On Monday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) predicted that the odds of any ceasefire in the near term in the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza are fairly low and one reason for that is because the Biden-Harris administration can’t afford to lose any political support “among those in the United States who are strongly in favor of Israel finishing the job in Gaza.” He also stated that Hamas believes dragging the war out and punishing Gazan civilians is better for them.
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Host Connell McShane asked, “What are the odds of anything getting done, near-to-intermediate-term? How would you look at it?”
Clark answered, “I think they’re pretty low. I don’t think the administration right now can really afford to antagonize its support among those in the United States who are strongly in favor of Israel finishing the job in Gaza. And, on the other hand, I think Israel will do all it can to blame Hamas for not moving forward with the Egyptian proposal. I don’t think Hamas wants that proposal. Because Hamas, in its new leadership, still believes that it can continue to drag this out, punish the people in Gaza, and, therefore, hold Israel more and more accountable for war crimes in Gaza. So, you’ve got a dynamic there that doesn’t favor ceasefire, it favors continuing fighting.”
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