I've been writing about how the Biden administration seems in complete confusion about "pauses," "ceasefire," and whatever it is that Joe Biden has said to Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu about such things. 

First, it was that he was pushing Bibi for a ceasefire. Then the White House walked that back. Then earlier on Thursday, Biden admitted he'd been asking Netanyahu for a three-day pause, and he'd been asking Netanyahu for a "longer pause."  We call such "pauses" a ceasefire but he doesn't want to call it what it is, because that would offend one part of his base, yet he wants to cater to the ceasefire contingent. He also seemed to take a shot at Netanyahu for not caving to what he, Biden, wanted. 

But now it's gotten even more embarrassing. The Biden administration announced on Thursday that the Israelis would be doing a "daily, 4-hour pause."

BREAKING: Kirby: Starting today Israel is going to implement a daily 4 hour pause in the fighting in northern Gaza strip

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 9, 2023

Notice it says nothing about Hamas pausing anything. Because in Biden-world,  "pause" means the victim pauses, not the attacker.

But it turns out that what the Biden team is claiming isn't quite the truth. Big surprise -- it never is. 

 As our friend Ed Morrissey reported over at Hot Air, the Biden team jumped out over their skis, trying to claim some big agreement that didn't exist. 

UPDATE: Netanyahu's office denies it. Either Kirby and Biden got out over their skis, or they tried to bully Israel into their preferred policies. Embarrassing. https://t.co/EvZXekGC6K

— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) November 9, 2023

It looks like the Biden team was trying to cast the ad hoc pauses the Israelis were doing, as the situation demanded, as some big new breaking agreement that they had achieved and was going to be an everyday thing. Ed Morrissey continued:

An interesting development, given that American media have reported this before Israeli media despite the obvious higher interest in that country. The White House has committed the IDF to operational ‘pauses’ in northern Gaza each day, with announcements to give terrorists plenty of warning to time attacks on moribund IDF units. 

[…] 

It turns out that Israel has already been implementing tactical pauses all along to allow civilians to evacuate. Yesterday alone, the Times of Israel reports, the IDF allowed 50,000 civilians to evacuate to the south while implementing a tactical pause. However, they do not plan to make that a commitment unless conditions on the ground necessitate it…

The Israelis made clear there was no ceasefire or further pause that matched what the Biden team said. 

There is no ceasefire. There are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians. These tactical pauses are limited in time and area. We are also providing humanitarian corridors for civilians in Gaza to temporarily move south to safer areas where they can receive… pic.twitter.com/qwNoYYf0QV

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 9, 2023

Here's what the Times of Israel wrote, reiterating what the IDF said. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismisses a White House statement that says Israel has agreed to a daily four-hour humanitarian pause in northern Gaza starting today.

So, it looks like the Biden team was trying to appease some of their radical base and help themselves by fudging the facts. I'm just going to guess that earlier shot Biden made at Netanyahu, and this effort, are not going to help their relationship with Israel. 

What must our allies think, if the Biden team does things like this? And that's the bigger problem we have here. Again, when the things Biden says aren't true and when he doesn't appear to understand what's going on, that puts us all in danger.