Israel’s Army Radio struggled Thursday morning to translate President Joe Biden’s suggestion of a humanitarian “pause” in fighting, which he made in response to a heckler at a campaign event in Minnesota.
The Biden White House has made similar suggestions in recent days, resisting calls for a “ceasefire” in Gaza but suggesting that Israel accept a “pause” in fighting.
The word “pause” translates into Hebrew as “hafsakah,” which is the same root used in the Hebrew word for “ceasefire,” which is “hafsakat esh” (literally, a pause in fire).
On Israel’s Army Radio, host Efi Triger strained to explain to a Hebrew-speaking audience that Biden had not suggested an actual ceasefire, which implied an end to the entire war, such as the ceasefires that Hamas accepted in previous conflicts.
He said that what Biden meant was closer to another Hebrew word for “pause,” “hafugah.”
Israel has rejected a ceasefire, saying that it is determined to destroy Hamas and will not accept agreements that allow the terror group to survive. This is a major shift from previous conflicts, and is a response to the scale and brutality of Hamas’s terror attack on October 7, which murdered over 1,200 people convinced Israel that it could no longer live with a Hamas-run Gaza next door.
Biden’s stated reasons for a “pause” — access for humanitarian aid trucks, and allowance for hostages to be freed — do not actually relate to conditions on the ground. The fighting is currently in northern Gaza, not in southern Gaza, where aid trucks are entering; and Hamas has shown no real will to free large numbers of hostages.
Biden appears to be scrambling to head off a loss of support among Arab- and Muslim-Americans in key swing states like Michigan, which he needs to win in the 2024 election. A ceasefire with Hamas would be a major defeat for Israel and the U.S.; by calling for a “pause,” Biden hopes to appease domestic opposition without stopping the war.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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