"This was the situation with which the White House had to deal during the weeks and months after October 7th, 2023: a war against Israel with many fronts, and a demand from Iran and terrorist organizations throughout the area which it supported stipulating that the only way to stop the war was for Israel to accept all of Hamas' demands. Therefore, we, in the Biden government, reached the conclusion that the only realistic way to end the war was through solid support of Israel while working on a cease-fire agreement whereby the hostages would be released under conditions not dictated by Hamas, and an attempt to tone down the humanitarian implications of the war.
"While Hamas and its supporters claim that it received this framework at the beginning of July, this is not true! Hamas inserted new demands for a permanent cease-fire. And in such negotiations, they would never — ever — even if all the other clauses appeared as accepted, they would refuse to present a list of the hostages who would be released it the cease-fire was implemented. This was the situation throughout all of the negotiations in Cairo and Duha, Qatar, which I helped move during last summer.
"Hamas only seriously considered those subjects which interested them, like remaining Israeli army posts in the course of the cease-fire, or personnel across the border. They refused to seriously relate to the nature of the agreement itself: the hostages which would be released in the course of the cease-fire. Neither did Hamas seem concerned about Gaza residents, whose suffering would have been considerably improved by an end to the fighting and an intensification of humanitarian assistance which the cease-fire would provide."
The Israeli Left is Having a Hard Time with Trump
And something about the Left. They don't know how to digest the American president. For years, they barraged the Right about the need to maintain solid relations with the American government, and surely not to go against its word. They repeatedly warned that any quarrel with America would affect the Israeli economy, diplomatically and militarily.
And lo and behold, the opposite is true. Now they need to warn the Israeli government to ignore the American 'boss.' A real tragedy has taken place in the world when a president entered the government who supported the Rightist position.
This is what a senior Israeli journalist, Nachum Barnea, wrote this week: "Every American president, from Harry Truman to Joe Biden, has asked, in turn, to control Israeli steps vis a vis the Arab side. At times with an outspoken threat, like Eisenhower in 1956 and at times by clubs and sanctions, like Nixon during the Yom Kippur War, or Bush senior during the Gulf War and Bush junior in the second Lebanese war. Similarly, a chain of Democratic presidents who did not support the expansion of settlements in Judea and the Israeli policy regarding those settlements.
"And here, along comes a president who thinks and acts differently. If Gaza, with its two million people is problematic, let's disperse those citizens in other countries. For over five decades, Jews and Arabs have been grappling with the idea of transfer, arguing about its ethical underpinnings, legalities and practical implications, and not coming to any mutual understanding. Along comes Trump and solves the problem with one sentence: Zahal will clean up the Strip, the U.S. will take over, Jordan and Egypt will absorb, the rich oil states will foot the bill and a new Riviera will emerge."
So what's bad about this?
"Instead of helping Netanyahu to find a solid footing in reality, Trump shunts him aside. This takes place as well in the revolution of the police system: Netanyahu returns from America with a decision to implement everything which Trump dictated to him, This is the goal: from a strong and proud government, we have been relegated to a mere trampoline."
Got it? The time has come to tell the Americans off. To say: NO! With capital letters. We are not a banana republic and we refuse to knuckle under to dictates from Washington. If Trump wants to force us not to recognize the murderers from Gaza, we cannot do so. We must recognize them and keep them in power and subject ourselves to all of their whims.
