'Netanyahu Has Played Donald Trump Beautifully': Van Hollen Blasts Trump Over Hostage Negotiations

Forbes Breaking News

During a press conference on Thursday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) claimed President Trump was being "played" by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the negotiations to release hostages from Gaza and the future of Gaza.

Transcript

00:00Yes.

00:30It's hard to read the minds of the Trump administration.

00:36We've been following their statements on the attacks that took place in Doha.

00:43It does make clear and should make clear to the Trump administration,

00:47if they didn't already realize it,

00:49that the Netanyahu government is not interested in a negotiated settlement

00:55that brings the hostages home and ends the war.

00:58I mean, it's been pretty clear from the beginning that Netanyahu is a servant

01:03to the most far-right extreme elements in his coalition who have threatened

01:08to leave his government if he was to end the war in Gaza at this point.

01:15So I hope that the Trump administration wakes up.

01:19Netanyahu has played Donald Trump beautifully through all of this.

01:28I hope that some of the more recent actions they've taken are a wake-up call.

01:41If I could have the confidence of Trump, if I thought he would listen to me,

01:48I would say draw a red line right now on Gaza City.

01:54Tell Israel, we're not going to provide economic aid.

01:57We're not going to provide weapons, offensive weapons, if you continue this assault.

02:06The hostage families are clear that if a campaign taken many months goes forward

02:15on Gaza City, there's a very high chance that their loved ones

02:20who are still alive will not be alive by the end of it.

02:23Good chance that they're being held in Gaza City.

02:27Good chance that they won't live a few more months being moved repeatedly just

02:31as those who are with them are moving to escape bombs.

02:37And use that power to create a permanent ceasefire now.

02:43It's a ceasefire that enables the hostages to get home.

02:48It's a ceasefire that stops the massive deaths of women and children.

02:54It is a ceasefire that allows in humanitarian aid and, therefore,

02:59the ability to stop the famine.

03:03It is a ceasefire that allows negotiations towards a better future.

03:09I want to just say amen to everything that Jeff Merkley just said.

03:16If you think back a number of years, the Biden administration actually drew

03:21what it described as a red line with respect to RAFA.

03:27He said that if the IDF went into RAFA, you know, too fast and just destroyed it,

03:33it would create a humanitarian disaster.

03:35Well, RAFA has been reduced to rubble.

03:39We need to establish very clearly, as Senator Merkley said,

03:43that continuing the demolishment and attacks on Gaza City are unacceptable.

03:49And then we need to back it up.

03:51We need to back it up by using U.S. influence in the way that we've said,

03:57to do what Donald Trump said he was going to do on day one, end the war and bring the hostages home.

04:02I do just want to say with respect to the West Bank, and we have a little bit in this report on the West Bank.

04:08It is not the focus of the report.

04:12But both of us, you know, have been there in prior years.

04:17And you can see the changes rapidly taking place in terms of more illegal settlements,

04:26trailers on the top of hills, Palestinians being pushed off of their lands.

04:32And in this report, we do describe what's happening on the West Bank as ethnic cleansing and slow motion.

04:37The bottom line is that the United States needs to play its leadership role in the world

04:45leadership role in the world with a country that has been our longtime partner,

04:51as Senator Merkley indicated.

04:55And a partnership has to be a two-way street.

04:58It's not like a one-way road.

05:01And the United States has interests in bringing an end to this horrible conflict and bringing the hostages home.

05:09We have strategic interests.

05:12We have moral interests as a country that says we stand up for human rights around the world.

05:17And so, really, this is the time to use that influence to end the war and bring the hostages home.

05:25So, thank you all very much for being here.

05:29And we urge everybody to read the report.

05:32There's a lot of detail in here that we were not able to cover in the time we have.

05:36All right.

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