President Biden sits with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the Israeli war cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv on Oct. 18, 2023. (Credit: Miriam Alster/AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Monday there were gaps between the proposal announced by US President Joe Biden on Friday and Israel’s official stance on the war — while the White House asserted the opposite.
Netanyahu told a Knesset meeting that his military could stop the war for six weeks, but would not end it permanently. “Iran and all of our enemies are watching to see if we capitulate,” the Israeli news outlet Channel 12 cited him as saying. “The proposal that Biden presented is incomplete."
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, on the other hand, told reporters that the offer detailed by Biden was indeed an Israeli proposal, as confirmed by Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser to the Times of London. “As for the gaps, I don’t know what gaps you’re referring to,” he said.
“We’re confident that [Biden’s speech] accurately reflects that [Israeli] proposal — a proposal that we worked with the Israelis on, so I know of no gaps to speak of,” Kirby said.
Biden was expected to talk by phone on Monday with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to discuss the cease-fire deal he had laid out during a surprise White House address, Axios reported, citing two sources family with the matter.
These sources said Biden hoped Qatar would put the necessary pressure on Hamas to have it agree to the proposal, which the president said Israel had already approved, allowing the negotiation process to move forward into settling the deal’s details.
The Israeli war Cabinet convened Sunday night, concluding with the decision to wait for Hamas' response to Israel's proposal, a senior Israeli official told Axios.
A Hamas delegation is expected to arrive in Cairo Tuesday to discuss the proposal with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, but a source privy to the talks said Hamas has already “responded positively.” Axios reporter Barak Ravid, posting the information on his X account, said senior Israeli officials expect that Hamas' response will be "yes, but…”
Netanyahu refused to show National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir the draft text of proposal, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post. Ben-Gvir claimed that Netanyahu, after promising to show him the draft proposal on Saturday night, reneged on his promise and that National Security Council head Tzahi Hanegby told him that the text didn’t even exist.
During a speech given prior to his party’s weekly faction meeting, Ben-Gvir said that if Netanyahu moves forward with the cease-fire deal without showing him the text, he will pull his party from the coalition.
