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‘Biden realised Netanyahu lied about captive deal’: Report
A senior official in the administration of President Joe Biden has told Israeli daily Haaretz that Netanyahu is ungrateful towards the US and disregards the significant amount of aid it has provided to Israel throughout the past 10 months of war.
The official also described the last two conversations between the two men – one during a White House meeting some 10 days ago, the other over the phone last week – as difficult and tense, according to Haaretz.
“Biden realised that Netanyahu was lying to him about the hostages,” the official told the publication.
“He’s not saying it publicly yet, but in the meeting between them, he specifically told him, ‘Stop bull*****ing me.'”
The official said the US is preparing to help Israel in the face of an Iranian and Hezbollah response to last week’s assassinations in Beirut and Tehran but stressed there would be no support for actions that further expand the scope of the conflict.
“Netanyahu is trying to prolong the war instead of focusing on how to get to a hostage deal,” the official said. “It’s making it harder for us to continue supporting Israel over time.”
Haaretz said the Israeli prime minister responded to the reports about the tense discussions with Biden through a press release attributed to his office that said: “The prime minister does not interfere in American politics and will work with whoever is elected president, just as he also expects the Americans not to interfere in Israeli politics.”
Israeli negotiators nowhere close to a deal after Cairo talks
The Israeli negotiating team, headed by the chief of Israel’s Mossad went to Cairo and came back to Israel, but sources within Israeli media are saying that they are nowhere closer to a deal.
Now, leaks from meetings with security officials say that Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, believe that Netanyahu’s hardened stance is the reason why a deal is not coming about.
But Netanyahu’s office released a statement to the Israeli public broadcaster, saying that these leaks are false and that Netanyahu did not change anything within the Israeli proposal that has been on the table for weeks, and they accused Hamas of adding what they’re calling dozens of new additions to the proposal.
All this comes as the Israelis are on maximum alert after the assassinations of multiple individuals, including Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, who was the negotiator for Hamas, and some are saying that Israel is not serious about these negotiations, if they are willing to assassinate the negotiator on the other side.
Demonstrations in Tel Aviv and around Israel on Saturday night called for the government to reach an immediate deal to release Israeli captives held in Gaza
Israeli military tactics in Gaza ‘divorced from any kind of political strategy’
More from Clarke at The Soufan Group.
The analyst said that despite the ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire, there has been no change in the Israeli military’s strategy in Gaza.
“Israeli military moves in Gaza – the tactical moves that we’re seeing – [are] completely divorced from any kind of broader political strategy. And that’s deliberate at this point,” Clarke told Al Jazeera.
“Netanyahu refuses to deal with the day after in Gaza. He’s essentially trying to run out the string, probably hoping that Donald Trump is re-elected president and that he gets more of a blank check from the United States. It’s a big gamble. Obviously he’s becoming increasingly unpopular in Israel itself for refusing to elevate the sense of urgency surrounding hostages and to push for a ceasefire deal. So this is a big roll of the dice.”
Israeli army will not withdraw from Philadelphi Corridor: Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms the Israeli forces will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah border crossing near the Gaza-Egypt border.
He claims in a video posted on his X account that Hamas is not ready to accept any mechanism that prevents the passage of weapons and fighters to the northern Gaza Strip. Netanyahu also accused the Palestinian group of preventing a deal to return the Israeli captives by rejecting the broad outlines.
“Anyone who, like me, wants to release the abductees should continue to put pressure on Hamas, not the Israeli government,” he said. “We will continue to exert military pressure on Hamas and its leaders until all abductees are returned and the goals of war are achieved.”
