Ilhan Omar: Jake Sullivan Isn’t Sharing the Full Picture on Ceasefire Negotiation Efforts

PHILLIP: “It’s an important point that we are seeing some really horrific images and we know, based on our own reporting at CNN, that there is a lot of suffering in Gaza. I do want you, as you‘re talking about this war, to listen to what one of the president‘s top aides on national security, Jake Sullivan, said today at the White House briefing about a ceasefire, which I know that you support. Listen.”

[Clip starts]
SULLIVAN: “Those who would like to see a ceasefire in Gaza, a ceasefire is on the table today for six weeks to be built on into something more enduring if Hamas would simply release women, wounded, and elderly. And the fact that they will not do so says a lot to me about Hamas‘s regard for innocent Palestinian civilians.”
[Clip ends]

PHILLIP: “If a ceasefire is on the table today, Hamas could agree to it today. Does he have a point?”
Omar: “Well, Hamas showed up to Egypt, it‘s my understanding, for the negotiations. It was Israel that refused to send negotiators to be at the table to carve out — you have to remember that a ceasefire is not something that happens magically. It is a process that is negotiated by different parties that have interest. And so I do hope that Jake continues to be an honest broker in this — in this conflict.”
PHILLIP: “That‘s actually — I mean, that‘s actually what I really want to clarify. Are you suggesting that when he says there‘s something on the table, a ceasefire that Israel has agreed to, they want those hostages back, Hamas will not agree to that, you don‘t think that that‘s where things — you don‘t believe that that is where things stand today in these negotiations?”
Omar: “Well, there was a current AP reporting that said, you know, negotiators from Hamas arrived in Egypt to negotiate for a ceasefire, and Israel decided not to send anyone down there to negotiate. You can certainly have certain demands that you want, and we obviously want the hostages released, returned to their families, or American hostages that are included, there is an infant that is included in those hostages, and so it is important that we do everything that we can. But we can‘t be dishonest to the point where we are saying that everybody is doing everything that they can to be at the table to negotiate a ceasefire that can lead to a permanent solution.”
PHILLIP: “So, again to clarify, congresswoman, you‘re saying Jake Sullivan is being dishonest when he says Israel is at the table, willing to sign a ceasefire?”
Omar: “I’m saying he’s not sharing the full picture. I don‘t know if he‘s being honest or not, but it certainly does not go along with the current reporting that that has come out of those negotiation efforts.”
PHILLIP: “On the president and this election, which is, as you point out, really important one, you didn‘t vote for President Biden, or for uncommitted in Minnesota’s primary. The uncommitted vote was a big part of that primary in your home state.”