President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, leaned hard on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get him to agree to compromises to advance a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, Israeli media reported on Monday.
Witkoff, a real estate investor, flew to Israel from Qatar to meet with Netanyahu on Saturday. The pressure Witkoff put on Netanyahu is being credited for the progress in negotiations in recent days, and officials from all sides are now saying an agreement is close.
According to Haaretz, Witkoff has “forced Israel to accept a plan that Netanyahu had repeatedly rejected over the past half year.” Netanyahu had been pushing for a deal that only involved a temporary ceasefire, but according to the reports, the new plan would involve a full Israeli withdrawal.
However, on Sunday, another report from Haaretz said one of the main disputes in the negotiations was that Israel didn’t want to commit to ending its genocidal war for good, signaling Israel hasn’t agreed to everything.
Reuters reported on Monday that mediators had given Israel and Hamas a final draft deal after a “breakthrough” in the talks and that officials would be discussing it on Tuesday.
Throughout the genocidal war in Gaza, the Biden administration had refused to put any real pressure on Israel to agree to a deal, allowing Netanyahu to sabotage talks with Hamas. The US has significant leverage over Israel since it provides so much military aid, which Israel needs to sustain military operations.
It’s unclear how Witkoff pressured Netanyahu or if he threatened to cut off military aid. It’s also still unclear if the pressure was enough to get Netanyahu actually to agree to a deal, which won’t be known until an agreement is signed.
While Netanyahu is under a lot of domestic pressure to reach an agreement, some members of his coalition government are strongly against it, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Pro-Netanyahu Israeli media pundits have been expressing anger at the pressure from the incoming Trump administration. Yinon Magal, an Israeli talk show host, referenced Trump’s recent threats to Hamas that there would be “hell to pay” if hostages weren’t released by the inauguration.
“He talks about hell and, in the meantime, sends his envoy to sign a deal. It’s a deal whose impact will be very difficult. That’s the truth,” Magal said.
Magal said the only hope was that Hamas would reject the deal. “A cabinet minister told me we need to pray again that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart,” he said.
President-elect Trump conducts the Derangement Syndrome orchestra and Choir in honor of his impending inauguration next week:
https://x.com/MarkSimoneNY/status/1878901656164929627
If this guy helps end the conflict; he deserves some big time credit. US media will just ignore him.
That Jeffrey Sachs video on Truth Social was definitely a thinly veiled warning to Netanyahoo.
If you're a White man, it's a good bet that you voted for President Trump. Exit polls show 74% of White males voted for Trump vs. only 24% voting for Kamala Harris.
So only 2% didn’t vote against America? That’s about the usual.
Point being?
You scored well Yinon Magal getting to know Donald Trump…!
With these pathetic domestic political antics, it reminds one of the Iranian hostage crisis that saw the release of the Americans on the very day of Reagan's inauguration. Everyone knows the leverage the US has over Israel. To think that the Biden administration let the slaughter go on for so long when they could have stopped it at any point since October 7th.
Everyone knows the leverage that AIPAC has over the US government.
Pro Zionists here scoffed when tongue and cheek remarks were made that Trump's statement of all hell breaking loose was ambiguous enough to include pressure on Netanyahu and Israel to reach a ceasefire. Even though the leaks may have been orchestrated, it shows the complexity of dealing with a Trump administration. The debate inside the new administration will be who controls policy on Israel, the Israel lobby or America?
Trump clearly and justifiably dislikes Netanyahu. You saw through the Trump statement. Israel has been aggressively attacking in all directions before Trump arrives.
Many things have shaken up the American power base in America over the last decade, domestic and foreign. In order for America to change its waning trajectory it should cut its losses abroad and focus attention domestically. Remember when JFK said ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country? Unfortunately Americans have seen their country hijacked by corrupt greedy lying politicians, so until that relationship of trust is rebuilt one can't expect Americans to reinvest in their country again.
The Israel Lobby will go heavy on the the Evangelical MAGA base and Huckabee the new Ambassador to Israel. Who will Trump please in the end? Is he trying to divert his base to the shiny objects of Greenland, Canada, Panama and the "American Gulf"? They like the idea so may forget about "their Israel".
Clean, clear and concise!…
If I may, I’d like to suggest, why not write an in-depth piece for antiwar?! You have much to express!…
Thank you @donnavolatile:disqus I appreciate the kind suggestion. I have in the past. And hopefully will in the future. I do have a piece coming out very soon in the Electronic Intifada on Israel's assassination policy and Palestinian resistance.
