He felt it in his heart but believed it was still sometime away, not that it would end with an Israeli air strike in the middle of Ramadan, Islam’s holy month of fasting, prayer and reflection.
“I thought that this might not happen for another month or so after Ramadan, maybe after Passover, but Netanyahu decided to take the gloves off and strike when Hamas least expected it,” Rosenberg, a noted Middle East analyst, author and publisher, said on Washington Watch Tuesday.
Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a blow as unsuspecting as his nation received on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapped 251.
Fifty-nine remain held by Hamas though Israeli authorities believe 35 of them are dead.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced jointly that the operation took out Essam al-Da’alis, head of the Hamas government and “the most senior figure of authority in the Gaza Strip.”
The two groups also believe with “high probability” that three other senior Hamas officials have been eliminated.
Rosenberg told show host Jody Hice that Netanyahu is “a brilliant thinker in terms of always seemingly getting the other side off guard.”
That said, Netanyahu was “completely blindsided” by the Oct. 7 attacks which are a “serious blemish on his record," the journalist-author admitted.
What is unclear from the most recent strikes is whether Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are trying to force Hamas into releasing more hostages or if Netanyahu has decided the time for diplomacy has passed.
The physical condition of the release of three men in early February – compared by some to Holocaust survivors -- sparked outrage and concern for the well-being of the hostages who still may be alive.
Where talks go from here remains to be seen.
“I don’t know the answer to that question. I do believe at some point, whether it’s right now or in a few weeks, we’re going back to war to finish off Hamas, to vanquish them forever,” he said.
It's the forever thing that most bothers Hamas, that known fate that impacts the sincerity of negotiations.
"They're not about to release the last (hostages) without something that's going to preserve the future of Hamas," Bob Maginnis, a retired Army officer and national defense strategist, told AFN.
"Hamas must be decimated, eliminated totally. You're not going to win by negotiating with these people. You're not going to win necessarily by continuing to bomb them. This is going to be protracted until they're totally eliminated," Maginnis said.
The East African plan
Israelis, often hand-tied by Joe Biden in their relationship with the U.S., feel strengthened by Trump, Rosenberg said.
The U.S. and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss possibly relocating Gaza Strip Palestinians at the conclusion of the war, The Associated Press has reported, citing American and Israeli officials as sources.
But the responses from Sudan, Somalia and the Somalia breakaway region known as Somaliland have been puzzling.
Sudan officials say they dismissed the notion, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The AP they were unaware of any such contacts.
Any such mass relocation project would certainly draw pushback from around the world.
Sudan borders Egypt to the south. Somalia and Somaliland are further south on the continent, coastal regions along the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
Palestinians in Somaliland would leave them directly across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, home to the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists.
No American troops for Gaza
But first, Israel has to finish the job in Gaza.
“The President has made a huge commitment to helping us get Gaza right, but it is our responsibility in Israel to win, and President Trump is giving us all the tools that we need,” Rosenberg said.
Israel has not and will not ask for American ground troops in Gaza, he said.
“We're going to do this on our own. I've got two sons that have already served in the Israeli military, and I know the commitment that it takes.”
