Benjamin Netanyahu didn't survive as long as he has in Israeli politics without having street smarts. He knows that his government faces incredible pressure to come up with some sort of formula to get the hostages out of Gaza as well as avoid a regional war, and not just from the Biden administration. The Israeli public has ramped up demands for both an end to the conflict and a way to ensure that Hamas cannot start a new war in the future that would bring the region back to the brink.

How do you cut a path through all of that and put Hamas on the spot instead? You endorse a US plan that has a near-zero chance of getting implemented:

After a three-hour meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu puts out a statement publicly backing the latest US bridging proposal that was presented to Israel and conveyed to Hamas at the end of the summit in Doha last week.

“The Prime Minister reiterated Israel’s commitment to the current American proposal on the release of our hostages, which takes into account Israel’s security needs, which he strongly insists on,” the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement issued in Hebrew and English.

Blinken piled on the pressure before the meeting, of course. He spoke with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and warned that time had just about run out on the diplomatic front:

This could be the last possible moment to return the remaining 115 hostages in Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Israel on Monday morning as he urged both Israel and Hamas not to thwart a deal.

“This is a decisive moment,” Blinken said as he met with President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem.

It’s “probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security.["] 

Netanyahu at least appears cooperative and willing to settle on US terms. What about Hamas? Well ...

Hamas rejected the US formula last night.

Actually, Hamas had already rejected the new "bridging" framework even before Netanyahu met with Blinken. That may not be final, of course; Hamas operates like a bad insurance company that rejects all claims on first submission and only later gives it serious consideration. Their rejections are used to test their adversaries in negotiations, and all too often their adversaries fall for that trick. 

In this case, however, Hamas may finally have to face an end to power in Gaza. The US proposal apparently leaves Israel in control of two key corridors in Gaza, at least until a multi-lateral peacekeeping force can take over. If that condition remains, Hamas is out of options in Gaza:

At issue are several key demands of Hamas: it wants Israel to leave the Netzarim Corridor, which separates Gaza City from central Gaza, and the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt.

The Hamas demands – to be able to return armed fighters to northern Gaza through dismantling the IDF’s presence in Netzarim and to return to smuggling along the Egyptian border by ejecting Israel from the corridor – represent the grand plan to return to power in Gaza, part of the terror group’s larger grand strategy of using October 7 to take over the West Bank.

Hamas is already on the march in the West Bank, as evidenced by recent IDF airstrikes in the Tubas region and Jenin against key Hamas operatives; its demands in Gaza are step one in its next stage of operations.

The Jerusalem Post article notes that these questions have been holding up an agreement since January. The larger issue has been the obstacle since the eight-day pause ended in early December. The October 7 massacres made clear to Israelis that Hamas represents an existential threat to Israel if allowed to control Gaza in any form, let alone the West Bank. Hamas has made that threat explicitly clear before and especially since the massacres, so it's no mystery why there isn't a peace agreement. At least one side and now probably both don't want peace, or even a non-combatant co-existence -- they want to destroy their enemy.

That makes this conflict irreconcilable, in any form. The Israelis gave Gazans 18+ years of autonomy, and they chose continuous war, leading up to the attempt to starve Israel into collapse by attacking its ag sector in the south with atrocities so horrific that workers would refuse to return. A two-state solution won't work because Hamas refuses to accept Israel in any form. Either Hamas will conquer Israel or Israel will have to conquer Gaza again and drive Hamas out or destroy it entirely. 

The US and the West don't want to admit that or acknowledge that their decades of "two state solution" policies have been utterly useless. That's why they need Israel to make all of the concessions in this latest "peace" process. If a two-state solution was at all realistic, though, it would have already transpired between 2005 and October 7, 2023 -- and it would be Hamas making the concessions at this point. 

For the moment, though, Netanyahu has an opportunity to make that clear by letting Hamas reject the latest proposal. An endorsement of this plan is nearly cost-free for Netanyahu, plus it has the benefit of putting the onus where it belongs -- on the terrorist network and its patrons in Tehran. 

Update: Has Netanyahu decided to roll the dice even further on a bluff -- or has Blinken come up with the right formula? This could be both, but it also may be an overstatement on Blinken's part:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel has accepted a bridging proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza, and called on Hamas to do the same.

He spoke Monday after holding a 2 1/2 hour meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Times of Israel has also changed its headline to indicate a formal acceptance of terms, crediting it to the PM Office. They quote the same statement as before, however. so perhaps this is more of a clarification than a change. The AP is treating this like a breaking-news change in the talks, so let's assume this is an enhanced level of endorsement from earlier today.

Will that change Hamas' position? Jazz will have more on that shortly.