Quotes
It's as clear as can be that the delay is a result of political pressures in Jerusalem and Netanyahu's fear for his coalition,
Shira Efron, senior research director at the Israel Policy Forum and former United Nations consultant in Jerusalem, told Newsweek Once he reached the conclusion that one of the two most extreme members of his government, who only jointly can deprive him of a governing majority, is not about to jump ship, he went for it,
We appreciate how the outgoing and incoming administrations put politics aside at this transitional juncture to help advance a hostage agreement,
Happy with his powerful position and alarmed by consistent polls indicating that he is not making the electoral threshold, thus not returning should elections are called, all Bibi [Netanyahu] had to do is offer him some face-saving formula,
The Biden-Trump cooperation on this issue has been both unprecedented and impressive,
The Hamas terrorist organization continues to exploit the civilian population for its terror attacks against the State of Israel in violation of international law,
Is that a joke?"
In response to a reporter's final shouted question about whether he or Trump deserved credit for the deal, Biden simply replied What we have seen from the U.S. in the past few days, seeing a collaboration transcending both administrations, was a clear demonstration for the commitment of the U.S. to reach to that deal,
Sheikh Mohammed said at the time The last-minute hiccup in convening the Israeli cabinet to approve the deal has been a microcosm of the Netanyahu conduct on the issue throughout: the longevity of his governing coalition being the primary consideration,
Nimrod Novik, an Israel Policy Forum fellow who served as senior foreign policy adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, told Newsweek Where we could be facing a more serious crisis is in the negotiations and transition into stage 2, and if there is stage 3, of the agreement,
The only difference now, and thankfully the game changer, is the PM's desire to please President Trump,
The humanitarian toll in Gaza and Hezbollah’s decision to ink a separate cease-fire deal with Israel in November made Hamas more flexible,
noted Hugh Lovatt and Muhammad Shehada of the European Council on Foreign Relations It wasn’t a warning to Hamas. It was a warning to Netanyahu. To Bibi,
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, told POLITICO Because he’s afraid of Trump.”
And when asked by POLITICO why the Israeli prime minister now appeared ready to agree to a deal he’d dismissed before, Olmert simply said The Biden administration proved unwilling to exert adequate pressure on Israel’s leadership,
We shook hands, and we signed certain documents, but it better be done,
We changed the course of it, and we changed it fast, and frankly, it better be done before I take the oath of office,
We’ve made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people of Israel to hear me on this: If they need to go back in, we’re with them,
It was really quite remarkable, and I think speaks to what can be done in the country,
We need to get our people out [of Gaza], we need to destroy Hamas as a military terrorist organization and we 100 percent support that, and then we can get back to crafting peace deals in the Middle East,
