"Stop Bullshitting Me"

Is PM Benjamin Netanyahu being straight with President Biden and the people of Israel?

Over the weekend, Israeli media reported that President Biden repeatedly said this to PM Benjamin Netanuahyu when they spoke on the phone last Thursday. “Stop bullshitting me.”

Biden was referring to Bibi’s continued reasons for seeming to hold up a deal to release the Israeli hostages imprisoned in Hamas hell for more than 300 days now. And yet, Netanyahu insists that he is not delaying but that Hamas has introduced new demands that are unacceptable.

For weeks now, the heads of the Mossad, Shin Bet, IDF and the Minister of Defense have been confronting the PM vigorously (according to leaks, which is how Israel works) with accusations that he is deliberately preventing a deal from being inked and that it is Bibi who is adding new terms. Terms that were not in the proposal put forward by Israel and agreed to by Hamas, Qatar and the United States in late-May. The same deal that just three weeks ago was believed by so many close to the situation to be so close to being finalized.

And then - poof.

Netanyahu’s extreme right wing coalition partners – Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir – made it clear that if the deal was signed they would bolt the coalition and very likely bring down the government. Meaning that Benjamin Netanyahu would face elections and may well not come out on top.

Ever the pugilist, Netanyahu has reportedly had some rough encounters with his top security advisers recently, according to multiple media sources over the last week. Mossad, Shin Bet and IDF heads - as well as the Minister of Defense - reportedly told the PM in a recent meeting what they have been saying publicly now for two weeks; that Israel has achieved its military goals in Gaza and the hostages must be rescued before they all die. They are out of time.

Netanyahu apparently responded by yelling and pounding on the table. He insists that it is Hamas that is sabotaging the deal with new conditions and not him. To which his security advisers responded: Then at least have the decency to tell the families of the hostages that you will not support this deal. Tell the nation. The people of Israel have a right to know.

As expected, the Prime Minister’s Office denies that there has been any deception or lack of transparency at their end. They deny that any such encounter involving yelling and banging on a desk ever took place. In fact, they are reported to have blamed security officials for undermining the credibility of the nation and its leader, Netanyahu.

What his closest advisers seem not to understand is that even if everything emanating from the Prime Minister’s mouth and his office is true, they have a problem. No one believes them. The popular consensus in Israel is that Netanyahu is controlled by his extreme-right coalition partners who have been very clear in asserting their strong opposition to the deal on the table to release the hostages. And that is what prevents Netanyahu from signing off.

Several months ago I had a random encounter with an individual who I have known for many years and remains close to the inner circle in the PMO. At the time I was harshly critical of the time taken to negotiate the hostages’ freedom.

The response I received was that uppermost in the PM’s mind was his legacy. And that his legacy was October 7^th. The PM was determined to change that.

How? I asked.

By achieving the impossible, I was told. “Destroying” Hamas (whatever that means – but which has proven in the ensuing months to be a shifting target), pushing Hizballah back in Lebanon to create a security buffer for northern Israel and establishing full diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

I was stunned.

By the vainglory and stupidity of it all.

Assuming this fantasy scenario is true – and all evidence supports the premise that it is – then Netanyahu is obsessed with everything but bringing the hostages home. When I mentioned that this individual pointed to the deal last November that returned more than 100 hostages to Israel.

“Did you expect that?”

The question was asked as if it was a triumph, that deal, and not the absolute minimum that the government could do after so devastatingly failing the nation.

My response was unequivocal. “October 7^th should never have happened. It did. It is their duty to prevent such an attack. And the PM and army have yet to explain to the people how and why they failed so spectacularly in this fundamental duty. They will never be forgiven for that day, the days and years leading up to it and since. Never. Nothing can make up for that. That is Netanyahu’s legacy and it is written in stone.”

I did add that it was sad – the stuff of Greek tragedy, really – that a man of such exceptional ability in every way – Benjamin Netanyahu – had come to this point; where he was seen to be a man disconnected from his people and not acting in their best interests. He – and his family – have given so much to the state. But he has changed and is not the man he was. That, of course, is for another day; for the State Commission of Inquiry which he will do everything possible to prevent from convening.

Today, we wait. For an imminent attack on Israel by Iran, Hizballah, Hamas and the Houthis. And in the midst of this horror we remember the hostages held in Hamas terror tunnels. We must bring them home. Now.

At the opening of the weekly Cabinet meeting this morning, Prime Minister Netanyahu, as is his custom, made a statement to the media. The statement is reproduced in full, below, as disseminated by the Government Press Office:

This morning there was a murderous terrorist attack in Holon. I send condolences to the families of those who were murdered and best wishes for a recovery to the wounded. I commend the police officers who engaged and eliminated the terrorist. We will settle accounts with whoever cooperated with him.

Our fight against terrorism is relentless. I commend the IDF and the ISA for their cooperation yesterday in Tulkarm. Our forces eliminated terrorists who had organized to murder many Israelis, and they saved many lives thereby.

The State of Israel is in a multi-front war against Iran's axis of evil. We are striking every one of its arms with great force. We are prepared for any scenario – both offensively and defensively.

I reiterate and tell our enemies: We will respond and we will exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us, from whatever quarter.

At the same time, we are making a supreme effort, on a daily basis, to return all of our hostages. I emphasize – to return all of our hostages, without exception. We have an ironclad commitment to return all of them – the living and the deceased.

Therefore, I instructed the delegation to leave for Cairo yesterday, in order to continue the negotiations. I insist that the maximum number of living hostages be freed in the first stage of the deal, and that the leverage for pressing for the release of all of hostages later be preserved.

I am prepared to go very far to release all of our hostages, while maintaining the security of Israel. Our commitment stands in complete contrast to the leaks and mendacious briefings on the issue of our hostages.

These briefings harm the negotiations and, to my great regret, they also mislead the hostages' dear families. They create a false impression that Hamas has agreed to a deal, while the Government of Israel is opposed to it.

The complete opposite is true. The simple truth is, that as of now Hamas has not agreed to the most basic conditions of the outline.

While we have not added even a single demand to the outline, it is Hamas which has demanded to add dozens of changes. It has not withdrawn its demand that Israel not be able to return to the war. It demands that we withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing – its lifelines, which would allow it to rearm and rebuild its strength. It is important to determine the principle – we are not leaving from there.

Hamas is also unprepared to allow any mechanism to check for and prevent the passage of munitions and terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip. It is doing all this because it wants to recover and rebuild, and return again and again to the massacre of October 7, as it has promised to do.

The fact is that it is Hamas which is preventing the release of our hostages, and which continues to oppose the outline, and not the Government of Israel, which has accepted it.

Whoever, like us, wants the release of our hostages needs to direct the pressure onto Hamas, and not onto the Government of Israel.

For our part, we will continue to apply military pressure on Hamas and its senior figures, until the return of all of our hostages and the achieving of all of the objectives for the war.