Cease-Fire Goes Into Effect Despite Bibi’s Attempt to Sabotage It

Jan. 19—A 42-day cease-fire went into effect this morning in Gaza, 471 days after the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu used the pretext of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 bloody massacre of 1,200 mostly innocent civilians, to launch a campaign of genocide against Gazans that would make Adolf Hitler blush with envy. Three young women hostages of the around 100 still held by Hamas—alive and dead—were released into the custody of the Red Cross and then turned over to the Israelis. One of the three is an Israeli citizen, and the other two hold dual British-Israeli nationality. They were released as part of the 3-phase deal, in which 90 Palestinian prisoners, women and children held by the Israelis were also released last night.

Netanyahu, whose messianic bloodlust against Palestinians knows no moral bounds, was forced to stomach this deal by incoming President Donald Trump and his no-nonsense Mideast Envoy, Steve Witkoff—a deal crafted by CIA Director William Burns and first put forward by President "Sleepy Joe" Biden last May which Bibi had rejected and sabotaged several times since then. Sources report that the media had completely ignored the full meaning of Trump’s statements to the effect that “all hell would break loose” if the deal was not completed by the time he is inaugurated, i.e., by tomorrow, Jan. 20. “Everyone thought he was targeting Hamas,” said a source. “And he was, but not only those guys. He was telling Bibi that there was ‘a new Sheriff in town,’ and that he was telling him that his war had to end."

 Netanyahu has made it clear that he does not intend to stop the war and wants to go back to killing Palestinians after the first batch of 33 hostages are released. He will not accept any language which says the war is permanently ended and that there is a permanent end to hostilities. But that is precisely what the second phase of the agreement is all about—releasing the remaining hostages and permanently ending the hostilities and having the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdraw from Gaza. The third and final phase of the deal invokes a global effort at the reconstruction and improvement of Palestinian life in a Gaza—a 25 mile by 6 mile strip of land that Netanyahu has ordered to be turned into an uninhabitable rubble heap.

“It was clear to Hamas and their Arab mediators from Qatar and Egypt, and it was clear to the United States that Bibi wants to blow up the deal and blame Hamas before it gets to the second and third phases,” the source continued. “When the Arabs and Hamas asked Witkoff ‘What guarantee do we have that there will even be a second and third phase?’ he replied, ‘Because that is what my Boss wants. Donald Trump is guaranteeing that if you guys don’t fuck up, then this war is over and we can start the rebuilding.’ This deal was only possible because of that guarantee from Trump, and because he will not play nice with Bibi if Bibi tries to screw things up.”

That’s exactly what Netanyahu tried to do overnight. He threatened to dump the deal over some stupid paperwork on the identities of the hostages that Hamas had not submitted, delaying the start of the cease-fire by 3 hours—enough time to allow the IDF to kill 19 more Palestinians. The foot-dragging, including the stupidity of Hamas delaying the paperwork submission, has drawn a rebuke from the Trump camp, as it was preparing for tomorrow’s big event. But the deal went ahead, albeit a few hours behind schedule.

There can be little doubt that Bibi will try more tricks, perhaps using his erstwhile coalition members from the fruitcake parties associated with now-former National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir, who led his party out of Bibi’s coalition government today, citing the deal as a “reckless" and a "betrayal." His fellow lunatic, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, has said that, for now, he will stay in the government and the coalition, and waits to see if Bibi reignites the fighting after the first phase is completed. At this point, Bibi holds a narrow one vote majority in the Knesset but has been promised some support from opposition parties—as long as he adheres to the deal.

Hamas’ armed wing said the group is “committed to the cease-fire agreement in all its details and phases, including keeping the hostages alive, as long as Israel holds up its side of the deal.”

Meanwhile, as reported overnight Saturday into Sunday by pro-Hamas media, Israeli forces have begun withdrawing from the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and Gaza, and from the Philadelphi Corridor along the entire border between Egypt and Gaza.

A U.S. official told NBC News that Trump’s Middle East envoy, Witkoff is mulling a visit to Gaza in order to keep the cease-fire on track, adding that “there’s a lot of people—radicals, fanatics, not just from the Hamas side, but also from the right wing of the Israeli side—who are absolutely incentivized to blow this whole deal up.” But sources report that both Trump and Witkoff know that the principle "bomb thrower" against the deal is Bibi.

“Just as the Israel Defense Forces cannot control every stray bullet fired by a panicked soldier, Hamas is not the sole ruler of Gaza, nor the only entity capable of preventing a rocket launch or an explosive device planted by factions opposing the deal. Such incidents are the sparks that ignite the collapse of agreements, and this one is no exception. To safeguard the deal from unplanned violations and ensure its implementation, a ‘war room’ was established in Cairo, Egypt on Friday, with participation of Israel, Palestine, Qatar, and the U.S. This body will coordinate and oversee the operations at the Rafah Border Crossing, including the distribution of humanitarian aid,” reports analyst Zvi Bar’el in Haaretz Jan. 19.

But there are larger problems, sources report. “Gaza is a hellscape, reduced to that condition by Bibi’s deliberate genocide and the bombardment, which I am told is unprecedented in the history of modern warfare,” said a source. “There is an emergency here that needs to be addressed on a global scale. Some experts, for example, are saying there is an immediate need for more than 750,000 permanent dwelling units. There is the need to rebuild and improve sanitation and fresh water delivery systems. There is the need to totally rebuild and improve the power grid. The need for more fresh water implies the need for desalination plants operating on a continuous basis, with storage and transportation/delivery systems. There is the need for roads and rail lines, the latter long ago destroyed. All these things are required and at a rapid pace of delivery.

"The planning alone for such an operation is massive, and the implementation of such plans will require the deployment of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people to carry out the rebuilding. And most of their ranks cannot come from the wounded, sick, and starving of Gaza. The influx of workers will require temporary housing. The greatest crime of all would be to not plan and implement the emergency projects, which will cost trillions of dollars in labor and material. And everyone must be involved, especially including the Israelis.

“These emergency measures should be properly placed as a component of a regional development plan, such as the Oasis Plan—a proposal first put forward in the 1970s by the late economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche, which has recently gotten renewed traction, including in the region, under the sponsorship of the Schiller Institute, headed by LaRouche’s widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche,” said the source. "The Oasis Plan pivots around making plentiful a key resource necessary for human survival and progress: water—and envisions, doing what the Israelis have done so successfully in turning arid and unuseable land into productive land for industry, agriculture, and general economic development.

 "But, even if construction began today, it will be years before benefits of the Oasis Plan become available," the source concluded. "Meanwhile, we must solve the multiple immediate crises in Gaza afflicting the more than two million people who are barely holding onto life. The bombing and shooting may have stopped—at least, perhaps for the next 42 days—but Bibi has set in motion a death machine, a war by other means, that will continue to kill, from starvation, dehydration, disease, and exposure to the heat and cold, unless we address these issues right now. Donald Trump for one, if he is aware of what is needed, can lead a process not to merely permanently end the war, but transforming the entire region into one of prosperity. The Oasis Plan can contribute to that transformation.”