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Democratic senator calls for ceasefire if hostages freed

By Jacob Magid 2 November 2023, 7:38 pm 3 Edit

Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, leads a hearing about the rise in threats toward elected leaders and election workers, at the Capitol in Washington, August 3, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, leads a hearing about the rise in threats toward elected leaders and election workers, at the Capitol in Washington, August 3, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON — Dick Durbin becomes the first US senator to express support for a ceasefire in Gaza, while clarifying that it must include the release of all hostages in the Hamas-run enclave.

Durbin’s condition regarding the release of some 240 hostages sets him apart from the 18 Democrats from the far-left flank of his party who signed onto a resolution calling for a ceasefire, which makes no mention of those kidnapped into Gaza.

Durbin tells CNN his ceasefire call is “under circumstances, for example, the release of those who have been kidnapped as part of it, as an indication that this is a good faith effort on part of the other side.”

Discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more broadly, the pro-two-state Durbin says, “Let’s face it, this has gone on for decades. Whatever the rationale from the beginning has now reached an intolerable level. We need to have a resolution in the Middle East that gives some promise to the future.”

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