For months, we were told that a hostage deal was ready and that Netanyahu was the obstacle.

For months, we were told that a hostage deal was ready and that Netanyahu was the obstacle. “A deal now, at any price” became a slogan, while the actual price received far less attention.

Now listen to Brett McGurk, a former senior Biden administration official who was directly involved in the negotiations.

In his interview with Dan Senor, McGurk explained that Hamas repeatedly rejected proposals and that military pressure was essential to bringing it to the negotiating table. He also challenged the claim that a deal was within reach before Israel entered Rafah.

Remember the collapse of the first hostage agreement? Hamas refused to release the remaining young women, despite its commitment to release all women and children. Some of those women were later murdered in captivity.

That responsibility belongs to Hamas.

McGurk served an administration that repeatedly clashed with Netanyahu’s government. His account deserves the attention of everyone who confidently insisted that Israel could have brought everyone home simply by agreeing to end the war.

I said it then, and I will say it again: demanding a deal does not mean the other side is willing to make one. A proposal is not an agreement. And concessions do not guarantee that a terrorist organization will honor its promises.

You can criticize Netanyahu. You can disagree with the government’s decisions. But you cannot erase Hamas’s responsibility for taking the hostages, refusing proposals, breaking agreements, and murdering the people it held.

The families deserved their loved ones home. The public deserved an honest account of what stood in the way.

Will those who presented a disputed claim as an established fact now acknowledge what one of the central negotiators is saying?

Listen to the interview. Then judge.

Watch Brett McGurk’s full interview with Dan Senor:
Inside the Hostage Negotiations - with Brett McGurk⁠