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Times of Israel Refutes White House Claims About the Ceasefire Deal

It seems that an unnamed senior Biden administration official, in remarks to reporters yesterday, put such a spin on the administration’s role in the ceasefire agreement that the Times of Israel apparently felt compelled to refute him on a number of points, drawing from its own reporting to do so.

The official, briefing reporters from Qatar, claimed that the U.S. had shifted its approach to the Gaza war in August, prioritizing the support of Israel “defanging” Hezbollah amid stalled negotiations for a hostage deal, based on the belief that doing so would further isolate Hamas and lead it to show more flexibility in the ceasefire talks.

He tried to frame the Biden administration’s role as essential for bringing about the deal, but other U.S. officials who have spoken with the Times of Israel in recent months have acknowledged that Washington did not immediately back Israel’s decision in September to massively escalate its military operations against Hezbollah. The U.S. officials said that Israel did not give Washington a heads-up before conducting the mass detonation of communication devices that wounded thousands of Hezbollah operatives, or before the IDF conducted an airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The U.S. did, however, begin supporting Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah after the fact, shelving an initiative for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon in late September. Once Israel finished dealing massive blows to Hezbollah two months later, the U.S. brokered a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese organization.

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