Direct talks with Hamas aren’t entirely new as past US negotiations have also involved designated terror groups, former US Middle East Peace Negotiator Aaron David Miller says.
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00:00President Trump has issued this warning to Hamas on social media saying release all hostages or else.
00:09What's your understanding of what or else could actually entail?
00:13Look, at the same time, President Trump is using his true social media posts to threaten Hamas.
00:20He's broken through any number of conventional barriers by engaging directly with the organization.
00:26Hamas is a foreign terrorist organization by statute.
00:29According to American law, direct contacts and material support, among other things, are prohibited.
00:38It is and can be in the U.S. national interest for an American president or diplomat to engage with any number of bad actors.
00:46The U.S. has done it in the past.
00:48In the 1970s, CIA engaged with the PLO.
00:52Various administrations have engaged with Taliban, even people on the Haqqani Network in the service of American national interest.
01:00So he's sending very mixed signals here.