ALEX TRAIMAN
In a pre-New Year's meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump demonstrated that when it comes to U.S.-Israel relations, there is little daylight and total admiration between the two allies. This factor holds particularly true regarding the nations' policies toward Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
Key differences remain. And that is not only normal but obvious, due to the extremely divergent strategic positions of the world's strongest superpower situated between two oceans, and a Jewish state roughly the size of New Jersey in a neighborhood surrounded by Islamic radicals.
The meeting could not have come at a more important juncture for Israel. Phase 1 of a three-month-old ceasefire brokered by Washington--and based on key provisions proffered by Jerusalem--has proven itself to be a stunning initial success. That Phase 2 will prove to be as successful is less likely.
At the start of the ceasefire in October, all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages returned to Israel, one of its top war priorities. Nearly every dead body killed and taken by Hamas has been returned as well.
This removed the most valuable asset Hamas had as leverage. The hostages served as the ultimate human shields for the leaders of the terrorist organization and were the basis of psychological warfare against the Israeli population. Repatriating the hostages similarly removed the central pillar of the Israeli opposition's political campaign against the prime minister, and their own hedge that Netanyahu would fail to "bring them home."
Only the body of Israel Border Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, 24, remains in captivity. His family was on hand at Mar-a-Lago, demonstrating how important it is to both the president and the prime minister to recover the remains of the last of the 255 captives.
Hamas disarmament
After a partial IDF withdrawal with the signing of the ceasefire agreement, Israel remains in control of 53% of Gaza. Israel Defense Forces remain positioned in the entire eastern half of the Strip, plus large buffer zones along Gaza's entire northern and southern borders.
Most importantly, Hamas committed to fully disarm as part of the ceasefire, and the Palestinian enclave is to be demilitarized.
Before arriving in Florida, reports circulated with claims that Trump would push Israel to further withdraw from the half of Gaza it currently controls, even while Hamas clings to its weapons and remains in power over the residents. A withdrawal, the reports claimed, would facilitate the vision of Trump's son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner to rebuild Gaza as a modern, technologically advanced, terror-free, free-trade enclave.
Yet, Trump made clear in his remarks to the press following the meeting that, as part of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas had committed to disarming. And he insisted that they must disarm before any talk of further Israeli withdrawals.
As to the connection between Hamas disarmament and Israeli withdrawals, Trump stated: "Israel withdrawing its forces? Well, that's a separate subject we'll talk about."
Further, the president insisted that Israel has met all of its obligations as part of the ceasefire, negating claims by its detractors that it was violating the terms of the deal by striking at terrorists who attacked at IDF positions along a newly created Yellow (Israeli deployment) Line.
"I'm not concerned about anything that Israel's doing. I'm concerned about what other people are doing or maybe aren't doing, but I'm not concerned. They've lived up to the plan," Trump said, further emphasizing, "I know Israel's lived up to the plan 100 percent."
It is likely there will be an agreed-upon timeline between Netanyahu and Trump for Hamas to comply with its obligations. After the end of that period, Israel will likely be given a greenlight to finish the job--this time without the threat that Hamas would kill hostages.
Recall that Trump gave Iran a timeline to negotiate a deal to resolve the looming nuclear enrichment crisis. Toward the end of the negotiation period, Trump intimated that Iran would have 60 days to reach an agreement. On day 61, Israel initiated "Operation Rising Lion, the opening salvo of what Trump later termed the 12-day war in mid-June.
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