‘I’m on my own’: PM said telling politicians his ‘weak’ negotiators ‘just want to capitulate’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly been telling “political elements” in recent days that Israel’s negotiating team is weak and constantly seeking to compromise in the talks on a hostage-ceasefire deal, while he is “on my own” trying to protect Israel’s security needs.

Netanyahu has been widely reported to be at deep odds with the key negotiators — Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and IDF point man Nitzan Alon — and to have repeatedly upbraided them face-to-face for their ostensible weakness. But tonight’s Channel 12 report says he is now sharing these criticisms with political interlocutors.

The report notes that it is surprising that Netanyahu would be criticizing his security chiefs in comments with politicians, when he is depending on the security establishment to achieve “total victory” in Gaza and to handle a potential regional escalation if there is no deal.

“I’m on my own, facing the entire security establishment and the negotiating chiefs,” the TV report quotes Netanyahu saying. “They are showing weakness and just looking for ways to capitulate, while I’m insisting on the interests of the State of Israel and am not prepared to concede to demands that would harm security.”

Any such ostensible weakness, in fact, reflects the “negotiators’ sense of urgency” as regards freeing the hostages, the TV report says, adding that the negotiators do not regard the prime minister’s insistence on an Israeli presence on the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border as essential, but rather as a “spoke in the wheels” of the negotiations. The IDF only moved to capture the Philadelphi Corridor in May, eight months into the war.

The report says the Philadelphi Corridor was a “central issue” in last night’s phone call between Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris, and that Netanyahu said in the call he would show flexibility.

To that end, Netanyahu sent Israel’s negotiators to Egypt today with updated maps showing a reduced IDF deployment along the Philadelphi Corridor, the report said.

The question now is whether Netanyahu’s latest position will be enough for Egypt to press Hamas into accepting a deal, the report says. If there is the possibility of some kind of breakthrough, it says, there could be a follow-up summit on Sunday.

In a separate report, Channel 12 quotes Egyptian sources saying Hamas is prepared to consider an arrangement whereby international forces are deployed both at the Philadelphi Corridor and at the Netzarim Corridor that the IDF has carved out across Gaza, separating the south of the strip from the north. Netanyahu is demanding an Israeli presence there as well, to ensure arms and Hamas gunmen do not return to the north. (Netanyahu earlier this evening denied this was something he was considering.)

It also says Hamas is prepared to let Israel veto up to 50 of the hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners it wants released, while Israel wants the right to veto 65 of the most dangerous potential releases. And it says Hamas is prepared to allow Israel to send more prisoners into exile than previously; Israel wants the right to exile 150.

Additionally, the report says, Israel’s maps showing troop deployments and the timing of IDF withdrawals are not entirely clear to Hamas.

Channel 12 also says that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is trying to arrange a reconciliation with his Fatah faction’s former Gaza chief and bitter rival Mohammad Dahlan, who is living in exile in Abu Dhabi.