Blaine Holt, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general, told Newsmax there was no difference between President Joe Biden's calls for a "pause" and a cease-fire in Israel.
Appearing Friday on "The Record with Greta Van Susteren," Holt slammed the Biden administration for using "woke" terminology to describe their support for what is likely an unpopular position.
"It's a woke term. They made an argument against this term called 'cease-fire' because the Israeli Defense Forces said, 'We're not going to give our enemy any kind of ability to come off of the back foot. We're going to annihilate them,' " Holt explained.
"There's no such thing as a pause. That doesn't exist," he continued, adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might be open to temporary rollbacks to allow for civilians and hostages to be transported.
Biden's use of "pause" came after Jessica Rosenberg, a rabbi involved with Jewish Voice for Peace, asked him if he backed a cease-fire during a fundraiser in Minnesota earlier this week.
"I think we need a pause," the president told Rosenberg, elaborating that "a pause means it gives time to get the prisoners out."
The White House later insisted that Biden was not calling for a cease-fire, saying he was urging Israel to consider pauses to allow civilians to leave or receive foreign assistance.
Israel has repeatedly shot down calls for a cease-fire in its invasion of the Gaza Strip, a retaliation for the terrorist organization Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed over 1,000 civilians.
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Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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