The value of life: How Biden stooped to talk with terrorists

Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

While the wave of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the subsequent invasion of Gaza continue to cause racial rifts across major cities of Europe and America, responsible global and regional leaders are managing to douse tension and deescalate the conflict.

While leaders of Iran, Russia, Lebanon and Turkey stoke embers of rage and war, Israel counts over 1300 already dead and 240 taken hostage under frightening conditions by the invading HAMAS terrorists.

In Gaza where Israeli Defence Forces are working to uproot terror cells, over 10,000 people have been claimed dead from military airstrikes from both HAMAS and Israel. Altogether, over 12,000 people are already dead in less than 60 days and the fate of another 240 people hang in the balance.

Luckily for the world and the Middle East, Americans are victims of the HAMAS attack and also hostages; making the world’s greatest military power an interested party in the ongoing conflict.

Already, the United States and Britain have floated active sea and air power in the Mediterranean and Gulf waters to deter belligerent sponsors of terror in the region.

The situation would have been worse is Israel were left alone to deal with the conspiracy in which Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Turkey and Russia are suspected to be complicit.

With the speed and scale of the spreading conflict, cities of the Middle East, including their booming economies, face obvious threat if the region gets destabilized with multiple war fronts, roaming militants and roving missiles. Like the Sahel Africa, the region is already under the destabilizing influence of numerous armed groups: Hezbollah in Lebanon, HAMAS in Gaza, Houthi in Yemen, Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the notorious Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Political leaders in the Middle East appear conscious of the precarious stability in the region; and more conscious of the volatility and vulnerability of their numerous oil installations which sustain their resource based economies. This explains the absence of solidarity protests or rallies of the scale Europe and America currently grapple with. Gaza is already a starring example of the kind of destabilization that accompanies war.

War pundits in both the United States and Israel already understood the HAMAS trap: hold up wounded babies and women to spur a global outcry against high civilian casualty. The group is infamous for its human shield strategy, residing refugee camps, lodging underground hospitals and operating from positions that expose civilians to enemy’s firing lines.    

What has played out so far indicates that Israeli intelligence systems already knew more that HAMAS imagined: the precision hunting of the terrorists’ commanders, their military wares and underground tunnels. And because these targets are hidden in crowds of people and social facilities, HAMAS inadvertently laid agenda for destruction of the Gaza city.  

Whereas the Gaza war and the other threats impinging from Lebanon, Yemen and Syria could consume the entire Middle East if not quenched in time; the international community appears more interested in national interests in the region, including citizens caught up in the war.

From the terrorist attack on Israel to the invasion of Gaza, nationals of countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa are among the dead and surviving victims. Many are still trapped in either Israel or Gaza as international flights to both areas curtailed on safety grounds.

Thus, in the chorus of voices clamoring for ceasefire, the strongest goal is for evacuation of foreign nationals. Of course there is great concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the rising human toll and the scale of destruction.

Therefore ceasefire and eventual resolution of the conflict appear the only paths to restoration of normalcy. And only the world’s greatest leaders can make it happen. Leaders that earn the respect, attention, audience and even fear of the parties involved. It is in this consideration that President Joe Biden of the United States holds a space in history. And in him has the world located the opportunity address the parties in the conflict.

According to a report by the New York Times, Joe Biden had activated a process for ceasefire immediately after the HAMAS attack on Israel, putting restraints on angry President Benjamin Netanyahu to abide by the rules in chasing after the HAMAS terrorists and their masterminds. The US Secretary of States, Anthony Blinken, has never had a rest since then as he embarked on diffusion shuttles across the Middle East to establish communication with HAMAS over the hostages.

It is at this kind situation that dining with devil could become helpful. Leaders of Qatar which houses HAMAS top brass have communication with the US. This brought Qatar into focus and saddled the natural gas emirate with the role of bringing the terrorists to negotiation and save Gaza. From there relentless communication among select parties reached conclusion in the week for possible exchange of hostages and a four day ceasefire from today.

The New York Times takes the story from here.

When it was all said and done, the deal to release some of the hostages held by Hamas came down to two critical phone calls ultimately forcing each side to make a tough concession.

The Israelis were insisting that it was not enough to free just 50 of the roughly 240 hostages. They had to have more, they said. At that point, President Joe Biden had to talk Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel into accepting what was on the table and then keep working to recover the rest.

As for Hamas, according to senior administration officials, its leaders were demanding that the pause in fighting incorporated into the agreement last five days, even though the Israelis refused to agree to more than four. Biden told the emir of Qatar, who was serving as the intermediary with Hamas, that four was all they would get for now.

The path to the hostage deal was painful and painstaking, one marked by fitful progress, deep mistrust, terrible choices and moments when the whole thing was on the verge of unraveling. Neither side got exactly what it wanted. But if the agreement is carried out successfully over the next few days — and that is still an important if — it could serve as a template for further negotiations to free more of the hostages and extend the temporary cease-fire.

“Last night’s deal is a testament to the tireless diplomacy and determination of many dedicated individuals across the United States government to bring Americans home,” Biden said Wednesday on X, the platform formerly called Twitter. “Now, it’s important that all aspects are fully implemented.”

This account is based on senior Biden administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid disrupting the channels of communication.

The effort to free the hostages extends back to the hours following the terrorist attack of Oct. 7, when Hamas gunmen killed about 1,200 people and captured 240.

