Netanyahu Backtracks on Ceasefire - The Thursday AM Quickie 1/16/25
I'm taking off early this week, so Jacob's back tomorrow. Peace! - Corey
ON THE SHOW TODAY
1/16: It's an EmMajority Report Thursday! She speaks with Annelle Sheline, research fellow in the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to discuss the reporting around a recently brokered ceasefire deal in Israel & Gaza. Then, she speaks with Jael Holzman, senior reporter at HeatMap news, to discuss her recent piece entitled "The Growing Push to Ban Renewable Energy in Oklahoma."
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Today you'll read about President Joe Biden's Eisenhower-inspired farewell address, the latest overseas sweetheart real estate deal for Jared Kushner's company, and, unfortunately, Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito's taste in magazines.
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THE BIG NEWS
Netanyahu OK's Ceasefire Deal Biden Pitched 8 Months Ago – Then Hits the Brakes
More than 10,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza between President Joe Biden's announcement of a potential ceasefire deal last summer and yesterday, when Israel's far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted substantially the same terms.
Palestinian journalist Muhammad Shehada and Israeli journalist Noga Tarnopolsky tell Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan that despite the worldwide eagerness for some good news about Gaza, skepticism is warranted. For one thing, Netanyahu's intransigent cabinet still needs to sign off on the deal. They were supposed to do so today – but Netanyahu hours ago delayed the cabinet vote. He predictably blamed Hamas for his decision, although Hamas says it remains committed to the terms announced by mediators. At least two extremist cabinet members previously threatened to bring down the governing coalition rather than call a truce with Hamas, and fear of losing power may have prompted Netanyahu's latest turnabout.
What changed that led him to agree to the deal in the first place? The most obvious factor is the new regime coming to the White House. According to the Post and the New York Times, Biden's team worked together with Donald Trump's to bring the Israelis around, though both men predictably rushed to claim credit, perhaps prematurely, for the breakthrough.
But Israeli sources say Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, "delivered a stern message" on Trump's behalf, and that this was decisive. Matt Duss of the Center for International Policy, a former foreign policy aide to Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, tells Politico that Trump "made clear he wanted this war to end and pressed Netanyahu on it in a way that Biden clearly wasn't willing to do." The investigative team at ProPublica essentially agrees with that assessment, reporting that "Biden's record of empty threats [gave] the Israelis a sense of impunity."
"'Netanyahu's conclusion was that Biden doesn't have enough oomph to make him pay a price, so he was willing to ignore him,' said Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute who's focused on U.S.-Israel relations and a former official with the Palestinian Authority who helped advise on prior peace talks. 'Part of it is that Netanyahu learned there is no cost to saying "no" to the current president.'"
Reaction to the news from people in Gaza, who have endured what key international monitors agree amounts to a genocide, is complex, both mournful and hopeful. "I have mixed feelings," Mohamed Abu Rai, a Palestinian medic, tells Al Jazeera, "but I pray to God that we can return to our normal lives without feeling insecure."