U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, in his appearances on the Sunday talk shows Nov. 26, expressed support for at least extending the truce for a few days. “I think it is certainly a possibility and we would like to see that happen,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” but he put the onus on Hamas. “Hamas is going to make the decision about whether they’re prepared to release another ten hostages. Israel’s put its cards on the table. They’re prepared to extend the pause in fighting. So the ball is in Hamas’ court,” he said. If they don’t do that, “then they are the ones choosing to bring an end to the pause in fighting, not Israel.” Sullivan apparently hasn’t noticed that the IDF is chomping at the bit to resume its offensive in Gaza. President Biden, Sullivan went on, is “continuing to work this hour by hour to see if we can secure those additional days of pause and those additional hostages coming home to their families.”
But it doesn’t seem that the Biden Administration is on board for a permanent peace. “So, what the United States is hoping to see and, frankly, what I believe Israel is hoping to see is the conditions being set whereby any military action only takes place after civilians have been accounted for and have the opportunity to be in safety, to have access to humanitarian assistance, and to be out of the way of any military operation that is conducted,” he told “Face the Nation” hostess Margaret Brennan. “That’s the conversation we’re having with the Israelis right now. ... But the basic notion that continuing military operations should learn lessons from the north to be applied in any further undertakings, this is something that we have been discussing with the Israelis at length.” The notion, he continued, is “that continuing military operations should learn lessons from the north to be applied in any further undertakings, this is something that we have been discussing with the Israelis at length.”
