As President Biden and Vice President Harris headed to the Situation Room with the U.S. negotiating team, the father of an Israeli-American hostage being held by Hamas called for a “negotiated deal with the devil” to be reached soon.
“It's clear that the only way to get the hostages home alive is through some sort of negotiated agreement with Satan,” Jonathan Dekel Chen, whose son Sagi remains held in Gaza after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning. “Keep in mind that Israeli military and intelligence officials have been saying for weeks, even months, that the fighting needs to stop in order to get as many hostages home as possible, but all 101 remaining, alive.”
Dekel Chen noted that there are seven Americans being held hostage by Hamas, four of whom are believed to be alive and three have been confirmed killed.
“The message to the Israeli government, to my government, is that it's time to stop perpetuating and peddling the illusion of total victory over Hamas at the expense of our sons, daughters, grandparents who are hostages in Gaza,” Dekel Chen said. “We've been working on this situation for 11 months, and we've been told by the government that with a little more military pressure, Hamas will beg for a deal in exchange for the hostages. Obviously, that didn't happen. The bodies of six hostages who were alive last week were returned yesterday, and a week before that, six other hostages were returned months after they were killed. [Oct. 7]”
Biden, Harris to meet with US hostage deal negotiators amid mass protests in Israel
Jonathan Dekel Chen, father of Sagi Dekel Chen, one of the hostages taken by Hamas from Nir Oz Kibbutz on October 7, 2023, speaks in front of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Biden and Harris, a potential 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, are scheduled to meet in the White House Situation Room on Monday morning along with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team following Hamas' killing of six hostages, including American citizen Hersh Goldberg Pollin, on Saturday.
The White House said the focus of the meeting would be to discuss efforts to reach an agreement to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
Protests broke out in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities on Sunday after the bodies of the Gaza hostages were returned to Israel, fuelling frustration and anger at the country's leadership for failing to reach a ceasefire agreement to free the remaining hostages. Israeli media reported that an estimated 500,000 protesters gathered in Israel's major cities.
In Israel, a rare general strike was called to protest delays in the return of hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, leading to shutdowns and other disruptions across the country on Monday, including at the country's main international airport.
A mass strike led by Israeli trade union umbrella group Histadrut began on September 2, 2024, a day after the bodies of six hostages were found in the Gaza Strip in protest at the government's failure to end the conflict. (Ilya Yefimovich/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
“The Biden administration itself will say they've done enough once all the hostages are home — not just the seven Americans, of course, but all 101 of them. The Biden administration has given us extraordinary support since October 7, not just from Congress but from all corners, which is very unusual in these politically polarized times,” Dekel Chen said.
Israel's largest trade union plans mass strike after six hostages' bodies recovered
“At the end of the day, it's not the Biden administration or any US administration that has to sign this agreement. The US is trying to broker an agreement with Israel and a brutal terrorist organization, together with Qatar and Egypt,” the father added. “So far, I believe the Biden administration has done everything in its power to bring both sides to an agreement that every US family would agree with. Clearly, we just need a little more, and that's what we're looking for – one final push to convince Hamas and the Israeli government to end this madness and bring our people, American people and everyone else home.”
Dekel Chen said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition have no excuse not to get the deal done, but Hamas has rejected the latest proposals.
Passengers wait for a flight at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv during a nationwide strike in Tel Aviv, Israel, on September 2, 2024. (Amer Abed Rabbo/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Dekel Chen argued that the complete elimination of Hamas should not be an obstacle to an agreement because Hamas is no longer weak enough to control the Gaza Strip.
“The military high command and intelligence have made it very clear that Hamas is at this point severely weakened both as a military and a governing entity and can no longer be used. Clearly it can no longer be used as a reason or an excuse not to get this deal done, except for domestic political purposes by the prime minister and his coalition,” Dekel Chen said. “The only resistance in Israel is the government itself, and most ministers are not qualified from a military and intelligence perspective to make these decisions.”
Fox News correspondent Greg Wehner and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
