U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at intensifying diplomatic pressure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza this week to end the bloodshed between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said.
After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.
The talks to strike a deal for a truce and return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an “inflection point”, a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding Blinken was going to stress to all parties the importance of getting this deal over the finish line.
“We think this is a critical time,” the official said.
The mediating countries - Qatar, the United States and Egypt - have so far failed to narrow enough differences to reach an agreement in months of on-off negotiations, and violence continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.
Fuck Blinken. His idea of negotiation is capitulating to Israel on every issue, following their Hasbara line on every talking point, and them blaming other countries for not capitulating to Israel’s every whim so they can wait a bit before continuing the genocide again.
Blinken lied repeatedly on camera, a while back, about these negotiations. Honestly don’t know why he still goes there? What does he do? Does he have a favorite restaurant and a sit down. Play cards?
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/6/14/unpacking-blinkens-lies-on-the-gaza-ceasefire-negotiations
Probably raking in the frequent flyer miles for when he leaves.
He’s padding his bank account for when he goes back to civilian life like every other US official ever has in the past. He’s just using his powers to get cushy deals for his own benefit
Who would have thought putting security advisors into sec state role would go poorly?
But seriously why did we put someone without a diplomatic background in as Secretary of State?
To be fair, I heard that “Mad Dog” Mattis was surprisingly diplomatic in his role as the Secretary of Defense, so maybe someone thought the reverse would hold true, too? 😂
Yep. Our government is literally not even close to resembling the actual population of this country. We need new representation