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.
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? 😂