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Haaretz | Israel News
Analysis | Trump's Mideast Envoy
Forced Netanyahu to Accept a Gaza Plan
He Repeatedly Rejected
Israeli sources say that the involvement of the incoming U.S.
administration, led by Trump's aggressive Middle East envoy
Steve Witko!, revived hostage talks with Hamas. While
Netanyahu's propaganda machine claims that Trump has left
him no choice, what happens inside his coalition will
determine whether the prime minister approves the deal
Save Zen Read
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff shake hands, at Mar-a-
Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. January 7. Credit: Carlos Barria/ REUTERS
Last Friday evening, Steven Witko!, U.S. President-
elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, called from
Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's
Chaim
Levinson
aides that he would be coming to Israel the following
Follow afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the
Jan 13, 2025 11:42 middle of the Sabbath but that the prime minister
pm IST
would gladly meet him Saturday night.
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Witko!'s blunt reaction took them by surprise. He
explained to them in salty English that Shabbat was of
no interest to him. His message was loud and clear.
Thus in an unusual departure from o"cial practice,
the prime minister showed up at his o"ce for an
o"cial meeting with Witko!, who then returned to
Qatar to seal the deal.
A week before Trump's inauguration, Jerusalem
already sees a change in the rules of the game that has
broken the deadlock in the hostage negotiations.
Unusually, the outgoing Biden administration has let
Witko! lead the process, on the grounds that any
obligations the United States undertakes will be
incumbent on Trump, not on Biden.
Witko! is a Jewish real estate investor and developer
who is close to Trump. He doesn't have the
background of the kind of people who usually fill
diplomatic roles. "Witko! isn't a diplomat. He doesn't
talk like a diplomat, he has no interest in diplomatic
manners and diplomatic protocols," says a senior
Israeli diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"He's a businessman who wants to reach a deal
quickly and charges ahead unusually aggressively."
Netanyahu's far-right allies hurl last-minute
wrecking ball at hostage negotiations
In first phase, 33 hostages to be released,
Palestinians to return to north Gaza
PM meets with Smotrich, Ben-Gvir as hostage talks
enter final pre-Trump stretch
In fact, Witko! has forced Israel to accept a plan that
Netanyahu had repeatedly rejected over the past half
year. Hamas has not budged from its position that the
hostages' freedom must be conditioned on the release
of Palestinian prisoners (the easy part) and a complete
Israeli withdrawal from Gaza (the hard one).
Netanyahu rejected this condition and thus was born
the partial deal proposed by Egypt.
:
Initially, the talk was of a limited humanitarian deal.
More and more conditions were slowly appended until
it grew into a much bigger proposal with clear outlines
– a hostage release, new regional arrangements and
full withdrawal. The Philadelphi Corridor, which
Netanyahu last summer termed the bedrock of Israel's
existence, is part of the deal. At Egypt's request, Israel
will fully withdraw from it in the first phase.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
at the Knesset, last month. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
It's hard to know how Netanyahu feels about this
aggressive behavior. While it provides an excuse he
can give to his base, he may resent being dragged into
an unwanted deal that will end the war and possibly
lead to political upheaval at home.
His propaganda machine is pushing the no-choice
narrative that it's Trump. On Monday, laments began
to be heard on Channel 14 that Trump isn't what we
thought. "I'm surprised all the senior o"cials in the
U.S. administration are saying the same thing," Yotam
Zimri said on the Patriots program. "If this doesn't
happen by the time Trump comes in, Hamas will
understand what hell is. I don't understand the Israeli
interest in at least not waiting for Trump." Yinon
Magal answered," It's because Trump is pressing to do
it! That's what's happening."
Zimri: "So all his people have been lying – it's a big
disappointment."
Magal: "He talks about hell and in the meantime sends
his envoy to sign a deal. It's a deal whose impact will
be very di"cult. That's the truth." He added that the
:
last remaining hope is that Hamas will reject a deal: "A
cabinet minister told me we need to pray again that
God will harden Pharaoh's heart."
Demonstrators hold torches during a protest calling for the immediate release of the
hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group in Tel Aviv, Israel, on
Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg / AP
Monday morning, another Netanyahu mouthpiece,
Jacob Bardugo said, "The pressure Trump is exerting
right now is not the kind that Israel expected from
him. The pressure is the essence of the matter."
Despite this, the ball remains in Netanyahu's court,
and no one can be sure what he will decide at the last
minute.
Monday afternoon, he briefed Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister
Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir will vote against any deal,
no question. Winning populist votes in the next
election in his calculations trumps saving lives. When
Smotrich left the meeting with the prime minister, he
sounded thoughtful. Those who spoke to him Monday
got the impression that he thought it was a good deal.
But by noon he announced that it was a catastrophe
that Israel should not agree to. Smotrich's statement,
however, didn't address the critical issue, namely
whether he regards it as a reason to quit the coalition.
If he does leave, he will drag Ben-Gvir with him, and
the government will fall. If he simply opposes the deal,
his opposition will be meaningless – just airtime on
radio shows.
This question is linked with another one, whether
Netanyahu can pass the 2025 budget and better ensure
the survival of the coalition, in light of the crisis over
the Haredi draft law and the internecine struggle in
:
the ultra-Orthodox camp over who can be the most
extreme. Netanyahu may decide that his government
is crumbling anyway, so better to bring it down on a
deal that is popular with the non-Ben-Gvir-ist public
than on the whims of the Rebbe of Gur.
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Hamas Gaza Benjamin Netanyahu Donald Trump
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