Major Trump Official Calls Israel And Says, ‘I Will Be Coming To Israel To Discuss Peace In Gaza.’ The Israelis Tell Him, ‘Netanyahu Will Not Be Able To Make It Because Of The Sabbath.’ The Trump Official Then Says, ‘The Sabbath Does Not Interest Me. The Meeting Will Be Happening On America’s Terms.’ Now Israel Will Be Agreeing To A Ceasefire In Gaza
A major official from Trump’s cabinet, Steven Witkoff, who is serving Middle East envoy, called Prime Minister Netanyahu’s aids from his location in Qatar, to tell them that he would be coming to Israel. Netanyahu’s aids politely told him that the Prime Minister was observing the Sabbath (Shabbos) and that he would meet him the following evening. Witkoff told them that Shabbos does not interest him. Witkoff arrived in Israel and Netanyahu met him at the designated time that was demanded. As we read in Haaretz:
Last Friday evening, Steven Witkoff, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, called from Qatar to tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides that he would be coming to Israel the following afternoon. The aides politely explained that was in the middle of the Sabbath but that the prime minister would gladly meet him Saturday night.
Witkoff’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 official practice, the prime minister showed up at his office for an official meeting with Witkoff, who then returned to Qatar to seal the deal.
The same Haaretz report elaborates on the details of the meeting and its demands from Israel:
In fact, Witkoff 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.
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The peace plan is the same plan that was being pushed by the Biden administration and which Netanyahu rejected. What changed? Trump coming into office. According to the New York Times: “Mr. Trump had threatened severe consequences unless Israel and Hamas reached an agreement before his Jan. 20 inauguration, which some officials credited with helping to advance the negotiations.” Witkoff told Netanyahu that Trump wanted a deal because he had other fish to fry. Trump, from what we read here, does not Israel being a major focus, he wants to deal with other matters (like China). Netanyahu, submitting to Trump’s demands, has an idea of where he stands with Trump, that he will not be able to slide as he did with Biden (remember, Biden told him not to bomb Rafah or else the US would not give Israel bombs; the result was Israel flattening Rafah and Biden giving Israel the bombs anyway). As we read in the Guardian:
Calling from Doha in Qatar last Friday evening, after Shabbat had already begun, Witkoff announced he was coming to Israel and would meet Netanyahu. Overruling the suggestion of Netanyahu’s aides that they could meet once the Jewish day of rest was over, Witkoff, 67 – a billionaire lawyer and real estate developer – insisted brusquely that they meet in the morning.
In what some Israeli media described as a “tense meeting”, Witkoff delivered his message. The president-elect was emphatic that he wanted a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. Trump wanted the war in Gaza finished. He had other fish to fry.
“What happened,” a senior Israeli government official told Channel 14, regarded as a mouthpiece for Netanyahu, “is that Witkoff delivered a stern message from the incoming president of the United States, who unequivocally demanded the deal’s conclusion.”
Writing in the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth this week, Nadav Eyal summed up the situation confronting Israel’s prime minister and his closest aides. “Netanyahu … suddenly came to recognise precisely where it is that they stand with the new American president. They came to realise that Trump speaks at dictation pace, and they will never be able to outflank him from the right. Trump, once again, wants a deal.”
Will Trump become hostile to Israel? No. But, what we see is the beginning stages of the eroding of the US-Israel alliance, where Israel is no longer the apple of America’s eye. This is happening in the midst of Israel preparing for a potential war with Turkey since the growing Turkish power is occurring in Syria (partially thanks to Israel aiding in the toppling of Assad, and thus enabling the rise of Turkey in Syria). Modern Israel is now facing a revived Ottoman Empire, while being the most hated it has ever been in its history. And now, America is not completely gung ho about Israel. If Israel loses America’s support, or if America becomes indifferent towards Israel, the Jewish state will be facing a serious existential crisis.
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