On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold certain weapons from Israel if it goes into Rafah’s population centers “doesn’t help” and “took pressure off of Hamas, when it shouldn’t have.”
Co-host John Berman asked, “Do you agree with the policy of threatening to withhold certain weapons if Israel goes further into Rafah?”
Smith responded, “I don’t think he should have done it publicly. I think the private conversations were very appropriate. I think the other possibility is end-use restrictions. We’ve done that, for instance, in Ukraine, here [are] your weapons, can’t fire into Russia.”
Berman then cut in to ask, “Why don’t you think he should have done it publicly?”
Smith answered, “Because, look, the biggest block to a ceasefire right now is Hamas. And that’s being largely underreported. There has been a ceasefire agreement on the table for months, which the President brokered, to allow for the return of hostages and a temporary ceasefire. Hamas has blocked that and said, no, Israel has to completely withdraw, permanent ceasefire, and oh, by the way, we’re only going to return some of the hostages over an extended period of time. That offer’s been on the table. We have to keep the pressure on Hamas to agree to that ceasefire.”
Berman then asked, “So, what then, does making the public threat to withhold weapons do?”
Smith responded, “Well, I think it’s being way overblown, okay, and obviously, there’s politics involved here. The Republicans attack Joe Biden every time he opens his mouth. The notion that this is some kind of huge signal that we’re backing off of our support for Israel, the facts don’t back that up.”
Berman then followed up, “But you said you wish he hadn’t done it publicly and I’m trying to understand why.”
Smith answered, “It doesn’t help. What I just said was, the idea that somehow this is some huge break with Israel, well, why is because I think it took pressure off of Hamas, when it shouldn’t have.”
Berman then asked, “You think it disincentivizes Hamas from making a deal, some kind of a pause?”
Smith answered, “It’s a small part of the larger problem. … I think this has been blown out of proportion. The U.S. still supports Israel. We also want to get to a better humanitarian situation in Gaza. That’s the very difficult terrain the President is trying to navigate.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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