Baker on the Israel-Hamas War: There’s Still Many Hostages Left Behind, Including Americans, Yet To Be Rescued

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
WITT: “Let’s quickly bring in Peter Baker. We have a lot of things to talk to you about, but one quick question on this, what has been the reaction to Israel rescuing these four hostages alive? In the big picture, how does this factor into overall opinions on Israel’s actions? Does it soften any critics?”

BAKER: “I am here in Paris where President Biden is, of course, visiting with president emmanuel mccrum, and the present, you showed him earlier expressing great gratitude and happiness that these hostages have been rescued. Jake Sullivan believes the statement think this was done, in part, with American help. My colleagues at The New York Times have talked to intelligence officials, who say that the Americans have been part of this operation, that they provided intelligence and logistical support. They were not on the ground. They were not providing military support, but they were helping out, in terms of finding these hostages and figuring out how to extract them. This is kind of a moment, where we see the cooperation, that has been behind-the-scenes between the Americans and Israeli governments over the last eight months, since the October 7th attack on Israel. I think there is a great happiness among the Americans, that there is some good news here. There are still many hostages left behind, including Americans, who have yet to be found and rescued, so of course, what you heard from the president today is he wants Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire proposal so the rest of the hostages can be released.”