Witkoff Heads to Southwest Asia, Israel to Try to Save Hostage Deal
Feb. 12—Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and it would appear that the Butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is about to try to defy Old Abe’s universally correct adage that you can’t fool all the people, all of the time.
With help from the highly unstable agent of chaos, President Donald Trump, Bibi is about to scuttle the ceasefire/hostage release deal, and re-launch his war of extermination against the Palestinian people in Gaza, trying to fool the world that his aim is to wipe out Hamas, perhaps so that he could turn a Gaza, dead of all Palestinians, over to Trump for his now famous, but completely undefined plan to resettle whoever is left alive there—to somewhere, anywhere but Gaza, so that the world’s greatest real estate developer, might take control, and turn the vast rubble field into a new Riviera on the Mediterranean.
Things started to deteriorate rapidly following an incredibly stupid move by Hamas’ leadership, which announced Feb. 10 that they were halting the agreed upon phased release of hostages, until various alleged violations by Israel of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza were acknowledged and halted, including attacks on Palestinians returning to the North, and failure to allow trucks carrying fuel and other aid into Gaza at the levels stipulated in the agreement.
Said a source, “There is little doubt that all these violations took place. But Hamas has given Bibi the excuse he needed to walk out of the negotiations for the next phase of the deal, during which all the remaining hostages held by Hamas would be released, dead or alive, in exchange for a pull-out from Gaza of all Israeli military forces, and the release of additional Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
"During that next phase, the agreement calls for discussions on the reconstruction of Gaza. The so-called Trump plan is no plan at all; it is a commitment for the U.S. to run the rebuilding, while Trump says all sorts of things to provoke chaos and discussion, until something is worked out.
"Let’s be clear. Trump can’t force the Palestinians out of Gaza if there is no place for them to go. So, most sane people realize that there is something else that will happen. Trump’s people keep saying, “Show us a better plan.” There are better plans, ones that can work. But they have to be put on the table. One plan, focussed on region-wide development, is called the Oasis Plan. Reports are that this plan has made its way into the White House where some people are looking at it, to see how it might work."
(The Oasis Plan, developed at the request of a faction in Israel, by the late physical economist and statesman Lyndon LaRouche, based on the principle that the pathway to peace is cooperative economic development, is being promoted globally by the Schiller Institute, founded by LaRouche’s widow, Helga Zepp-LaRouche.)
“What Trump did that was useful, in his own wild and crazy way, was to make it clear that there is going to have to be something more than just babbling about a Palestinian state,” said the source. “There is a basis for the creation of one but just slapping together some unconnected strips of land with no real or coherent economy or functioning government, will not work. So, Trump is right when he links economic development to the peace process.
“But I digress,” said the source. “So, Hamas announces this pause—stupid to the nth degree because it plays into Bibi’s hands. And it has given him an excuse to scuttle the deal. Bibi first demanded that the three hostages whose release was delayed have their release put back on track. Then, it all goes off the rail. As Trump makes it known that he’s fed up with this release of hostages in dribs and drabs, and instead now demands that ALL the hostages be released by noon Saturday or the ceasefire is dead, or all hell will break loose against Hamas, this turns on the green light for Bibi to re-launch the war, likely causing the more than 40 hostages presumed to be still alive, to be killed.
Ostensibly taking his cue from Trump, Bibi is now also demanding that all hostages be released by noon Saturday, or he will send the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] back into Gaza with full force and fury and will now not stop the war until Hamas is exterminated.”
There is one and only one play left, really, to try to rescue this. Sources say that Trump might have been counseled by some adults in the room to keep his mouth shut, and let the negotiations proceed, at which point Hamas would have got back on schedule. “The key adult would have been Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East and apparently anywhere there is trouble in the world,, fellow real estate investor and developer Steve Witkoff.
But Witkoff was not available, as he had been dispatched by Trump to Moscow to bargain for the release of an American teacher held as a spy by the Russian, whose release Witkoff was successful in obtaining and who was flown to White House to be greeted by Trump. (Sources report that the already much-travelled Witkoff also carried messages for Russian President Vladimir Putin related to an emerging Trump peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, in preparation for a publicly acknowledged phone conversation with the Russian President that took place this morning. In addition, Witkoff may have also been briefed by the Russians on their discussion with portions of Hamas’s leadership, who were summoned to Moscow to meet with Putin last week.)
These sources say Witkoff has calmed Trump down, who is reported to be extremely frustrated to the unanimous rejection of his plan by Arab and other leaders around the world.
Witkoff, with Trump’s blessing, flew first to Israel last night and then to meet with other mediators to see if the ceasefire deal can be rescued. “It is not going to be easy, since Hamas has dug a pretty deep hole for itself, and it will be hard to stop Bibi whose lust for Palestinian blood is never satiated," said the source.
Sources say that Hamas was trying to counter the bad press it got when it released that last batch of three hostages Feb. 8, whose appearances indicated they had suffered greatly in their captivity, as they were gaunt and weak. An immediate comparison was made with the Holocaust victims liberated from Nazi concentration camps. But Hamas misread the political meaning. It actually weakened Bibi, as all of Israel blamed him for not putting a priority on bringing the hostages back sooner.
This exploded into outrage pouring into the media from the families of the hostages and their supporters, which is most of Israel. Hundreds of protesters, including hostages’ family members, gathered Feb. 10 in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, demanding that their government complete the hostage release deal. Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is still being held by Hamas, said that she will “disrupt public order,” claiming that Prime Minister Netanyahu is “trying to sabotage” the cease-fire. “The leadership has lost it,” she told the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, Israel’s public broadcaster. “We can’t afford to be a country that doesn’t uphold agreements.”
In a panel discussion with hostage families, Simcha Rotman, a Knesset Member for the far-right National Religious Party-Religious Zionism, told them that he hopes decision-makers in Israel will “stop this bad deal as quickly as possible, return to fighting, and open the gates of hell on Hamas.” Merav Svirsky, whose brother Itay was murdered in Hamas captivity, replied: “You [Rotman] are sacrificing human life; this is crazy. My brother was murdered as a result of military pressure.” A protester who shouted at Rotman that he has “no mandate to sacrifice human lives” was removed by Knesset security from the session.
Writes commentator Amos H’arel in Haaretz Feb. 11: “Netanyahu has never wanted to implement the second stage of the deal. He was dragged into the first stage against his will, due to unusually heavy pressure from several sources: U.S. President Donald Trump; Miriam Adelson, a billionaire close to Trump; the Defense Establishment and the Israeli public. Over the last few days, even prior to Hamas’ announcement, Netanyahu has been trying to sabotage the negotiations and, above all, has been trying to prevent the transition to the second stage. Though he agreed to the second stage “in principle,” its details haven’t been finalized and effectively haven’t been discussed at all.”