Bolton: Hostage swap with Hamas is ‘a very bad deal for Israel’

Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton slammed the Hamas hostage and cease-fire agreement reached Tuesday as a “very bad deal for Israel” Wednesday.

“The deal itself, at least as I understand the terms as they’ve been announced, is a very bad deal for Israel,” Bolton said. “It’s another swap of hostages — innocent victims — for criminals that are in Israeli jails at a ratio of 3:1 in favor of the Hamas terrorists.”

Bolton made the comments Wednesday on the Cats & Cosby radio show with host John Catsimatidis.

The deal was announced late Tuesday after hours of difficult negotiations within the Israeli cabinet. It frees about 50 of the approximately 240 hostages held by Hamas over the course of four days, beginning no sooner than Friday. An undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners will also be released.

Fighting in the ongoing war between the two sides will cease during the exchanges, a halt which will be extended by one day for every 10 hostages released.

The agreement was the culmination of weeks of negotiations between the U.S., Qatar, Israel and Hamas, and is expected to result in a window for increased humanitarian aid for the enclave.

Bolton said Israel folded, accepting the deal due to “pressure” from the Biden administration, which he claims is no longer backing Israel as strongly as it has previously.

“I don’t see how this, on net, benefits Israel strategically,” he said. “I’m sure the Israeli Defense forces get some benefit from a pause…but fundamentally, time is on Hamas’ side here.”

“I do understand humanitarian concerns, but there are 220 hostages and 9 million other Israeli citizens who are threatened, not just by Hamas but by Hezbollah and fundamentally by Iran,” he continued.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced extreme domestic pressure to focus efforts on rescuing the hostages taken by Hamas militants at the beginning of the conflict early last month.

Over 1,200 Israelis died at the start of the war, in the attack which resulted in the hostage-taking. Israel’s air and ground campaign since has killed over 12,000 Palestinians, including over 4,600 children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.