President Joe Biden sent mixed messages during a news conference Friday on the first release of Israeli hostages by Hamas, foreign policy analyst Walid Phares told Newsmax.
Biden backs Israel's right to defend itself following Hamas' terrorist attack Oct. 7 and Israel's stated goal to eliminate Hamas as a threat. But he said Friday he has encouraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do what he can to reduce the number of casualties and that he hopes pressure rises across the Middle East "to slow this down to bring this to an end."
"It's like you have two lobbies in the White House or in the administration," Phares told "American Agenda." "When you hear the president saying, 'Well, they have a legitimate right to destroy or dismantle Hamas,' that's one pressure group.
"Then he says, 'But we have to slow down.' How can you dismantle Hamas and you want to slow down? I think he has two types of advisers. Each one has an interest."
Biden also brought up he had been working on a peace deal with Saudi Arabia and "others in the region" to recognize Israel's right to exist.
"He said he was trying to help between the Saudis and the Israelis, and [on] the other hand, he is sending $10 billion to Iran," Phares said. "It doesn't match up, so there is something not resolved within the administration. And they have not made [up] their mind with regard of who's the enemy, who's your friend, who are we going to send money to?
"And because of that, Iran pushed Hamas when they saw indecision in Washington to do what they've done since Oct. 7."
Biden also stressed the importance of returning to negotiations for a two-state solution when Israel's war against Hamas is over. But Phares said that issue is irrelevant now.
"... Now Hamas and Iran and Hezbollah and all these militias all the way down to the Houthis in Yemen, they don't want [a] two-state solution," Phares said. "In the past, you had the Palestinians arguing, 'We want a two-state solution.' The Israelis were hesitant.
"Now, Hamas is saying it's one-state solution. And it has been chanted in New York and Gaza 'From the river — the Jordan River — to the ... sea,' which means one-state solution. Even that state that Hamas wants, it wants to make it into a caliphate. We're going to have another Taliban regime on the Mediterranean."
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