Excellent! Do share links with us here, please and thank you!
@donnavolatile:disqus the op ed was published today. https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-west-wrong-about-hamas/50294
Please link me in for that.
https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-west-wrong-about-hamas/50294
Good article.
Thank you
There is talk that in exchange for Israel's capitulation in accepting a ceasefire are more aggressive plans offered by the US to Israel against Iran. A combination of punishing airstrikes, including nuclear facilities and harsher sanctions to get the Iranian population to bring down the regime. Regardless, Israel is forever damaged goods for the US. It makes sense that a waning empire in the Middle East is seeking to solidify its areas of influence. Thus talk about Canada, Panama Canal and Greenland.
It's hard to imagine how any cease fire in Gaza will change the overall picture. Israel isn't only rampaging in Gaza. In order to have any kind of an effect, the US will have to completely change their relationship with Israel.
It is possible they show their true colors after the inauguration. Trump is not a prophet of peace, he will support any Iran invasion if it benefits him.
Yes. This is for the inauguration. Not the Palestinians.
A change in leadership on the part of Israel would be a precursor to that.
You can bet Netanyahu won’t be going out gracefully. It’s gonna be ugly.
Seriously? I guess you haven't been listening to the alternatives to Netanyahu. Like my friend NA always says, Israel is full of Netanyahu's.
Who ever it is they won’t be jerking Trump around like they did Biden.
His new envoy just called Bibi on the carpet last Saturday. Yahu tried to wriggle out of the meeting pleading shabbat but Trump’s man said, in some pretty salty language, that this wasn’t a request but a directive.
Now we’re on the verge of a ceasefire on the same terms that was proposed over a year ago.
Bottom line this is good news for Gaza… Rejoice with me my friend!
I agree. They won't jerk around Trump like they did Biden. But what does that mean for the Palestinians? Trump will still be loyal to Israel, he will just do it with them kissing his ass. And I would be happy with a cease fire in Gaza if I believed it was the start of a complete reassessment of our relationship with Israel. But I don't believe that for a minute.
According to NBC News exit polls, 78% of Jewish Americans voted for vice president Kamala Harris, while 22% voted for now President-elect Donald Trump. A Fox News/Associated Press exit poll found a smaller majority of Jews, 66%, voted for Harris, while 32% voted for Trump.
President Trump asked," Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal [USA backed agreement between Israel and Sudan], Bibi, Sleepy Joe,"?
"Well Mr. President," Netanyahu began, "one thing I can tell you is that we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what you've done enormously."
Trump lost his re-election by a few thousand votes, and spent the last four years in court.
I am not at all surprised by this. Trump wants negotiations, always has.
Some people try to say Trump is a zionist tool and will support Israel's aggressions. There is no evidence of that. Israel's actions since the election show they know Trump is not a pushover like Biden is.
Trump despises Netanyahu.
I like your analysis!…
So did Obama, that did not change anything, he could not even get a short moratorium on WB settlements.
"The Fighters for Freedom of Israel [Lehi]: will not regard itself as bound by any cease-fire or order anywhere, anyplace, anytime . . . . Any military delegation of outsiders . . . who come to Palestine to implement cease-fire orders will be regarded [by Lehi] as enemy invaders and treated as such." (A Death in Jerusalem, Kati Maeton, Pantheon Books, New York, P-139)
Many observers will opine that a one-state or two-state solution is impossible or impractical. Saudi Arabia's Mohammad Bin Salman would agree if he spoke honestly. The Palestinians realize that neither is achievable.
The Greater Israel Plan is in progress.
President Trump doesn't have a solution unless Israelis are willing to depart to friendlier countries. He's not going to enrage the Israeli lobby.
Trump’s complete comment was more like there will be hell to pay – for everybody…
He doesn’t like Netanyahu and won’t make any effort to keep him around for his incoming Administration.
I hear Bibi won’t be coming to the inauguration. Good!
"Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East," Trump said, adding that "Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!"
It doesn't sound like everybody to me.
"And it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good frankly for anyone,"
"Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied History of the United States of America. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!"
But this is what would be the difference. He certainly isn't including Israel when he said that part.
He said “those responsible”…
Lookin’ at you Bibi
"Release the hostages now" was referring to who? So, I don't think the threat of "hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long storied history…" was aimed at Netanyahu. But don't get me wrong, I hope he does force Netanyahu out of power. Unfortunately, I just don't think it would matter. Without a massive rethinking of our relationship with Israel nothing will ever change.