In the hours before the expected ceasefire announcement in Doha, Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered his final foreign policy speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., saying, “We await final word from Hamas on its acceptance, and until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”
Blinken said that word could “come any time, could come in the hours ahead, it could come in the days ahead.”
“It’s ready to be implemented,” Blinken said of the deal. “But right now, we’ve got to wait to get a final word from Hamas in terms of what other countries would do.”
Countries will be reluctant to invest in the future of Gaza’s reconstruction absent “some kind of clear political horizon,” he added, “because absent that, they’re simply going to be investing in something that only is going to end up right back where it is now at some point in the future.”
According to Blinken, while militarily dealing with Hamas’s threat may be necessary, it is insufficient without a political dimension.
His speech, seemingly serving as a final reminder to Israel and Hamas why it’s necessary to follow through with the deal, began with reflecting on October 7, the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts and the US and Israel’s success in weakening Iran.
Multiple outside protestors unaffiliated with the Atlantic Council interrupted Blinken, calling him a “brutal war criminal” and “secretary of genocide.”
Maintaining composure, he continued with his speech, which directly critiqued both Israeli and Palestinian leadership for making decisions that put long-term peace out of reach, slamming Hamas for trying to kill the idea of a two-state solution for decades and Israel for “systematically undermining the capacity and legitimacy” of the Palestinian Authority, the only viable alternative to Hamas.
However, he disparaged the Palestinian Authority for repeatedly failing to undertake long overdue reforms, further eroding its support among Palestinians.
“The Palestinian Authority’s refusal to consistently and unequivocally condemn Hamas’s killings of October 7 only entrenched doubts among Israelis that the two communities can ever live side by side in peace,” Blinken said. “As have the PA’s payments of the families of terrorists and the antisemitic remarks of its leader.”
Blinken also criticized partners in the region and around the world for failing to publicly condemn Hamas “amidst the chorus of condemnation of Israel.
Extremists must be held accountable
Blinken said while Palestinians have a right to self-determination, responsibility comes with that right. Israel should not be expected to accept a Palestinian state that’s led by Hamas or other extremists, that’s militarized or has independent armed militia that aligns with Iran or others who reject Israel’s right to exist, he continued.
However, Israel must decide what relationship it wants with the Palestinians, and there cannot be the illusion that Palestinians will accept being non-people without national rights, Blinken said.
“Seven million Israeli Jews and some five million Palestinians are rooted in the same land. Neither is going anywhere,” Blinken stated.
He called on Israelis to abandon the myth that they can carry out “de facto annexation without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing, to its security.”
Israel is expanding official settlements and nationalizing land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, Blinken said, turning a blind eye to the unprecedented growth of legal outposts. He also said violent attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinian civilians have reached record levels.
Blinken then said Israel had pursued its military campaign in Gaza past the point of destroying Hamas’ military capacity and killing the leaders responsible for October 7, convinced that unrelenting military pressure was required to get Hamas to accept a cease-fire and hostage deal on Israel’s terms.
Blinken acknowledged that some questioned whether a different policy approach would’ve changed this dynamic, whether the US put too much pressure or not enough on Israel, Hamas, and Iran.
“We have debated these questions vigorously within the administration, within the State Department, where we benefited from a range of different views, some believe, quite privately and publicly, seeking to restrain and reshape Israel’s military operations,” he said. “It is crucial to ask questions like these, which will be studied for years to come.”
“We’ve long made the point to the Israeli Government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political rise to the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as dangerous will grow back,” Blinken said. “That’s exactly what’s happened in Northern Gaza since October 7. Each time Israel completes its military operations and pulls back, Hamas, militants regroup and remerge because there’s nothing to fill the void.”
Blinken said the State Department assesses that Hamas has recruited almost as many new terrorists as it lost, creating a recipe for “enduring insurgency and perpetual war.”
“The longer the war goes on, the worse the humanitarian situation gets in Gaza,” he said, including that Hamas has also “cynically weaponized the suffering of Palestinians.”
However, Hamas often chose to sit back and wait, “believing that the more time passed, the more Palestinians in Gaza suffered, the greater the chances that Iran, Hezbollah and others would feel forced to attack Israel, sparking a wider war.”
“Those challenges notwithstanding, Israel’s efforts have fallen far short of meeting the colossal scale of need in Gaza,” Blinken said.
Near the end of the remarks, Blinken said he wished he could say with certainty that the Biden administration got every decision right.
“I cannot,” he said. “I wish I could tell you that leaders in the region always put their people’s interests ahead of their own interests. They did not.”
But, he said, the Biden administration continues to believe the best way to create a more” stable, secure and prosperous Middle East and deal a lasting blow to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and the entire so-called Axis of Resistance, is through forging a more integrated region, and the key to achieving that integration, now more than ever, is ending this conflict in a way that realizes the long-standing aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians to live with peace and security in states of their own.”
As much influence as the United States wields in the Middle East, Blinken said it can’t dictate outcomes, and in the end, whether the region takes the path toward greater integration will ultimately come down not to the US but to the decisions of its leaders and the decisions of its people.
Israel’s most deep-rooted desire from its founding has been to be accepted and treated as a normal state in the region and the world, Blinken continued, with all the rights and responsibilities that implies.
He recognized that convincing Israelis that peace can be achieved without violent rejection or resistance “will be a necessary and major undertaking.”
“We stand here today with a historic window of opportunity still open while seizing it cannot bring back the innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost. It will prevent more lives from being taken. It will break the cycle of violence and bloodshed,” Blinken said. “We must not squander this chance.”
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