This is CBSI on the world. I'm John Baxter. Malcolm Hohnline Conference of President's major

American Jewish organizations, my colleague and co-host, and we're very pleased to welcome

Max Boot of the Washington Post. Importantly, also the biographer of Ronald Reagan, his new book

out, I recommend Reagan,

his legend and life. A wonderful story over many years, but that was then. This is now,

and Max is writing about the war in the Middle East and many iterations. The ceasefire, the word

comes up constantly. The ceasefire with Hezbollah is said to be holding, although there have been interruptions.

However, the ceasefire in Gaza is non-transparent.

Malcolm, I'm just checking with you.

Is there any active or suggested negotiation in the Gaza conflict right now?

Their ongoing outreach, and it seems that Qatar is playing a role, but I think it's for

an interim deal, trying to get the women, men over 50, something to show the people that

there's some advance, but not a permanent deal.

I do note that over the last several days, several deceased hostages have been

recovered by the IDF. Max, a very good evening to you. You ask a very hard question, if we can do a

ceasefire in the north with Hezbollah, which has enormously more capabilities of damage than

Hamas, given its arsenal and its numbers.

Why not a ceasefire in Gaza? That has not changed since you posted your column. What do you observe

is the hesitation? Is it Jerusalem? Is it Cairo? Is it Tehran? How do you read this, Max? Good evening to you.

Good evening. I mean, I think primarily it comes down to Israeli politics, which is that, you know,

Benjamin Netanyahu was in a coalition with the extreme right-wing parties in Israel, led by Smokridge and Ben-Gvir, and the extreme right was hesitant

about a ceasefire with Hezbollah, but it wasn't a deal-breaker for them. They were willing to go

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