Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
At the end of July, Donald Trump announced that a “monumental” U.S.-backed agreement had been reached on Gaza, asserting that Hamas would be gradually disarmed in parallel with an Israeli military withdrawal.
Three days later, another Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip was reported, killing 18 people.
Suspicions that there was a disconnect between the White House’s rhetoric and “Tel Aviv” were duly confirmed. Under pressure from far-right members of his coalition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly rejected the sequencing of a 15-point plan put forward by the increasingly beleaguered Board of Peace, an international body established by the president of the United States.
The Israeli prime minister rejected “a wave of rumours of … Israeli withdrawals on all fronts.” In a direct message to the White House, Netanyahu declared: “We know how to stand firm, even against our best friends when necessary.”
In practical terms, this will mean the continued and blatant violation of the terms of last October’s ceasefire agreement, as nearly 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Far from anticipating any withdrawal, the Israeli military has expanded its presence and now controls approximately 65 percent of the territory. In the remainder of the Strip, much of the population faces an unrelenting daily struggle.
Formal schooling has not resumed, the healthcare system has been largely destroyed, and the entry of medical aid and humanitarian supplies remains severely restricted.
Reconstruction efforts have been blocked, while the first construction contract issued by the Board of Peace has been for an outpost to house foreign troops.
Meanwhile, the world’s attention has shifted to Trump’s illegal and reckless war against Iran, a serious miscalculation in which the Israeli prime minister also played his part.
By demanding the complete disarmament of Hamas before “Israel” makes any move, Netanyahu is transparently buying time. For two years, he has relentlessly courted the U.S. president and exploited his backing to pursue a scorched-earth campaign of retribution following October 7.
But with the first elections since then only two months away, his priority is now to appease the hard-line far-right forces that could keep him in power. If Netanyahu loses, he could face imprisonment in connection with corruption charges that were first brought more than five years ago.
Desperate Palestinians can only hope that the White House’s growing frustration with Netanyahu’s wars will eventually lead to a turning point—one that should have been reached during Joe Biden’s presidency.
If he chooses to use it, Trump has the power to isolate the Israeli prime minister, put an end to his delaying tactics and manoeuvring, and force a different approach. However, the Board of Peace and Israel’s refusal to comply with what Trump announced indicate that we are nowhere near that point.
Before Republicans face the midterm elections, pro-Israel sentiment may no longer be the political force it once was.
Recent polls suggest that traditionally high levels of public sympathy in the United States toward “Israel” are declining.
Trump has a choice: he can continue allowing himself to be manipulated by Israel’s prime minister, or he can exert the kind of pressure that could bring genuine relief to Gaza.
