US Envoy Hochstein Says Lebanon Truce Clears Path for Gaza Hostage Deal

Hochstein: ‘Everybody always blames the Israelis for everything,’ but’…Hamas has not come to the negotiating table in good faith for months.’

By Andrew Bernard, JNS

The Hezbollah ceasefire agreement in Lebanon could pave the way to a deal to release the hostages held by Hamas, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, said in a Wednesday briefing for the American Jewish community.

“The Lebanese deal here opens an opportunity on the hostage deal,” he said. “They wake up this morning at 4 a.m. with Hezbollah, that used to be actively supportive of Hamas in the northern front, cutting a deal and ending that conflict.”

“Israel is now not distracted by two fronts. It is fighting a one-front war,” he said. “There’s no cavalry coming from the north anymore for Hamas. Iran supported the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, which means that they know that there was a de-linkage of the Lebanon front and the Gaza front.”

On the call with Shelley Greenspan, the White House Jewish liaison, Hochstein, one of the administration’s main negotiators on Middle Eastern issues, said that Hamas, which welcomed the Lebanon ceasefire agreement, had been the main impediment to a deal.

“Everybody always blames the Israelis for everything,” he said. “But the president was very clear in his speech yesterday that Hamas has not come to the negotiating table in good faith for months.”

In announcing the ceasefire on Tuesday, Biden said his administration would make a renewed push “in the coming days” to secure a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas.

Hochstein, who is Jewish and was born in Jerusalem, described the “difficult year” for Israelis and Jews worldwide and said that Biden is focused on getting a hostage deal before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

“I don’t think there’s a single Jewish person that doesn’t have within one or two degrees of separation knowledge of a hostage or a family relative of a hostage,” he said.

“He wants to run to the end to see, specifically on the issue of the hostages—everything that he wants to do between now and the end is to see, even if we can get a portion of these hostages home,” he said. “It will be worth all the effort.”