News of an end to hostilities which started on Oct. 7, 2023 – when Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israeli citizens and kidnapped many others – began to circulate in the West on Wednesday afternoon. Outgoing President Joe Biden took credit for the peace many believed had been secured.
But the Israeli government has not approved the deal, and a cabinet meeting with a scheduled vote Thursday morning was delayed, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, because of demands for a “last minute concession” by Hamas, according to U.S. National Public Radio.
Netanyahu said the cabinet meeting will not take place until mediators notify Israel that “all elements of the agreement” have been accepted, NPR reported.
As the world anxiously awaits word, the cabinet’s response could be quite interesting for a deal that strongly favors the terrorists who started the war, an American defense policy analyst says.
“I fear that it amounts to a victory for Hamas, if you can believe it, effectively surrendering the entirety of Gaza to the people who perpetrated this horrific attack on Oct. 7,” Frank Gaffney, president of Institute for the American Future, said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
Israeli Defense Forces are expected to withdraw to positions no more than 700 meters inside Gaza’s border with Israel, according to reports. They are expected also to reduce their presence in the Philadelphi Corridor, the border between Egypt and Gaza, and to completely withdraw no later than the 50th day after the deal goes into effect.
If approved by the Israeli government, the deal will go into effect Sunday.
The potential agreement came about only after intense pressure applied by Stephen Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy in the crisis, Gaffney told show host Tony Perkins.
“Unfortunately, what we’re told is that Bibi basically had his knees broken off, on the Sabbath, no less,” by Witkoff, “a well-to-do billionaire, financial guy, a real estate guy out of New York,” Gaffney said.
Reporting by The New Arab described “tense” meetings between Witkoff and Netanyahu during negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
Exactly who is Witkoff?
The New Arab cited unnamed Arab officials who reportedly said Witkoff and his team did more to “persuade” Netanyahu to accept the deal than the Biden administration did in the last 15 months.
Trump had threatened Hamas to release the hostages multiple times saying “all hell will break loose” if they’re not freed before he takes office.
“Witkoff isn’t a diplomat. He doesn’t talk like a diplomat, he has no interest in diplomatic manners and diplomatic protocols,” a source told Haaretz, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper.
Witkoff in 2023 completed a $623 million property deal for a Park Lane hotel in New York with Qatar, the nation hosting the talks.
“I’d be a little surprised if Trump knew that when he put him in this position,” Gaffney said.
The agreement also calls for Israel to release imprisoned terrorists at a ratio of 50-1.
“There will presumably be a few hostages released in exchange for something on the order of 1,000 to 1,300 pedigreed jihadists who are being let out of Israeli jails,” Gaffney said.
Biden’s victory lap in two different televised addresses was somewhat confusing given Trump’s threats to Hamas and Witkoff’s involvement.
Optics aside, the sitting president noted that he introduced the framework for the deal last May. He ignored other facts like the timing – the little progress that’s been made until the beginning of the Trump administration is literally hours away.
But Trump also doesn’t need a victory lap, Gaffney explained. “In some ways it’s worse than the plan [Biden] put together; not Joe Biden, but the apparat around him, obviously.”
Agreement is less than annihilation
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel would fight until the complete annihilation of Hamas. The agreement in place is far less than that.
“It essentially says that all of the progress that Israel has made to root out Hamas, deprive it of resources, to close its infrastructure, most notably the tunnels, will essentially be undone because [Hamas] will be allowed to have the run of Gaza again,” Gaffney pointed out.
And he warned that with the anticipated humanitarian aid, stolen by Hamas Israel has often charged, “Hamas will have all kinds of resources pouring in to help them rebuild those tunnels, among other things.”
