Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA ), a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, addressed the media on Friday on “CNN News Central” for downplaying how much Hamas has blocked a ceasefire. He also criticized The New York Times for its coverage of Hamas allegedly accepting a ceasefire offer that “was n’t even close.”
Hamas is currently the biggest obstacle to a stalemate, according to Smith. And that’s being generally unreported. The President has been working on a ceasefire for several months to allow for the transfer of hostages and a momentary peace. Hamas has blocked that and said, never, Israel has to absolutely retreat, lasting ceasefire, and oh, by the way, we’re just going to return some of the victims over an extended period of time”.
Afterwards, in response to a problem on if President Joe Biden’s common threat to Israel over an invasion of Rafah’s community centers, “disincentivizes Hamas from making a bargain, some kind of a wait”? Smith said,” Look, some of the broader reporting on this is part of the problem too. The New York Times first reported, Hamas agrees to a peace, and it’s essentially what Israel was asking for. That’s not what it was. It was n’t even close. A lot of the global reporting has under]reported ] the problems that Hamas is presenting, and I think that’s a problem”.
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