Shortly after the attack, the government of Qatar, a small Gulf emirate that hosts some Hamas leaders but maintains close relations with the United States, approached the White House with information about the hostages and suggested the possibility of a deal to win their release. The Qataris asked that a small group of U.S. officials work secretly with them and the Israelis.

Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, directed Brett McGurk, the White House Middle East coordinator, and Joshua Geltzer, then the deputy homeland security adviser who has since become the top lawyer for the National Security Council, to take the lead. To preserve secrecy, other agencies were kept in the dark about the initiative.

McGurk, who has wide contacts in the region, held early morning phone calls each day with the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, then briefed Sullivan, who kept Biden informed. Sullivan stayed in touch with Ron Dermer and Tzachi Hanegbi, two of Netanyahu’s closest advisers.

The issue was personal for Biden, who met with families of Americans who were believed to be among the hostages on a Zoom call Oct. 13. Biden extended the scheduled time for the call so each family would have a chance to talk about their missing loved ones. Administration officials who were in the Oval Office or on the line described it as one of the most agonizing moments of the Biden presidency.

On Oct. 23, the White House negotiations with Qatar led to the release of two American citizens, Natalie and Judith Raanan, with Sullivan, McGurk and Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser, tracking what turned out to be a multihour trip out of the Gaza Strip in real time from the West Wing. Their release emboldened Biden and his team to believe that the Qatar channel could lead to the release of more hostages.

The Israelis delegated authority to negotiate to David Barnea, the director of Mossad, the Israeli spy agency. Barnea began to speak regularly with William Burns, the CIA director, about the contours of a deal. Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Oct. 20, 22, 23 and 25, each time with the hostages a key topic of the conversation.

Hamas got word to the Americans on Oct. 25 that it had agreed to the parameters of a deal to release the women and children among the hostages, as long as there was a delay of a planned Israeli ground invasion into Gaza. But the Israelis did not view the deal as firm enough to hold back the invasion. Among other things, Hamas had not provided any proof that the hostages were still alive.

But the Israelis adapted their ground invasion to be phased in a way that would allow for a pause in fighting if a deal came together, according to U.S. officials. Over the next three weeks, as Israeli forces moved into Gaza, negotiations continued with Qatar, as well as Egypt.

At one point after McGurk got off the phone with Qatar’s prime minister, Biden insisted he wanted to talk with the emir himself. The call, which was not announced publicly, helped shape a deal that was coming together to free women and children in the first phase as part of what would be several stages of release in exchange for the release of Palestinians held prisoner by the Israelis.

The Israelis insisted that the first release include all women and children and demanded proof of life or identifying information. Hamas responded by saying it could guarantee that 50 hostages would be liberated in the first phase but refused to produce a list or even the criteria it was using to determine who would be released. On Nov. 9, Burns met in Doha, the Qatari capital, with Sheikh Tamim and Barnea to go through the texts of the emerging arrangement.

Biden called Sheikh Tamim three days later and said “enough was enough,” according to U.S. officials. The Americans and Israelis needed the names or clear identifying information for the 50 hostages who would be released. Without that, Biden told the emir there was no basis to proceed. Soon after, Hamas produced identifying criteria for the 50, although the Israelis and Americans believed the criteria would include more than that just 50.

Sullivan met the next day at the White House with families of Americans being held hostage to reassure them all was being done to secure their freedom.

A day later, Biden spoke with Netanyahu, who was still pressing for more than 50 hostages. The president urged that Netanyahu take the deal and then together, they would continue to work to free the rest in future stages. The prime minister ultimately agreed, and Dermer, his adviser, later called Sullivan to outline the formula preferred by Israel’s war Cabinet.

McGurk saw Netanyahu that same day in Israel. Walking out of a difficult meeting, the prime minister grabbed McGurk’s arm. “We need this deal,” Netanyahu said and implored McGurk to have the president call Sheikh Tamim on the final terms.

Hours later, as the deal seemed to be coming together, the talks abruptly halted, as communications went dark in Gaza and there was no line to Hamas. Once communications were restored, Hamas broke off the talks, citing the Israeli attack on Shifa Hospital in Gaza, a site the Israelis and Americans say is used by Hamas as a military outpost. Hamas insisted that Israeli forces leave the hospital without searching the grounds. Israel refused but sent word that it would keep the hospital running.

Talks then resumed. Biden, who was in San Francisco for unrelated meetings with Asian-Pacific leaders, called Sheikh Tamim on Friday and told him this was the last chance and “time was up,” as a U.S. official put it. Hamas wanted a five-day pause in fighting, but the president told him Israel would accept only four and Hamas should bow to that.

McGurk, who was listening in on the call from the Middle East, met with Sheikh Tamim in Doha the next day to go over the text of the deal. They patched in Burns by phone after he spoke with Mossad. The six-page deal envisioned women and children coming out in a first phase, including three Americans, but anticipated future releases. The emir passed the proposal to Hamas late that night.

In Cairo the next morning, McGurk was meeting with Abbas Kamel, the head of Egyptian intelligence, when a U.S. aide brought a message from Hamas leaders accepting nearly all of the terms. Over the course of the next few days, final details were worked out. On Tuesday morning, Hamas informed Qatar that it had approved the deal. Israel’s government met for seven hours that night and signed off, too.

“Today’s deal should bring home additional American hostages,” Biden said in a statement shortly before midnight on the East Coast on Tuesday, “and I will not stop until they are all released.”