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RATTLED BY GLOBAL REBUKE, NETANYAHU SCRAMBLES TO FEND OFF CHARGES OF
SABOTAGING HOSTAGE DEAL  
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Amir Tibon
September 5, 2024
Haaretz
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_ In addition to a press conference with foreign media, Netanyahu
dispatched his confidant Ron Dermer to US media to address the hostage
negotiations, as the PM is anxious about increasing U.S. media
attention on the hostage families' criticism of him. _

Protesters in Tel Aviv, Israel, calling on PM Netanyahu to sign a
hostage release deal., Credit: Eti Ron / Haaretz

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned about the growing
international criticism of his conduct of the negotiations for the
release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.

The prime minister has invested considerable effort over the past day
to dispel accusations that he has been scuttling a hostage and
cease-fire deal due to his own political considerations.

On Wednesday evening, he held a news conference for the foreign press
corps in Israel, in which he again highlighted the importance that he
attaches to Israeli control of the Philadelphi corridor
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which runs along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

He and his associates also saw to it, to individually brief senior
political commentators on the subject. In addition, Strategic Affairs
Minister Ron Dermer, who is a close associate of the prime minister,
gave a series of interviews with American media outlets in a bid to
explain the Israeli prime minister's position.

Until very recently, the Biden administration had publicly adhered to
the line that Netanyahu was interested in coming to a hostage release
agreement
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that the primary obstacle to achieving it was Hamas.

Over the past several weeks, however, the tone has changed
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as reflected in harsh criticism by White House National Security
Communications Advisor John Kirby of Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich. Kirby even accused of endangering the lives of American
citizens, due to Smotrich's opposition to a deal on the release of the
hostages, who include American citizens.

At the beginning of the week, after the Israeli security cabinet
passed a resolution prioritizing holding onto the Philadelphi
corridor over the return of the hostages
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are still alive, President Joe Biden said that Netanyahu wasn't doing
enough to secure a hostage deal.

 
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, left, and Netanyahu in the
Knesset, last year.  (Credit: Sraya Diamant / Haaretz)
The president's comments came amid harsh criticism by Arab countries,
including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, over the Israeli
prime minister's handling of the negotiations. The prime minister
generally boasts about the two Arab countries' relationship with
Israel.

In addition, senior German government officials told Axios journalist
Barak Ravid that there is also growing frustration in Berlin over how
Netanyahu is handling the hostage issue. This is the first time since
the outbreak of the war in Gaza on October 7 that an official source
in Germany, the most important country in Europe, has pinned part of
the responsibility for the stalemate in the hostage talks on the
Israeli side.

Netanyahu and his associates are also concerned about the increasing
coverage in the international press, particularly by prominent U.S.
media outlets, of the hostage families' tough criticism of the prime
minister.

Over the past several days, leading American television stations have
featured interviews with a number of the Israeli hostages' relatives
in which they attacked the prime minister, accusing him of not doing
enough to achieve a deal. The message was brought into relief
following the murder last week in the Rafah area of Gaza of six
hostages
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including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was an American citizen.

The massive protests this week in Israel in opposition to Netanyahu's
conduct and calling for a hostage deal received wide coverage in the
American media. In addition, the internal differences of opinion among
Israel's political and military leadership on the hostage issue have
been attracting greater public attention than in the past. On
Wednesday, the front page of the Washington Post featured comments by
a senior Israeli official who accused Netanyahu of partial
responsibility for the deaths of the hostages.

 
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, mother of Israeli-American hostage Hersh
Goldberg-Polin, along with other families of hostages in Gaza, speaks
to reporters outside the White House in Washington, April.  (Credit:
Susan Walsh / AP  //  Haaretz)
For his part, Joe Scarborough, a prominent American television host
and commentator and a former Republican Congressman, made on-air
remarks describing the Israeli prime minister as a corrupt leader who
was prioritizing his own political needs over the fate of the
hostages.

The group of hostage families associated with the protests
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from the Defense Ministry's headquarters in Tel Aviv has been
maintaining social media accounts in English aimed at pressing
American Jewish organizations to step up their public criticism of
Netanyahu on the hostage issue.

The families also plan on talking to members of Congress who have
expressed a commitment in recent months to work for the hostages'
release – to urge the lawmakers to press Netanyahu to accord
priority to the hostage issue.

The lively discourse in the American media over the extent to which
the Israeli prime minister is responsible for the failure of the
hostage negotiations so far might also influence how the issue is
perceived in the U.S. presidential campaign.

The Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, castigated
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over the killing of
the six hostages.

For their part, however, the president and vice president spoke
personally to the parents of the slain American hostage, Hersh
Goldberg-Polin, and committed to continue to work for an agreement on
a deal that would lead to the release of the remaining hostages.

_[AMIR TIBON [[link removed]] is diplomatic
correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
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He covers Israel's foreign policy, with an emphasis on the U.S.-Israel
relationship and Middle East diplomacy._

_From 2017-2020 he was the Washington, D.C., correspondent for
Haaretz, covering the Trump administration, Congress and the U.S.
Jewish community. During this period he also covered the far-right
march in Charlottesville, Virginia; the antisemitic attack on the Tree
of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh; and the 2020 presidential
election. _

_During the years 2013-2016, Amir was the diplomatic correspondent for
Walla News, a leading Israeli news website. Prior to that, he was a
producer for Uvda, the leading investigative news program on Israeli
television.]_

* Ceasefire
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* Hostage release talks
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* Hostages
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* Hostage families
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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* U.S.-Israel military aid
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* Israel-Gaza War
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* Gaza
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* Israel
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* Palestine
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* West Bank
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* Rafah
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* Hamas
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* IDF
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* Biden Administration
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* 2024 Elections
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