President Biden claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal with Hamas terrorists.
Biden made the remarks to reporters before heading into the Situation Room, where he and Vice President Harris are convening with a hostage deal negotiating team following the murder of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages by Hamas on Saturday.
On the South Lawn of the White House, where Biden disembarked from Marine One upon returning from his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, one reporter asked, “Mr. President, do you think it’s time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue? Do you think he is doing enough?
“No,” the president responded flatly.
President Biden talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from Rehoboth Beach, Del. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Asked what makes him think this deal will be successful in a way that the other proposals were not, Biden said, “Hope springs eternal.” The president said “we’re very close” to being able to present a final hostage deal. He told reporters he was headed into a national security meeting and would be going to Pittsburg later in the day.
“Yes. I have spoken to the American hostage … I spoke to his mom and dad, and we are not giving up. We are going to continue to push as hard as we can. Thank you,” Biden said.
Earlier Monday, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of an Israeli-American hostage still being held by Hamas, pleaded for the U.S. and Israel to broker a deal “with Satan.”
NETANYAHU MOURNS DEATHS OF SIX HOSTAGES RECOVERED IN GAZA, VOWS TO ‘SETTLE ACCOUNTS’ WITH HAMAS
President Joe Biden walks from Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from Rehoboth Beach, Del. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Dekel-Chen, appearing on “Fox & Friends,” acknowledged that the United States together with Qatar and Egypt are trying to broker an agreement between Israel and “a savage terrorist organization,” but insisted that Israeli intelligence shows Hamas’ forces are depleted at this stage.
President Biden talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from Rehoboth Beach, Del. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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He said Netanyahu cannot offer “an excuse anymore to not complete this deal” to bring the remaining 101 hostages, including seven Americans, taken into Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, home.
Israel saw a massive labor strike on Monday after demonstrators took to the streets in droves Sunday protesting Israel’s leadership’s failure to reach an agreement to release the hostages 11 months into the war.