Pompeo says US wrong to seek cease-fire, Israel should ‘finish the job’

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it’s wrong for the United States to seek a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and that the U.S. should instead tell Israel to “finish the job.”

“We should be saying plain and clear, finish the job,” Pompeo said Sunday morning on “Fox News Sunday.”

Pompeo’s comments follow the news that Israeli strikes killed several top officials of the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The group’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed, and on Sunday the Israel Defense Forces confirmed it had killed Nabil Kaouk, a preventative security commander.

The strikes and increased tension in the region have sparked concerns that an all-out war could happen nearly a year after the Israel-Hamas war began and when there’s no clear cease-fire deal in sight.

Pompeo, who served in the Trump administration, argued Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders would “be alive today” if Israel and Hamas had agreed to the previous cease-fire deals drafted by the Biden administration.

“Make no mistake about it. We know history. We know the history from 1967; we know the history from 1973,” Pompeo said. “There is only one thing that will protect Israel and make the Middle East more prosperous and peaceful and that is the demonstration of power and imposing costs on Israel’s adversaries.”

President Biden released a statement calling Nasrallah’s death a “measure of justice” because he was responsible for a four-decade “reign of terror” that killed hundreds of Americans.

“This is a regional challenge, it’s one for the world. And the United States demanding that Israel stop when the task ahead of them to finish the job is a mistake and only creates further risk of escalation,” Pompeo said.

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