For Netanyahu Avoiding a Peace Deal may be worse than agreeing

He promised a common victory for Israel, but on Monday at the White House, standing next to Donald Trump in the White House, it looked like Benjamin Netanyahu, who looked defeated.

Israel’s Prime Minister said all the right things about the peaceful deal he had just agreed with, but he looked missed, his voice hoarse, and his energy was darkened as he praised Trump as “the greatest friend of Israel in the White House.”

This is a friendship that can cost him his government.

The ultimate right allies of Netanyahu threatened to leave-and possibly collapse, if he had a government if he made too many concessions on the end of the war. Coalition partners, such as a hazelnut, and Itarm Ben-Gvir made a little secret of their desire to annex gas, expel the Palestinians, and restore the Jewish settlements there.

They – and Netanyahu – were relentless against every role in the Palestinian power in Gaza and any path to the Palestinian state. The deal that Netanyahu has now agreed to outline both, though with severe warnings.

Trump knows that by pushing the Israeli prime minister in this deal, he asks him to risk his government. In return, he hangs the prospect of historical heritage – a new, more peaceful future for the region and new connections between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

There were signs, even before Netanyahu went to Washington, that he knew that choice was coming.

Israeli President Isaac Duke told an Israeli radio station that he was considering parding Netanyahu in the corruption cases he is currently brought to court. These court processes are one of the reasons, claiming his critics that he does not want to leave office and stand against the judges without the shield of his national obligations, power and profile.

But the political exit offered to him at that moment – a regional heritage in exchange for a refusal of his government and his political career possibly – did not seem to win it completely.

His first response to his compatriots today was to publicly emphasize that he did not really agree to the Palestinian state.

“Absolutely not. This is not even written in the agreement,” he said in response to a question on the camera. “But we said one thing – that we would forcibly resist a Palestinian state.”

The reports in the Israeli media this morning also suggest that the Israeli cabinet will not be able to vote for the full conditions of the transaction – but only in the exchange of Israeli hostages for the Palestinian prisoners.

The question is what these actions mean to his political calculation: Whether Netanyahu tries to keep his government long enough to work his political magic on the ballot box, which is currently predicting that he will lose election or whether he is dealing with Hamas rejecting this transaction – or he cannot control his commanders at all.

The potential continuation of the war was something that he emphasized at this uncomfortable press conference in Washington, emphasizing – with the support of Trump – that Israel would have a free reign to “finish the work” if Hamas fails to achieve his side of the deal. Seen in this light, this uncomfortable moment can be the price of continuing American support for his war.

Netanyahu is known as a master of political maneuvers, striking a path between political obstacles to buying time. He displaced his position in previous circles of negotiations and drove through previous fire deals, just to retreat when the constant end of the war was ready for discussion.

Many believe that he never wanted to negotiate the termination of this war, but to force Hamas to surrender to Israel. But it is difficult to maintain this uncompromising image of a “total victory” when you publicly admitted the things you have spent preventing a career and when you wait for your enemy’s response.

For the first time since the beginning of the war, it seems that the consequences of avoiding this deal were worse than the consequences of the consent of it. And if Trump really forced him to choose between his ally in Washington and his allies at home, why did Joe Biden not do the same when such a deal was at the table nine months ago – and another 30,000 gazan was still alive?