Biden is criticized for putting pressure on Netanyahu rather than Hamas terrorists after the murder of Jewish hostages

JERUSALEM – President Biden’s terse “no” answer to a question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip sparked a storm of criticism.

Biden made the brief remark on Monday as he entered the Situation Room, where he and Vice President Harris were meeting with a hostage negotiating team following the murder of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas on Saturday.

Netanyahu categorically denied that he and his coalition were responsible for the killing of the hostages. He said: “We did not manage to free them. We were close to doing so. It is terrible,” he said. “But because of this decision, it did not happen.”

Biden claims Netanyahu has not done enough to secure deals with terrorists

The cabinet decision includes what Netanyahu called a “strategic imperative” to station the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) along the Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-km strip of land that runs along Egypt and the Gaza Strip and serves as a hub for Hamas' arms smuggling.

“This happened initially because they [Hamas] “I don't want a deal,” the prime minister said, adding regarding the hostages: “I am looking for every means to bring them home.”

Asked by Peter Doocy, Fox News' senior White House correspondent, on Tuesday why Biden was tougher on Netanyahu than on the Hamas terror leader, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre replied: “The president has been very, very clear about Hamas leaders and their actions.” She continued: “He was asked a question, he answered it directly, but Hamas bears the responsibility. There is more American blood on their hands. The president made that clear in his statement.”

Caroline Glick, a former Netanyahu adviser and columnist, told Fox News Digital: “From the beginning of the war, the US pressured Israel alone. The war would have been over months ago if the US had allowed Israel to lay siege to Gaza and pressured Egypt to allow Gazans to either seek refuge in Egypt for the duration of the war or seek refuge in third countries by leaving Gaza through Egypt. Instead of standing by Israel, the US kept Hamas in power by demanding that Israel fully supply Gaza with humanitarian aid that Hamas distributed or looted, thus keeping Hamas in power.”

Glick continued: “The US pressure for a hostage deal is not directed against Hamas, which is holding the hostages and, as we saw over the weekend, executing them in cold blood. It is directed solely against Israel. The Biden-Harris administration's pressure is not aimed at rescuing the hostages. It is aimed at rescuing up to 20% of the hostages in exchange for a complete cessation of the war, while Hamas is still in control of Gaza and is capable of restoring its terror forces in short order if Israel gives up its military control of the international border between Gaza and Egypt.”

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While some media reported that 300,000 protesters gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday to call on Netanyahu to make a deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages, Israeli police estimated the number of protesters at around 80,000. On Monday, the Israeli trade union federation Histadrut went on a general strike to force Israel's prime minister to end the war against Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages.

However, the general strike and mass protests were not a broad-based movement that could have forced the overthrow of the government or compel Netanyahu to make what he saw as a concession that would have compromised the security of the Jewish state in the Gaza Strip.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire and a hostage-taking deal two weeks ago. The dealbreaker was the terrorist organization Hamas. From the perspective of the Israeli government and American terrorism experts, it is assumed that the US and other Western powers will not exert massive pressure on Hamas and its patron Qatar to release the hostages.

Netanyahu mourns the death of six hostages freed in Gaza and promises to “settle accounts” with Hamas.

Former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman told Fox News Digital: “On a day when Israel is mourning and literally crying for its murdered hostages, Biden should save his criticism for Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, not for Israel's democratically elected leader.”

Friedman, who served under President Trump, said: “Biden and Harris have been wrong at every turn in this conflict and have been disastrously weak. They even spent weeks trying to keep Israel out of Rafah, where the hostages were hidden. They have no credibility and keep blaming Netanyahu for their failures, deepening the traumatic rift in Israeli society.”

The release of the hostages remains a top priority for the Netanyahu and Biden administrations, but many believe that not enough has been done to free them from terrorist clutches.

Aviva Siegel, a former Hamas hostage in Gaza whose 65-year-old American husband Keith is still held there, told Fox News Digital: “I want Keith back alive and I don't want to think about Keith coming home in a coffin.”

Siegel spent 51 days in Hamas captivity. She said the conditions were “brutal” and “I had an infection. The water is not clean and the food is inedible.”

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She added: “The Israeli government is not doing enough. It is not bringing them home.”

Asked about the Israeli government's claim that it was controlling parts of Gaza for security reasons, she said: “I am not a politician. I know I have a heart. I am against wars and I am a peacemaker. I have been talking about this for nine months. I am very worried about Keith.”

Siegel said: “All hostages must be taken out before they are killed. I am so lucky to be sitting here talking. The hostages do not deserve to be in such poor conditions without water and human rights. Wake up, world. I have been through hell.”

Joel Rubin, former deputy secretary of state and former Obama administration official, told Fox News Digital: “President Biden has steadfastly supported Israel's war against Hamas, not to mention his strong support for Israeli security against recent Iranian threats, including last April. So when it comes to the war against Hamas, Israel has no greater ally than the United States. So when President Biden says that a deal to release the hostages is on the table and that Prime Minister Netanyahu should take it up, we should trust that he believes the risks of such a deal would be manageable.”

“In fact, the president is not alone in this assessment. Israel's security apparatus, its defense minister, and its negotiators all believe that now is the right time to make a bold decision to conclude the agreement and not to impose additional conditions such as those on the Philadelphia Corridor, the risks of which can be mitigated. What we have just witnessed with the recent despicable murder of the six hostages is that Hamas has once again shown us who it is: a murderous terrorist group willing to kill hostages in cold blood,” Rubin added.

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He noted: “That's the way they are and that's the way they will continue to act. Knowing that, it's clear that the most effective way to get the hostages out alive is and has been a diplomatic agreement like the one last November. And remember, an agreement is not a gift to Hamas. The gift would be to the kidnapped Israelis, Americans and other citizens who get out of Gaza alive. In fact, it would be a gift to all of Israel and the decent people of the world.”

Danielle Wallace of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.