Carry on digging

For Joe Biden, the Israel-Hamas hostage deal is personal

The US president's stewardship throughout the Israel-Hamas conflict has been called into question. But securing the freedom of hostages is unquestionably a success. Events that could, and should, unfold in the coming days go some way to endorsing the way he's played his hand.

US officials describe what they call a "gut-wrenching" zoom call between President Biden and relatives of hostages in the week after they were taken. Thereafter, he took a central role in the delicate process towards securing their release.

The other 'delicate process' was to present Biden as a central figure while sidestepping obvious questions about his ability to be a central figure in the first place. Nobody paying attention is likely to be deceived about that. 

This is the pit they dug for themselves and their only option is to carry on digging.