensions between Arab states. Biden has routinely touted his efforts to secure a ceasefire agreement and hinted on several occasions that a deal was close at hand, but these efforts have largely been fruitless — and now U.S. officials are beginning to believe that it may be impossible to secure anything before Biden leaves office, given the roadblocks that remain between Israel and Hamas, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. (RELATED: Israel Keeps Foot On Pedal, Reportedly Goes After Terrorist Wanted By US For Bombing Marine Barracks In 1983)
“No deal is imminent,” one of the U.S. officials told the WSJ. “I’m not sure it ever gets done.”
The private concerns that a deal is out of reach aren’t fully reflected in public statements recently made by Biden officials, who have maintained that an agreement is still on the table while expressing frustration with Hamas’ obstinance in negotiations. A senior administration official told reporters in early September that “90 percent” of the deal had been agreed to between Israel and Hamas, which White House spokesman John Kirby reaffirmed during a press briefing on Wednesday.
But former State Department official Gabriel Noronha told the Daily Caller News Foundation that it’s often the remaining, narrower aspects of such a deal that are the hardest to resolve.
“Generally, you take care of the easier-to-agree items first, and the last items are the ones that are the hardest,” Noronha told the DCNF, pointing to disputes over whether Israel should keep some troops in Gaza as one of the sticking points of a deal. “Those are the tough items.”
In recent weeks and months, Biden has seemed more positive about reaching a ceasefire agreement. Biden told reporters at the end of August that he was “optimistic” a deal could soon be reached because most of the terms had been agreed to and that talks were continuing between Arab partners.
Biden said weeks earlier that he “may have something” on a deal but didn’t want to “jinx it,” claiming that his team was “closer than we’ve ever been” to securing an agreement.
“It’s much, much closer than it was three days ago. So, keep your fingers crossed,” Biden told reporters on Aug. 16.
Biden had been adamant for months that a ceasefire was needed urgently, putting forward his own proposal for a deal in May, which has yet to be accepted, and before that warning that a deal had to be reached by March, which never happened. Even as early as February, Biden was predicting that a ceasefire could be reached within days.
“Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend — I mean the end of the weekend [that a deal will be reached],” Biden told reporters in February.
In the last couple of months, U.S. officials have become increasingly pessimistic that a deal could be reached, largely due to Hamas, which has been stubborn in negotiations and set unrealistic terms for an agreement. Hamas has frequently set new demands for proposals — and after the U.S. and Israel agree to the terms, the terrorist group still rejects offers, according to the WSJ.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with the families of the remaining American hostages in Gaza on Wednesday, relaying the current status of negotiations and reaffirming that Biden won’t stop until their relatives are brought home, according to Hostage Aid Worldwide. But the families “expressed frustration with the lack of tangible progress and stressed that everyone needs to play a larger role in reaching an agreement.”
Adding to the complications are Israel’s tensions with Iran, and its terror proxy group, Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Iran have engaged in either direct or indirect skirmishes with Israel since the war broke out last October. Israel is suspected of carrying out a highly-targeted, remote attacks against Hezbollah in recent days, prompting warnings of retaliation from the terrorist group, which is already engaged in cross-fire skirmishes with Israel over the Israeli-Lebanese border.
“There’s no chance now of [a deal] happening,” an Arab official told the WSJ following the attacks in Lebanon this week. “Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode until after the election. The outcome will determine what can happen in the next administration.”
With the convoluted rift between Israel and Hamas over a deal and the compounding factors emanating from Hezbollah and Iran, the Biden-Harris administration has too little control over negotiations at this stage in the game, and it’s unlikely that any deal will be reached between now and the end of Biden’s term, Noronha told the DCNF.
“They’re probably not going to get one before the election, or before January either. But that’s not on them, per se. It speaks to the difficulty of how far apart [Israel and Hamas] are,” Noronha said.
Still, securing a ceasefire agreement in Gaza would represent a notable success for Biden’s foreign policy approach and potentially unlock the possibility of broader regional peace. A deal could pave the way for talks to open up between Israel and Saudi Arabia over establishing formal diplomatic ties, although Saudi Arabia has said such relations aren’t possible until Israel agrees to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
For the time being, the U.S. is continuing to help broker negotiations between Israel, Egypt, Qatar and Hamas negotiators, with a specific focus on how to overcome the hurdles currently barring a deal from being reached — if it is even possible at this juncture.
