As Hamas Accepts UN Ceasefire Proposal, Clock Ticks for End of Bibi's Reign and His War
June 12—The political screws are tightening on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and his genocidal war in Gaza against the Palestinian people and his crusade against a fully-sovereign Palestinian state.
With the acceptance by the Hamas leadership of the terms of a three-phase ceasefire/hostage release proposal submitted by the United States and passed 14-0, (with Russia abstaining) by the UN Security Council June 10, the pressure is escalated on Bibi to make good on his pledge to U.S. officials, including CIA Director William Burns and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently in Israel, that he accept the deal if Hamas does likewise. This is the same proposal, whose heavy lifting was done by Burns two weeks ago, and was put through the Israeli War Cabinet for approval, over Bibi’s objections, and ultimately with his support; this is virtually the identical deal that was made public by President "Sleepy Joe" Biden on May 31 and branded as an "israeli" proposal.
The three-phase proposal would swap Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, require Israel to remove its forces from Gaza, and have both sides adhere to a temporary cease-fire, starting with a 6-week period, and then continuing until all captives are freed. The deal aims to create a permanent truce, as Biden has stated, and has broad support in the Israeli population, including the families of the hostages.
There is, however, bitter opposition to the deal among the lunatic fringe of religious zealots and racists who are represented in the Israeli cabinet by National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom have said they will resign if Bibi puts Israel behind the deal. Were that to happen, the government would fall, forcing new elections, which would serve as a mandate on Netanyahu’s messianic crusade against the Palestinian state, for which he used the murderous Hamas Oct. 7 raid as a cover.
While Blinken told the press that Bibi backs the UN resolution, the Prime Minister has yet to say so directly himself. Sources report that he is hoping that Hamas might seek to alter the terms of the resolution, rather than simply negotiate its implementation, as the Qatar-based Hamas leadership has stated. These sources say that Bibi’s wildcard is his supposed nemesis, Yahya Sinwar, the scheming Palestinian politician who leads Hamas in Gaza and regularly spews forth venom and hate against Jews and Israel. “This has happened before,” said a source. Sinwar demands changes that he knows Israel will not accept. And each time it gave Bibi an excuse to back away from the deal. If the Hamas leadership is smart, they will take the deal, because it would likely mean the end of Bibi.”
This and other sources have offered an interesting speculation. It is known that Israel has both informants and agents inside the Hamas organization, including in high leadership circles. It was those informants and agents who provided Israeli intelligence with a blueprint for the Oct. 7 attack nearly a year before it took place. It is also known that Sinwar was the principal proponent of the savage Oct. 7 event, that went far beyond any military objective, and brutally slaughtered around 1,200 mostly innocent Israeli civilians, including women and children, and took 240 hostages. Sinwar pushed it through the Hamas leadership who feared exactly what happened in response—a Nazi-like war against the Palestinian people and the degrading of Hamas’ power and military arm by the same Netanyahu who once propped them up, and even funded them, because they, too, opposed a two-state solution. He told an Israeli journalist some time ago that even if hundreds of thousands of Palestinians died, it would be worth their deaths to help ultimately destroy “the Zionist state.”
Sinwar repeated this view after the war started in messages he sent to Hamas officials in charge of cease-fire negotiations, as reported by the Wall Street Journal June 10, referring to the tens of thousands of Gazans killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 as “necessary sacrifices.” The Journal also quoted from a letter Sinwar sent to Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, (Chairman of Hamas’ Politburo since 2017) after three of Haniyeh’s sons were killed by an Israeli airstrike in April, saying their deaths and those of other Gazans would “infuse life into the veins of this nation, prompting it to rise to glory and honor.”
“What if it is Sinwar, who is effectively the Israeli asset?” asked a source. “Sort of the Ying to Bibi’s Yang. His idiotic statements about martyrdom for the slaughtered to the contrary, what he has done has served neither the interests of Palestinians, nor Israelis, only the insane people around Bibi and Netanyahu himself. I would say he is Bibi’s asset, his ace in the hole.”
Netanyahu originally responded to the UN vote by stating that he would not be ordered to participate in “meaningless” negotiations, but after meeting with Bibi yesterday, Blinkin said Bibi would support the deal if Hamas does. The Prime Minister's office would neither confirm nor deny Blinken's statements.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have reportedly received Hamas’ formal response to the proposal, though they have not revealed what that response is; they have yet to receive a formal response from Israel. After the UNSC vote, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that once both sides agree to the resolution, Washington will guarantee that Israel upholds the resolution’s obligations while Qatar and Egypt will do the same for Hamas. This arrangement was also worked out by Burns in his meetings with all sides, over the last 2 weeks.
“It is Bibi who will be on the hot seat if indeed he has accepted the proposal,” said the source. [Former War Cabinet Minister Benny] Gantz is gone [having resigned from the coalition June 9]. That takes away Bibi’s cover. Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are going berserk, yelling about a sellout and a betrayal. They will pull down the government. As Burns knows, and has made even ‘Sleepy Joe’ [Biden] understand; there can be no real pathway to peace unless Bibi is gone. That was the idea behind the three-phase proposal in the first place: Propose something that everyone but Bibi and the looneys could support, then force Bibi to eat it."
Meanwhile, the threat of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant from crimes against humanity hangs over Netanyahu, as it does for Hamas leader Sinwar and others. In Bibi's case the pressure to issue this warrant has been jacked up by the horrific slaughter of Palestinians in last weekend's rescue mission of 4 Israeli hostages, which Bibi ordered and for which claimed was a "historic" victoy for Israel; nearly 300 Palestinians, including many women, children and elderly were killed, and around 800 wounded, with many losing limbs, according to medical personnel at strapped facilities in the region.
Let’s see how this plays out over the next few hours and days,” the source concluded
