Let’s just call this a difference of opinion. Egyptian, Qatari, and US officials involved in negotiations for hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza thought talk had taken a productive turn. Late this morning, the Washington Post relied on those sources to proclaim that the talks in Cairo “show progress,” at least from their perspective:
Talks over a possible deal on a pause in fighting in Gaza and the release of remaining Israeli hostages pushed forward on Wednesday in Cairo, with Egyptian negotiators signaling optimism about an agreement even as others involved warned the two sides still remained far apart on key aspects. …
The discussions, which began Tuesday and were expected to be held over three days, are focused on a framework that would pause fighting for six weeks. CIA Director William J. Burns met with Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi separately on Tuesday as part of the talks.
“According to our side, the Egyptian side, it is very positive,” said a former Egyptian defense official briefed on the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject. He said sticking points include the number of hostages that would be released, and how many Palestinians would be freed from Israeli prisons in return.
Well, that was their opinion. The Israelis clearly had a different opinion, and walked out on negotiations today. According to Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas won’t budge from its demands of a “permanent ceasefire” and withdrawal from Gaza cities and IDF overflights before the release of any hostages can take place.
Netanyahu declared today that Israel has no intention of bending to those demands, or even using them as a framework for a deal:
“Hamas has to ease its demands,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office said amid reports that he had not approved of sending an Israeli delegation back to Cairo to follow up talks toward a deal for the release of the remaining 134 hostages.
“A change in Hamas’s positions will allow the negotiations to advance,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on Wednesday. …
“Israel did not receive any new proposal in Cairo from Hamas on the release of our hostages,” the PMO said.Netanyahu has insisted “that Israel will not give in to Hamas’s delusional demands.,” the PMO explained.
Even the WaPo report offers up justification for this conclusion. The terrorists who started the war want Israel to not just stop fighting it, but to pull out and set up corridors for full transit between all points in Gaza — without surveillance to identify Hamas operatives. And this part seems especially laughable in the context of October 7, as well as the last 17 years of “cease-fires”:
The biggest hurdle is the “guarantees that Hamas requires in order to be sure that if a cease-fire is signed, then it will be respected,” according to the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject.
Er ..wut? Hamas had agreed to a cease-fire previous to October 7, which it violated with no notice to annihilate 1200 Israelis, most of them unarmed civilians, in a rape-kidnapping-murder rampage more barbaric than anything seen in centuries. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad routinely violate cease-fires with rocket and missile attacks on Israeli civilian centers. Israel spends a fortune on Iron Dome missile defenses to counter those attacks so it doesn’t have to go to war over those violations. On top of this, Hamas has agreed to at least nine previous formal cease-fires in the past 17 years — and has violated every single one of them.
And let us not forget that they also have repeatedly declared since October 7 that they will repeat the October 7 barbarities regardless of truces until they destroy Israel and all the Jews within it. Hamas has zero standing to demand guarantees at this point, and anyone who expects Israel to negotiate on that basis is a moral idiot, not to mention operating outside all conventions of war.
Netanyahu and his war cabinet are on solid ground with this argument, but that doesn’t mean it will be popular abroad, or even at home. The families of the hostages erupted in outrage over Netanyahu’s refusal to negotiate under those terms today, calling it a “death sentence” for those Hamas still holds:
In a statement, the forum says it is “stunned” by the decision to “thwart” the ongoing talks, adding that “it appears that some of the members of the cabinet decided to sacrifice the lives of the hostages with admitting it.”
This decision will mark “a death sentence” for the hostages remaining in captivity, it says.
The forum says that “while the negotiating team made a decision to be just a passive listener, the female hostages are being actively raped and the men are suffering abuse.”
No one can blame the hostage families for their anger and their despair. Most of us would likely feel exactly the same way in this situation. Unfortunately, though, Netanyahu and his unity government cannot simply capitulate to get the hostages out, because that only vindicates and incentivizes Hamas’ hostaging strategy in the long run. For the past seventeen years, Hamas has successfully used Israeli hostages to win ridiculously disproportionate concessions, which is why they kidnapped so many men, women, and children on October 7. Their leadership even bragged that the Israeli and Jewish respect for life would force Israel into submission to their genocidal leadership.
The only way to end hostaging as a terror strategy is to make it as valueless as possible. The Israelis should have refused to play that game from the start, but that’s water under the bridge at the moment. Netanyahu and his war cabinet need to demonstrate now that Israel will no longer offer absurd concessions that lead to their own genocide, as Hamas has made that ambition crystal clear on October 7 and every day since. At the very least, hostages cannot be made the only value Israel gets from ending offensive operations against a terror network determined to destroy them with any means necessary.
Walking away from the table makes that point clear, at least for the moment. Even if it doesn’t impress Hamas, it sends a signal to Egypt, Qatar, and the US — and maybe especially the US — that Israel will no longer put its national existence at risk just to win a few plaudits from fair-weather friends. Netanyahu just told them to get serious, because Israel cannot afford to be frivolous any longer for the benefit of others.