“We have run into some resistance,” Kirby told reporters Wednesday. “And we’re just not … any closer today than we were a few days ago.”
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‘Real Ground To Make Up’: ABC Political Director Warns ‘Kamala Harris Has Issues’ With Hispanic Voters
Vice President Kamala Harris is struggling compared to past Democratic candidates among Hispanic voters, which could cost her key states in November, ABC News Political Director Rick Klein said Sunday.
Harris led former President Donald Trump by 17% among likely Hispanic voters in an ABC News poll released September 15. Klein said that the vice president’s margin meant Trump could win Arizona and Nevada.
“Right now, our latest polling shows a solid lead among Latino voters for Kamala Harris, 17 points in our latest ABC-Ipsos poll from just a couple of days ago, but that isn’t nearly the edge she has among black voters or Asian voters and it isn’t nearly the edge that previous Democratic candidates for president have had — 30-plus point advantage for Joe Biden in the exit polls among Latino voters from four years ago,” Klein told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.
“Hillary Clinton won Latino voters by 40 points and, of course, she still lost the presidency, so there’s some real ground to make up across demographics, but particularly with Latino voters. Kamala Harris has issues that she’s got to attend to,” Klein added.
Trump picked up substantial support among Hispanic voters in polling before President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection July 21, due in part to issues like immigration and the economy. Harris has regained some support from Hispanic voters since replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.
The U.S. Border Patrol encountered nearly 7.4 million illegal immigrants since the start of fiscal year 2021, according to figures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Trump trails Harris by 2.2% in the RealClearPolling average of polls from September 3 to 18, with the vice president’s lead increasing to an average of 2.6% when Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, independent candidate Cornel West and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver are included in surveys.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/09/22/abc-kamala-harris-issues-hispanic-voters/
****************************************************‘That’s Enormous’: Steve Kornacki Describes Massive ‘Gender Gap’ Between Trump, Harris In New Poll
NBC National Political Reporter Steve Kornacki said during a “Meet the Press” appearance that Vice President Kamala Harris is benefiting from a significant “gender gap” among voters in a new poll.
Harris leads former President Donald Trump, 49% to 44% in a new NBC poll released Sunday, with her lead expanding to six points when third-party candidates are included. Kornacki noted that the lead was powered by Harris leading Trump among women, which “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker said “completely reshaped” the campaign after Biden announced he would not seek reelection July 21
“One of the things powering that lead, we should note, too there is a pretty pronounced gender gap. Harris, among women, is leading in our poll by 21 polls,” Kornacki told Welker. “Among men, Trump is leading by 12. That is a 33-point gender gap. That’s enormous what we’re seeing right here.”
“Take a look at this, too, the debate, of course, happening in the last couple of weeks,” Kornacki continued, referencing the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis. “Nearly 30% said that debate made them more likely to support Harris, much smaller number for Trump, that might be helping her as well here, and then there’s this: the view, the overall perception of Kamala Harris. Remember, before she got in the race there was a lot of talk that her numbers didn’t look better than Biden’s. She was 32 positive, 50 negative before getting in this race and now this is what you see.”
Harris currently leads Trump by 1.9% in the RealClearPolling average of polls from September 3 to 18, with her lead increasing to 2.1% when Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, independent candidate Cornel West and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver are included in surveys. The averages did not include the NBC poll as of Sunday morning. (RELATED: MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki Claims Harris Provides ‘More Paths For Democrats’ To Win)
“We have to pause here, because this is the largest increase that we’ve seen for any politician since George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11th attacks on this issue,” Welker gushed after Kornacki showed a graphic showing 48% of respondents to the NBC poll viewed Harris favorably compared to 45% who viewed her unfavorably.
The NBC poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted Sept. 13-17, with a 3.1% margin of error.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/09/22/steve-kornacki-gender-gap-voters-trump-harris-poll/
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