Citing unnamed sources, the Times of Israel reported yesterday that President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy, billionaire real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, held a “tense” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 11. During their confab, Witkoff reportedly “leaned hard” on the Israeli premier to accept compromises necessary to secure a hostage deal by the January 20 U.S. presidential inauguration, two unnamed officials said.
Witkoff’s pressure on Netanyahu appears to have had an effect, with the two officials familiar with the negotiations saying that key gaps were closed during the talks over the weekend. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera quoted two informed observers, one Arab and the other Israeli, crediting Trump with being the new factor pushing Israel closer to a deal. “The main difference here is the new variable that has entered the equation and that is Donald Trump … he is clearly the one driving this ceasefire,” Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“There’s going to be a lot of hooting and hollering from the Biden administration about how they pushed this ceasefire through, assuming it comes to fruition, but the reality is this has been pushed by Trump,” he added. Elmasry said Trump has been “very hard” on Netanyahu in recent days, citing a video Trump shared on his Truth Social platform depicting academic Jeffrey Sachs blasting the Israeli prime minister for his foreign policy vision. “I think everyone now is fairly optimistic that we’re going to get across the finish line,” said Elmasry.
