U.S. Secretary of State Blinken Demands Hamas’ Surrender

Eric Zuesse (blogs at https://theduran.com/author/eric-zuesse/)

At a press conference in Beijing on Friday April 26th, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked “Students all across your country are coming out and expressing the outrage at what’s happening in Gaza. Are you taking on board those protests? What do you say to young people, young Americans, who see this as a moment when they need to speak out against the government?” Blinken replied: “As I’ve also said before, this could be over tomorrow, it could have been over yesterday, it could have been over months ago, if Hamas had put down its weapons, stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages, and surrendered. But of course, it has chosen not to do that, and it is also notable that there is silence about Hamas. It’s as if it wasn’t even part of the story. But as I’ve also said repeatedly, the way Israel goes about ensuring that October 7th never happens again matters profoundly, and we’re working every day to try to minimize damage that’s done to innocent people and to make sure that they have the assistance and support that they need.”

He was saying that the U.S. Government 100% backs what Israel has been doing to Gaza, and that only the Jewish citizens whom Hamas had murdered and injured on October 7th, and the hostages Hamas seized on October 7th, are of concern to the U.S. Government; the citizens of Gaza who get killed and maimed by Israeli troops using U.S.-donated bombs and ammunition and planes and satellite intelligence, and who become starved to death by Israel’s siege against Gaza (if they don’t die under the collapsed buildings in Gaza from that bombing), are not worth mentioning — and he didn’t mention them. He said that the U.S. Government, however, has a generalized concern about the war, which is to bring it to an end by the surrender of Hamas (which is exactly the same as the Israel Government’s position).

He stated: “When we see the horrific human suffering and the death of children, women, and men who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making, it’s gut-wrenching, as I’ve said before. And we want to do everything we can to bring it to an end.” That means supplying yet more billions of dollars to fund Israel’s purchases of U.S.-made weapons, ammunition, and bombs.

Although he did assert that the U.S. Government has concern about “the horrific human suffering and the death of children, women, and men who are caught in this crossfire of Hamas’s making,” he implied that Israel’s and the U.S. Government’s bombing and sieging-starving to death the 2.3 million Gazans — only few of whom are members of Hamas — is of no concern to the U.S. Government. He viewed Gaza’s civilian deaths as being due to “this crossfire of Hamas’s making,” and thus not at all due to Israel’s troops and America’s bombs — all of the blame goes to Hamas. And all that he cared about was Hamas (its “surrender” and Israel (its victory). Not at all about Gazans.

The U.S. Government’s Director of National Intelligence estimated in September 2022 that the number of members that Hamas had was “Between 20,000 and 25,000.” This means that what happens to the approximately 2,275,000 non-Hamas Gazans is of no concern to the U.S. Government — according to the U.S. Government.

In the U.S. Secretary of State’s press conference on April 26th, there wasn’t any follow-up question to that one; there was no further mention of the issue. The questioner’s question (“Are you taking on board those protests? What do you say to young people, young Americans, who see this as a moment when they need to speak out against the government?”) wasn’t answered. Blinken explained that, in his answer, by saying that, “In terms of the protests back home, look, again, I’m not – it’s not my practice to comment on domestic matters.”

However, his answer did include enough so as to inform any reasonably intelligent person regarding what the U.S. Government’s actual position is on the Gaza matter; and his statement on that was: “This could be over tomorrow, it could have been over yesterday, it could have been over months ago, if Hamas had put down its weapons, stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages, and surrendered.” His concern was only about Hamas and about Israelis, and about the approximately 250 Israeli hostages that Hamas seized on October 7th. Not at all about Gazans.

This is at least the second time when Blinken demanded Hamas’ surrender. In virtually the same words, and with the very same argument, he said it on 20 December 2023. So: the Biden Administration’s position on this is extremely clear, and has not changed, at least for the last four months.

A Pew poll of Americans published on 19 March 2024 found that humanitarian aid to Gazans is even more popular (supported by 50%) than military aid to Israel (36% support). So: 14% more Americans favor humanitarian aid to Gazans than favor military aid to Israel. The same poll found that “Americans are divided – and many [40%] are uncertain – whether Biden is striking the right balance in Israel-Hamas war.”

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.