David Friedman, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Newsmax on Monday that he was "horrified" by President Joe Biden's remark blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not doing enough to free the hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas.
"Hamas kills six hostages in cold blood, who had been living for almost a year underground, abused, tortured, deprived of all human dignity, and his reaction is to blame Netanyahu for their predicament? That he's not doing enough? It's just tone deaf," Friedman said on "National Report."
"I understand the frustration and anger of the Israeli people. They've been through enormous trauma. They're angry and they want results, I get it. But for the United States to imply that somehow there's a deal on the table that would free the hostages and Netanyahu is saying no, it just makes Israel more unstable because it suggests a fact that is not true, that is not in evidence.
"There is no evidence whatsoever that Hamas has put on the table a deal that properly balances the interests of Israel and freeing the hostages and preventing another attack like Oct. 7 that Israel is somehow saying no. It's just not true."
Friedman also said that giving Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar the benefit of the doubt over Netanyahu was "malpractice" by the Biden-Harris administration.
"Somehow he should be given the benefit of the doubt, this guy who's a cold-blooded murderer, who's responsible for the death and torture of innocent human civilian life, he gets the benefit of the doubt, and the democratically elected prime minister of Israel is criticized by the president of the United States, his strongest ally? This is just malpractice," Friedman said.
Most importantly, Friedman said, Biden's comment makes a hostage rescue less likely because it undermines U.S.-Israel solidarity in the eyes of Hamas leaders.
"Sinwar, this barbarian, this animal, is watching this and saying, You know what? This is great. I've got the United States of America doing my work, doing my negotiations for me,'" he said. "So, on a day like today, I've kind of lost all patience for this malpractice. It's made things worse."
Funeral services for Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six hostages found slain by Hamas overnight on Saturday, took place on Monday in Israel. Friedman called it "heartbreaking."
"Biden and Harris were the ones that told Israel, Don't go into Rafah. Don't go in, you can't avoid civilian casualties. If you do go in, there will be consequences," Friedman said. "Netanyahu, to his credit, didn't listen and he went into Rafah, and there weren't enormous civilian casualties.
"While in Rafah, he was able to rescue hostages, he was able to uncover the smuggling routes from Egypt, and, most importantly, these six hostages — where were they being held? In Rafah.
"So, they have been wrong on everything, they have been unhelpful on everything, and they have made the prospects of a hostage rescue more difficult and they have inflamed this sense in Israel that Netanyahu is to blame, which just divides the country and rips it apart at a moment of extraordinary trauma."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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