US President Joe Biden will not allow “extremists,” including those in Israel, to derail efforts to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby has said. He was reacting to Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s criticism of a peace proposal.
On Thursday, the White House published a joint statement from the leaders of the US, Qatar, and Egypt, calling for an end to the hostilities in Gaza, and urging West Jerusalem and Hamas to resume negotiations.
The ten-month conflict was sparked when the militant group Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. The subsequent Israeli military operation has devastated large portions of the enclave and killed almost 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The joint proposal calls on both sides to conclude a ceasefire and trade the hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody.
The Israeli finance minister blasted the idea of a ceasefire as “surrender.” The announcement drew “an illusory symmetry between the Israeli abductees – men, women and children – who were abducted from their beds with terrible cruelty, and despicable terrorists who murdered Jews,” Smotrich wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject this “dangerous trap,” claiming it would damage Israel’s image in the Middle East and present it as “weak.”
Kirby blasted Smotrich’s criticism of the proposal, speaking to journalists online on Friday. Biden “won’t allow extremists to blow things off course, including extremists in Israel making these ridiculous charges against the deal,” he said.
“Smotrich essentially suggests that the war ought to go on indefinitely without pause and with the lives of the hostages of no real concern at all.”
“His arguments are dead wrong,” Kirby said, adding that most of Hamas’ leadership has been killed during the war, and its “military structure and capacity” destroyed. Almost all of Israel’s war goals are complete, except for bringing home the hostages, Kirby claimed.
Netanyahu’s government has reportedly felt increasing pressure from the Biden administration to end the war, amid growing international controversy over Israel’s methods of warfare. Recently, Türkiye announced that it intends to join the International Court of Justice genocide case against Israel. The case was launched in December, when South Africa brought forth allegations that West Jerusalem is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Smotrich triggered international outrage earlier this week when he suggested that it “may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gazans until Hamas gives back the Israelis they are holding hostage.