Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to convince US President Donald Trump this week during their meeting at the White House that Israel can secure the return of all those kidnapped without surrendering to Hamas’s demands or sacrificing a large number of hostages as a price of resuming the war.Israel and Hamas are entering negotiations for the second phase of the deal, in which the parties have conflicting goals.Israel is willing to end the war in Gaza on the condition that Hamas ceases to exist as an armed organization with military, civilian, and political control. Hamas, on the other hand, seeks the opposite: Israel ending its presence in Gaza while it continues to control the enclave militarily, politically, and in the civil sphere.
Trump wants to see an end to the war in Gaza – but at the same time, he does not want to see Hamas in control.Netanyahu’s primary goal on Tuesday, when he meets with the president in the Oval Office, will be to convince Trump that these two elements cannot coexist.
It’s either a quick end to the war, but with Hamas remaining in power, controlling Gaza, and continuing to grow stronger, or the removal of Hamas, which is exactly what Trump desires.
However, for this to happen, one of two things is required: either a magic solution or the renewal of war. And not just any "renewal."
Different method of fighting
If it is to return to fighting, Israel wants to do it differently this time—without the binary methods that the Biden administration imposed on the IDF, where the right hand strikes the enemy while the left hand feeds it humanitarian aid.Netanyahu believes that intense combat can serve to reconcile Trump’s two demands: ending the war in Gaza and ending Hamas’s rule.In this regard, the government’s more hawkish wing – the Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – can be reassured.Netanyahu did not lie to Smotrich when he promised him a return to war in the absence of achieving its objectives through other means. He sees this as a genuine option that he intends to present to Trump.Netanyahu believes it is possible to not give in to Hamas’s demands in order to return the hostages while also not paying the price for a resumption of the war that would cost the lives of a significant number of hostages remaining in Gaza.Netanyahu is convinced that if he can persuade Trump, then the president, unlike his Democrat predecessor, will not attempt to impose a “peace at any cost” approach on Israel.This understanding alone would convince the senior Hamas leaders in Gaza better than any other persuasion campaign that their situation is truly hopeless and that they really have been backed into a corner.From Israel’s perspective, the basic condition will be the disarmament of Hamas, the expulsion of its leaders, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the establishment of a transitional government in some form.Netanyahu is not willing to agree to less than this.