GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 275

Redlines

As I Predicted

As we learn in a report from The Jerusalem Post Prime Minister Netanyahu has once again told his negotiators that there is a line he won’t cross in any deal with Hamas, and it shouldn’t surprise you if you been listening:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out Israel’s redlines for a hostage and Gaza ceasefire deal ahead of a critical Doha summit on the matter Wednesday, which will be led by CIA Director William Burns.

“Any deal will allow Israel to resume fighting until all of the objectives of the war have been achieved,” the Prime Minister’s Office stated.

Netanyahu in the past has explained that those goals are the elimination of Hamas and the return of the remaining 120 hostages, who were seized nine months ago during the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

As expected, Netanyahu will be blamed for sabotaging any deal now. All because he wants Hamas to pay for killing 1,200 innocent civilians, abusing women, burning babies and taking hostages that they continue to treat horribly. We learn more about this although we all know that holding these terrorists accountable will be a deal breaker:

His office reiterated that chief point and four others as mediating countries, Qatar and Egypt together with the United States – have appeared to break the month-long deadlock in the negotiations as talks resumed last weekend.

Netanyahu “is continuing to insist on the principles that have already been agreed to by Israel,” the PMO said.

Burns is to meet with the Qatari prime minister and the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs on Wednesday in Doha, said a source familiar with the issue who asked not to be further identified. An Israeli team is also expected to be in Egypt this week.

As if we needed more reasons for Hamas to protest, the Netanyahu added these points:

The PMO stressed that Israel would stand firm in those talks on the point that “There will be no smuggling of weapons to Hamas from Egypt to the Gaza border” as it laid out its second redline.

The third was “there will be no return of thousands of armed terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip.”

And then he made sure that Hamas will walk away from his demands when he insisted on this:

Fourthly, the PMO said, “Israel will maximize the number of living hostages who will be released from Hamas captivity.”

More Points That Will Be Deal Breakers

Initially there was not enough clarity on one point of the original deal, which again will surely upset Hamas:

Lastly, it referred to the three-phased hostage deal unveiled on May 31 by US President Biden and reaffirmed its commitment to it, but provided its understanding of the deal.

“The plan that has been agreed to by Israel and which has been welcomed by President [Joe] Biden will allow Israel to return hostages without infringing on the other objectives of the war,” the PMO stated.

Read still pulverizing the daylights out of Hamas in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu still maintains is the only reason Hamas is negotiating now:

It also pushed back at criticism over its military campaign against the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah, stating that Netanyahu’s “steadfast position against the attempt to halt IDF action in Rafah is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.”

Many have hailed the breakthrough now is that Hamas will not demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire right from the start to even discuss a hostage deal:

Hamas last week said it would set aside one of the key stumbling blocks to the deal, which had been its insistence that Israel must agree to a permanent ceasefire and a withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.

Essentially they agreed on a first phase with some release of hostages and then talking about a date for a permanent ceasefire. Another hitch is the actual number of hostages which Hamas is fighting to keep small:

The deal had attempted to bypass that issue, by creating an initial six-week phase, during which there would be a lull in the fighting and the release of humanitarian hostages. The number of those to be freed has varied from 33 to 18.

The PM wants the initial release of hostages to be more than 18 which he thinks is a way for Hamas to hold on to the majority of hostages only to renege on the second phase where they will continue to stall things until they secure an end to the fighting with them surviving:

Talks on the issue of a permanent ceasefire would begin on the 16th day of phase one. The second phase, which includes the release of all the remaining live hostages, would not begin until the issue of a permanent ceasefire is resolved.

Hamas is then trying to stall longer by asking for this:

Hamas has attempted to insert language into the agreement by which talks would continue beyond the six weeks until an agreement was reached. Israel fears it could create a de-facto situation by which there would be a permanent ceasefire without the release of hostages and the removal of Hamas from Gaza.

Hamas Tries To Sound Reasonable

The article concludes with Hamas trying to sound like they are the reasonable now:

Two Hamas officials told Reuters that it had provided the mediators with its amendments to the deal, and were waiting to hear from Israel.

Another Palestinian official with knowledge of the ceasefire deliberations said Israel was in talks with the Qataris and that a response was expected within days.

Apparently Hamas hasn’t listened to the PM recently when they said this:

A Palestinian official close to the talks said the proposal could lead to a framework agreement if embraced by Israel and would end the war.

Up north Hezbollah is still saying that they’ve willing to stop fighting is a ceasefire agreement is reached:

Hezbollah has said it would stop its cross-border war with Israel if a Gaza ceasefire is reached.

Israel’s Defense Minister tells us that one is not tied to the other in their minds, though:

In a visit to the North, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said a diplomatic solution to Hezbollah’s attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon should not be dependent on a Gaza ceasefire.

“These are two separate arenas,” Gallant said.

“Even if we reach an agreement for a hostage deal, and I very much hope that we will be able to achieve it – it does not bind us on what happens here unless Hezbollah reaches a framework or agreement.

He then pointed out that:

“Even if there is a ceasefire there [in the South], here [in the North] we will continue fighting and doing everything necessary to bring about the desired result [bringing Israeli communities home safely],” he stated.

So it’s not just Netanyahu who wants to keep his options open both in the South and North. However others in the Israeli government are none to happy about all the additional:

Opposition leader MK Yair Lapid attacked Netanyahu for needlessly setting out redlines.

“We are at a critical moment in the negotiations, the lives of the abductees depend on it, why issue such provocative messages? How does it contribute to the process?” he asked.

Lapid should be asking Hamas why it insists on trying to survive, but I doubt he will do that.