Israeli writers in Hebrew newspapers had mixed assessments of the speech delivered by the American President Joe Biden Yesterday, Friday, in which he announced the details of the new Israeli-American proposal regarding a prisoner exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation), but they agreed that it highlighted the rift between Biden and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli military analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth, Ron Ben Yishai, who is known for his closeness to the security decision-making centers, considered that Biden’s proposal is “unusually far-reaching from the Israeli point of view, as it includes far-reaching concessions, but it preserves the humanitarian and security interests of the State of Israel.”
More than that, it is not appropriate – and it is forbidden – to add more about the content and meaning of the proposal. He criticized the announcement issued by Netanyahu’s office following the speech, saying it was unnecessary.
He said, “Government ministers and politicians from all parties, as well as us commentators and journalists, must step back this time. They must not comment. They must just remain silent. This is the most important thing that anyone who cares about the fate of the kidnapped people and does not want to defeat the State of Israel can do now.”
The Israeli analyst tried to evaluate Biden’s speech, saying that it was strange, and even somewhat disappointing, in its content and in the way it was worded, but he achieved his goal. It put Hamas in a bind, and demonstrated to the international community that Israel is indeed showing flexibility and willingness to end the war. In doing so, Biden gained great legitimacy for us. By the way, one can understand why Netanyahu did not deliver this speech. “Biden is less afraid than Netanyahu, who is afraid of his partners in the right-wing religious-nationalist coalition.”
The analyst pointed out that Biden’s disclosure of the latest Israeli proposal was carried out “in coordination between Israel and the United States in order to make it clear to Hamas.”
Netanyahu is in a trap
As for the Israeli writer for Maariv, Ben Caspit, he wrote an article entitled “Does censorship protect Netanyahu from Ben Gvir?” He considered that Biden “trapped Netanyahu into a trap,” and added, “Biden has dismantled Israeli censorship in a wonderful step.” He asked, “Why does the censorship reject such a proposal in the first place? To protect Netanyahu from Ben Gvir? If I know Netanyahu, he divided the deal into 3 stages, so that he can delay, exhaust and prolong the time and make everyone’s lives miserable while the deal is implemented, if we reach that stage. The problem.” “He will be arrested this time.”
The writer said, “The longer the work continues between the stages, the less Netanyahu’s ability to resume fighting, even though he will not accept normalization.”
As for Yedioth newspaper’s political correspondent, Itamar Eichner, he concluded that “Biden’s speech shows that Israel is required to pay high prices: Hamas will remain sovereign in the Gaza Strip, and will maintain its military power, but Israel remains handcuffed,” adding that “the only thing that stood out in The rhetoric is that most of the pressure is directed at Israel, and Hamas is getting away with it again.”
He stressed that “Biden exposed the Israeli trick, and revealed that Israel had in fact agreed to end the war without the collapse of Hamas, and to negotiations that were not under fire, as long as the negotiations continued even after the first phase of the deal, which will last 6 weeks. This is the same ambiguous wording that was talked about in The last weeks behind the scenes in order to give Hamas an “end to the war,” even if it did not call it that. On the other hand, if Israel presents a three-stage proposal and waits for Hamas’ response, where is the pressure on the terrorist organization, and this aspect was completely absent from Biden’s speech?
While the writer drew attention to an interesting point related to the timing in terms of the proximity to a possible date for Minister Benny Gantz’s retirement from the government, noting that “the reasonable possibility is that the Biden administration fears Netanyahu’s extremism in Gantz’s absence.”
The writer considered that Biden’s speech reflected “a very great frustration on the American side with the impasse that the negotiations have reached and the resulting stalemate,” pointing to “the American president’s aversion to Netanyahu and his promises of complete victory,” and that he “moved at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour against the extremists in Netanyahu’s government.” , who, according to him, want “the war to continue forever” and to “occupy Gaza.”