The Biden administration unleashed a torrent of criticism against Israel’s polarizing finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, on Friday after he referred to cease-fire negotiations with Hamas as a “dangerous trap.”
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said a lengthy statement posted by Smotrich to the social platform X made “ridiculous charges” regarding his opposition to a cease-fire deal to end the fighting in Gaza.
“Some critics, like Mr. Smotrich, for example, have claimed that the hostage deal is a surrender to Hamas or that hostages should not be exchanged for prisoners. Mr. Smotrich essentially suggests that the war ought to go on indefinitely without pause and with the lives of the hostages of no real concern at all,” Kirby said.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., suffered a bruising defeat in her St. Louis district on Tuesday night, becoming the second member of the progressive group of House lawmakers known as “the Squad” to lose a Democratic primary to a more moderate opponent this year.
A new federal rule protecting LGBT students from discrimination in schools and colleges based on gender identity that took effect on Thursday remained blocked in 26 states after the 
