Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer and retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday that in advocating for a pause in the Israel-Hamas war, the Biden administration is "trying to sandbag the Israelis."
"At this point, the Israeli military is doing a methodical, very well-thought, well-planned, block by block taking of territory," Shaffer said during an appearance on Newsmax's "The Chris Salcedo Show." "Hamas continues to throw civilians in for purposes of trying to justify this so-called humanitarian cease-fire, and we need to not fall for it.
"I think it's very clear at this point: They [Israel] have every right to go in, they have every right to fight and they're doing what they can right now to do the necessary things to secure territory."
"By the way, [Secretary of State] Tony Blinken was over there personally trying to call for this [a pause] again," he added. "They're trying to sandbag the Israelis, that's what they're trying to do."
During his visit to Israel on Friday, Blinken warned that the possibility for peace between the two sides could be destroyed by the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza for Palestinian civilians.
"There will be no partners for peace if they're consumed by humanitarian catastrophe and alienated by any perceived indifference to their plight," Blinken said.
Holt said that statements like Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy's, which calls for Israel to "reconsider its approach," are "irresponsible and reckless" and coud "lead to more civilian deaths on the battlefield."
"Every single time they try to hamstring the Israeli Defense Forces, the generals, the people who have thought out these campaign plans to protect innocent lives, they get into this status where, if there was to be a policy change on that battlefield right now, it would cost more Palestinians their lives," he said.
"I've worked with so many countries' militaries around the world, and I can tell you that the IDF is one of the most professional, and they take what they do very seriously," Holt said. "What happened on 7 October is what caused this. There would be no crisis today had it not been for the butchery of Hamas."
"That we're not standing by our allies is reprehensible, but, moreover, if Israel was to countenance what they're being told to do — which is pause something — what they're doing is giving Hamas more time to imperil more citizens," he continued. "What's hard is that you've got these hard-working heroes that have rocks being thrown at them at the backs of their heads by their No. 1 ally."
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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