Bibi Stands By as His Government Moves to Wreck the Trump Peace Plan

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Dec. 26—There was a sigh of relief among sane people in both Israel and Occupied Palestine as what some intelligence sources had feared would be terrorist attacks on worshippers and pilgrims observing Christmas in the Holy Land failed to materialize. Meanwhile, the terrorist attack on the Trump Peace Plan by members of the Netanyahu government continued unabated, and even escalated, raising the question of how President Donald Trump and his team might respond, as the leader of the government, the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, prepares to meet Trump in Florida next week.

Katz Rejects Two-State Solution and Signals Annexation Goals

Yesterday, there were clear statements from Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz that Israel had no intention of moving towards a two-state solution, the stated ultimate ambition of the Trump Peace Plan, and more importantly, the force behind the possibility of disarming Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah on the West Bank.

Katz, speaking at a conference hosted by the religious Zionist newspaper Makor Rishon, said that Israel is “implementing a policy of de facto sovereignty” in the West Bank. “It is impossible now, due to the circumstances, to declare annexation. Practical annexation means … [evacuating] the Palestinians from the terror camps and stationing the IDF there, and establishing settlements.”

Trump has repeatedly spoken out against annexation, calling those who support it enemies of the peace process. At one point last month, he dismissed a reporter’s question by simply stating, as long as he was around, “it will not take place.”

Katz’s comments yesterday are the equivalent of “giving the President the middle finger.” This now will be a major topic of discussion with Bibi next week. Hamas has already demanded of the Trump team “clarification” on this and other policies enunciated by Katz, who, unlike Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is thought to be closer to Bibi and higher up on the policy food chain.

At the same conference, Katz announced that Israel will allow Jewish settlers to live in northern Gaza at some point in the future, a claim he previously made and then retracted two days ago after the White House called Bibi. Now, Katz denied that he had ever backed off what he said has always been Israeli policy. Katz further vowed that Israeli forces would never fully retreat from all of Gaza, something that the head of the Israel Defense Force, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, opposes as a “permanent occupation.”

Settlements Expand as Regional Mediators Warn of Collapse

“You take all these expressions as Israeli policy,” said a source close to the White House, “and the Trump Peace Plan is dead. None of the mediators such as Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, and the Emirates can support this. All have urged Trump to make sure that there is no annexation of the West Bank and no settlements in Gaza, and they have also demanded an end to the escalating and clearly government-supported, if not aided, violence by settlers against Palestinians on the West Bank.”

To throw more oil on this fire, the government approved last week 19 more settlements on the West Bank, which prompted statements of concern from European leaders. But the Israeli government turned a deaf ear to such protests, with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stating that “foreign governments will not restrict the right of Jews to live in the Land of Israel.”

This should give the White House a good idea of what Bibi brings as baggage to his meeting with Trump next week, which the President had initiated to brief the Israeli on the progress being made towards the Second Phase of the Peace Plan, including the creation of a technocratic group of Palestinians who would form the initial government in Gaza, the composition of the International Stabilization Force to help police the accord, and the creation of a Palestinian Police Force. Bibi will demand that the disarming of Hamas take place immediately, but as Trump has been told, this cannot even be considered until those other elements and forces are put in place.

Netanyahu’s Iran Maneuvering and Internal Weakness

The media propagandists for Bibi have leaked that he intends to urge Trump to give him permission to strike Iran again, this time its ballistic missile facilities, but Trump has already rejected the idea.

“Trump has to face the fact,” said the source, “that Bibi never really did support Trump’s Peace Plan. He was forced to go along because it returned the hostages and Bibi would have been strung up on a lamp pole if he went against a plan backed by the President of the United States that brought the hostages home. But he has moved both quietly and now loudly to sabotage the rest of the plan, especially an idea of a Palestinian state down the road.

“The reality is that Israel is not America’s best ally in the region, not under Bibi,” the source continued. “So, the fighting has basically stopped in Gaza, except when Bibi decides to murder a few Palestinians. Trump has already warned him that Israeli response to single attacks has to be commensurate, not killing a hundred innocent people for one Israeli soldier wounded or killed. The point is that there is no evidence that Hamas is centrally ordering any attacks; but the Israeli response, if anything, is centrally ordered, with Bibi’s personal approval. Trump is going to have to read the Israeli the riot act to get him on board for the second phase. This will enable things to move forward. The problem is also that Trump and his team, including [Special Envoy Steve] Witkoff, are overextended. Right now, their focus is on Ukraine, but it will shift as that process moves forward. That makes the meeting even more important.”

Warns Haaretz political commentator Jack Khoury: “What is brewing in the West Bank these days is not just another ‘spat of clashes,’ nor some seasonal event having to do with the autumn olive harvest season, nor some local outburst of violence that can be contained or framed as a local problem. This is a different, much more dangerous reality: one that derives from policy. This policy is clear and ongoing. It is intended to change facts on the ground, so that West Bank annexation does not remain some political statement about the future, but becomes daily action grounded in the present.”

Is It Time for Bibi to Go?

“The irony is that Bibi is at his weakest point now,” said another source with experience in the region. “Not only is he facing likely conviction on counts in his corruption trial, he faces growing backlash from the ‘Qatargate’ scandal. And he has angered nearly everyone with his plans for a coverup, fake investigation of Oct. 7, 2023. 

"It may be just time for Trump to broker a deal that would see Bibi leave office, perhaps in exchange for a pardon. Trump must make a decision. Can this man ever implement my plan? Or better, will he do that? If the answer is no, then it is time for Bibi to go.”