Failure to Secure Release of US Hostages Called a ‘Travesty’ by Lt. Col. Shaffer on Newsmax

Anthony Shaffer, a retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, expressed disappointment that no U.S. citizens held hostage in Gaza have been released by Hamas yet.

Appearing on Newsmax’s “The Chris Salcedo Show” on Friday, Shaffer criticized the Biden administration for failing to bring any Americans home during the first phase of Hamas hostage releases.

“The appeasement didn’t even work,” Shaffer said of the United States’ role in the cease-fire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas. “I mean, out of all the billions we’ve spent, all the support we’ve done, somehow the Thailand and the Philippines have better negotiators than we do.”

According to The New York Times, of the 24 hostages released, 13 were Israeli, 10 were Thais, and one was a Filipino. Another 26 are expected to return home in the coming days.

“This is a travesty … I mean, think about this. All the effort of [Secretary of State Antony] Blinken — multiple trips. All the effort of [President Joe] Biden. It’s all an illusion,” Shaffer said. “They don’t want to really do it.”

His comments arrived after reports that Hamas had already broken the temporary, four-day cease-fire agreement meant to facilitate the prisoner exchanges, which include the release of 150 imprisoned Palestinians.

“It’s pretty obvious to me that Hamas, as a command-and-control structure, doesn’t truly have command and control of all of its forces,” said retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, who appeared alongside Shaffer.

“They tried to parse off that some of the hostages are controlled by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, some by the al-Qassam Brigade,” he continued. “You can have renegade factions that say, ‘We didn’t sign on for this, and we’re going to keep throwing rockets at Israel.'”

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