Source: Demand State Commission of Inquiry on Hamas Oct. 7 Massacre to Weaken Bibi
Oct. 6—Negotiations began today outside of Cairo between Israel and Hamas, mediated by a team from Turkey, Egypt and Qatar, led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to implement the first phase of the 20-point Trump Peace Plan that would see Hamas release all 48 hostages—living and dead—in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinians held in Israel, including 250 serving life sentences and would end the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu's slaughter of the Palestinians in Gaza and have Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdraw to agreed upon positions.
Sources say President Donald Trump wants these negotiations to focus on the hostage/prisoner exchange and halt in fighting, so that this can take place in the days ahead. After that the negotiators can deal with the other elements of the plan that might need clarification or even adjustment, including the composition and function of the International Security Force and the composition of a "technocratic" Palestinian government, to whom Hamas would cede control of Gaza. Hamas also want to discuss what is meant by Hamas agreeing to disarm, and to whom it would yield its weapons. While it has agreed to cede its control over Gaza, it has not agreed to fully disarm.
Hamas also wants to make sure that it is agreed that Palestinians will have the final say over the development of Gaza, and has asked for what the function is of the Board of Peace, that would be chaired by Trump, and who would determine its membership; most Arab and Muslim nations in the region reject the Board membership of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the only person other than Trump that the Plan names, whose lies about Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" led to the invasion of the region by the United States, unleashing a cycle of endless wars, that continue today, and which the Trump Plan says it wants to stop.
Netanyahu’s History of Sabotage and Trump’s Leverage
Sources close to the negotiations and to the White House say that they can proceed rapidly on the first phase if Hamas is serious about its commitment to release the hostage. They say that Hamas has for some time expressed its willingness to go for a total release in exchange for and an end to the war, and the withdrawal of the IDF, but that Israel, meaning Bibi, had rebuffed such offers in favor of partial deal, which Netanyahu would sabotage. These sources say such a deal was in discussion when Bibi abruptly ended in March the three-phase hostage and ceasefire deal Witkoff and Trump had rammed through in January, at the end of the Biden Administration.
Hamas, the sources say, will not agree to anything unless it has assurances from Trump that he will make Bibi adhere to agreed upon terms; the sources confirm that this assurance has already be communicated to them, and demonstrated in fact, by Trump's humiliation of Netanyahu by forcing him to make a public apology to the Prime Minister of Qatar al Thani for Israel's attempt to wipe out the Hamas leadership and negotiators in Doha on Sept. 9. One of those targeted against the wishes of the United States and the other mediators, and without any notice to the United States was Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas' chief negotiator and the political leader of Hamas in Gaza; he survived the attack which killed his son, his chief of staff and a security guard.
Hostage Logistics, Disarmament Debate, and Moral Reckoning
Sources in the region report that Hamas has been able to locate the 20 living hostages, would be able to deliver them within the 72 hour time frame from start of the Plan, once its terms are agreed upon, provided the conditions on the ground make that possible—which means an immediate halt to all Israeli bombardment and other attacks; they will have trouble delivering the dead remains of the other hostages, as Hamas says that many are buried under rubble caused by Israeli bombardment. While Hamas is known to have executed at least 6 hostages when the place they were being held came under attack last June, it has said that Israeli bombardment had caused the deaths of many more, something which Netanyahu denies vehemently.
While Hamas has said it is willing to proceed with the first phase implementation of the Plan, while other issues remain under discussion, sources report that Bibi might try to scuttle everything be demanding that Hamas first agree that it will disarm. Sources report that Hamas has said that is willing to turn over its heavy weapons and munitions, such as rockets, drones, mines, grenades, mortars and RPG launchers, any artillery and related munitions, it is not prepared to lose its small arms, which could include pistols, rifles and automatic weapons and assault rifles. It says that it does not believe that its younger recruits would comply with this.
Sources close to the White House say Trump might not have trouble with this, as there are many armed gangs and civilians in Gaza, and that is going to be an issue that the ISF and ultimately the new Palestinian government will have to deal with. "If Bibi objects, then it is up to the President to make him agree," said a source close to the White House. "The idea is reduce Hamas so as it is no threat to Israel. The IDF says that this is already the case."
The Responsibility for Oct. 7
A source with decades of experience in the regional diplomacy offered some advice both to President Trump and the people of Israel how to make sure the peace deal goes through, as we approach the 2-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre attack on Israel, that Netanyahu used as an excuse to launch a war of extermination of Palestinians in Gaza.
"This will require some deep thinking about what has transpired," said the source. "First, it should be stated, that we know that not all the Hamas leadership supported the idea of the attack. It was the brainchild of Bibi's co-evil twin, the late leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who fully knew that this would unleash the monster Netanyahu on a rampage of slaughter that would kill hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians, including women and children. He would do so, he had told a reporter, because it would expose the Jewish state for the genocidal monster that it is, expose it to the world and boost the Palestinian cause. He told the shocked reporter that he did not care if doing this cost a million or more Palestinian martyrs.
"Sinwar has achieved his effect, thanks to Bibi," said the source, "and if the war continues and expands to the West Bank, he may yet achieve his one million or more Palestinian martyrs. While not all of Hamas leaders supported this strategy, which also imagined that Hamas could militarily 'defeat' Israel, they did not stop him; so they share in the disgrace and dishonor of Sinwar's strategy. Given that, which should be explained, it is perfectly justifiable to demand that Hamas have nothing to do with the new Gaza and its government. For all their current talk of the 'right of self-determination,' did anyone from Hamas ever ask the Gazans, who they nominally governed—controlled might be a better choice of words—if they agreed to be martyred? Were the parents asked if it was okay that their kids should all die? The Trump Plan fairly deals with Hamas—be gone, you have lost the moral fitness to survive as an organization.
