Israeli media outlets yesterday stressed the need for Israel to accept a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip even though it is “bad for Israel”.
In an article published in the Hebrew Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, journalist Ben Dror Yemini said: “Israel’s current activity does not lead to an absolute victory in the Gaza Strip, but only exacerbates the well-known failure.”
He added that what Hamas has presented “is a response, not a proposal,” and what US President Joe Biden presented on 31 May is “the basis of an Israeli proposal from [Prime Minister] Netanyahu.”
The article pointed out that in Israel, Netanyahu is “the prime minister, who presented the proposal to the United States, and Netanyahu is the politician who opposes the prime minister.”
The article referred to a meeting of senior officials of the Israeli security and military establishment and the negotiating team, after which Netanyahu issued a statement in which he presented the five points that he intends to insist on in the war.
The article described the statement as a “statement of failure,” stressing that Netanyahu “does not want the deal,” and that the first item on Netanyahu’s list is the most important, which states that “any agreement will allow Israel to fight again, until all the goals of the war are achieved.” But this clause represents “a stark contradiction to Netanyahu’s own plan, which is the plan presented by Biden,” which stipulates a “permanent end to hostilities” after the implementation of the three stages of the agreement.
In this context, the article’s author quoted a prominent official familiar with the proposal as confirming that “Biden did not invent anything”. “In other words, a cessation of hostilities was included in the original proposal, despite Netanyahu’s denials,” the newspaper said.
The Hebrew paper confirmed that the deal is “really bad for Israel,” adding that Hamas “will declare victory if it is implemented in the end.”
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