The Need for a State Commission of Inquiry
"Now, for Israel," the source continued. "Netanyahu is a monster who appeals to what is most vile within us. After Oct. 7, this failed, massively corrupt politician and bully, (a man who successfully organized the rage needed to assassinate a courageous Israeli, the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who tried to make peace with the just Palestinian cause) this murderer Bibi Netanyahu demanded the extermination of Hamas for what was done on Oct. 7. He then expanded it to all Gazans, because, he said, there are no innocents there, only enablers and supporters.
"But this vile murderer has never been held accountable for what is truly his crime—allowing Oct. 7 to happen on his watch. The intelligence services failed, as they had the plans for the attack a year in advance and dismissed them; the police failed, as regardless of when they received the warning, they stupidly set up all those young people to die or be taken hostage when they allowed the Nova Party Festival to take place a stone's throw from the Gaza border, without demanding army protection; the IDF failed because of bungling the intelligence and making wrong deployment decisions, that left the area of the attack defenseless, and then, while they can launch attacks to assassinate terrorist targets in minutes of receiving information, they somehow took hours to get air cover and army units into the area, allowing the attackers to flee. In one way or another, many of these people have already taken responsibility for what they did and did not do and resigned."
Did Bibi Let Oct. 7 Happen?
"But the man in charge of everything, the Prime Minister, he has accepted no responsibility," said the source. "He should have resigned the next day, but he still rules. Not only that, but he has also fought and blocked the formation of an official State Commission of Inquiry, which should have been established days after Oct. 7. Why? because such a commission would ultimately lay responsibility for what happened and the disaster that has befallen Israel since right at his large feet.
"You can demand his resignation, as many people have, but Bibi won't go," said the source. "What needs to be demanded is State commission of inquiry, to get to the bottom of what happened. And as it must, if it shows malfeasance on the part of Netanyahu, he must resign. I believe it could show much more. Sources in Israel tell me that Netanyahu was told and did know enough to have ordered deployments that could have thwarted the attack but did not. Could it be that Bibi wanted the attack to occur, so he could do what he has done to Gaza, while living in an emergency that kept in office and out of the court dock? It needs to be investigated."
Netanyahu Can't Stop Trump
"What is also required to make the deal work and keep Netanyahu from sabotaging it," said the source, "is a continued escalation of the mass demonstrations in Israel, which this weekend saw some of the largest ever held. Those demos all carried banners with messages asking Trump to make the deal happen and bring the hostages home. That message has reached Trump. It gives him the authority to speak on behalf of the people of Israel in making Bibi toe the line."
Haaretz sage analyst Amos Harel observed today that there has been a change in Trump, and that Bibi has been forced to respond. Trump has shifted "into high gear" and "is completely focused" on making the deal happen. Netanyahu, Harel remarks, has concluded "that he cannot stop him." This has forced the people around Bibi to try to lay claim for what is clearly Trump's success, and say that it was really Netanyahu's who made it happen:
"A big effort is being invested in formulating a new line of public diplomacy to pitch to Netanyahu's voters: It turns out that this is actually a tremendous diplomatic achievement, made possible only thanks to the prime minister's stubbornness. Some of those who are making this argument explained to us just two days ago why it's wrong to sign any agreement with Hamas' leaders, the new Nazis. Maybe an expert should be consulted, but the feeling is that this is what the newspapers of the Communist parties in the Eastern Bloc countries looked like on the eve of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989."
More, Bigger Demos to Appeal to Trump
He further observes that "the president is very much influenced by the huge Israeli demonstrations supporting a deal. And on Sunday, he posted photos of them on his social media accounts. He's now leveraging public pressure in Israel to promote a deal, as many had hoped he would do in January...
"The bottom line is clear. After months of evasion, Netanyahu gave in to Trump's pressure: a full cease-fire will be declared and the captives will be released (in exchange for freeing about 2,000 Palestinians, including 250 convicted murderers) without Hamas actually having to disarm and without Netanyahu living up to his promise to completely wipe out the organization as part of Israel's total victory."
Writing in Haaretz daily newsletter today, Washington correspondent Ben Samuels observes that same thing: "Should anyone doubt that the message has landed with Trump, one only needs to read back his comments alongside Netanyahu at the White House. "I noticed that they have large crowds gathering in Israel all the time, and they have my name up. They like me. For whatever reason, maybe, I don't know, but they do like me. But they say two things, please get the hostages back and please end the war. They've had it. They've had it," he said. Putting a fine point on the matter, Trump shared a photo of such a demonstration days later once he "secured" acceptance for the deal.
"A lot can still go wrong in the coming days, with all parties involved demonstrating an unparalleled ability to play spoiler whenever this horrid war finally seems to be at its end. If people really want to make sure Trump's deal is secured, the most important act to be taken in the coming hours and days will likely be directly related to playing to his ego."
Meanwhile, over at the mass demo of more than 100,000 people in Hostage Square Oct. 5, the people understood what they were doing, and who they were trying to reach, "There's no point in talking to Netanyahu. He will never get it. But the White House is listening,"
Sources say that Hamas may also understand this principle. They report that Hamas will offer to turn the hostages over to Trump or his representative Witkoff directly and they and the Red Cross can bring them to Israel and Netanyahu.
"That would be simply delicious," said one source.