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Nadav Tamir

The tail that wagged the dog

Blinken was right to present his plan for the 'day after' in Gaza, but Bibi wouldn't hear of it. Maybe Trump's administration will actually manage to implement it
Credit: Yosef Av-Yair Engel (used with permission).

At his speech yesterday at the Atlantic Council, outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented his plan for the day after the war. The plan is a correct and worthy proposal for the establishment of a mechanism for governance in Gaza based on Palestinian Authority participation with Arab and international backing.

Blinken’s speech marks the final chord of the Biden administration’s involvement in the region and symbolizes, perhaps more than anything else, the well-intentioned goals of assisting Israel to end the war and create an arrangement for its aftermath, yet at the same time the failure to turn its ideas into reality. From the very beginning, the Biden administration has placed the most appropriate and correct proposals on the table but has consistently failed to realize them.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister who failed the country on October 7th, managed to intimidate the world’s greatest superpower in the months that followed. Recklessly believing (probably incorrectly) that Trump was on his side, Netanyahu insulted and vilified Biden and his administration, either personally or through his envoys and associates, and placed the entire US administration on the defensive, leading to the dismantling of many of its pressure mechanisms.

Instead of taking the lead and directing the entire region to the post-war situation, the Biden administration conducted a somewhat strange dance with the Israeli government, with every step forward accompanied by two steps back. Most demands on Israel were immediately followed by defensive statements designed to downplay their significance. Every criticism of Netanyahu’s policies was accompanied by the placing of the main blame for the lack of a deal on Hamas.

Netanyahu, whose fear of Ben Gvir and Smotrich became the basis of his policy, managed to neutralize every American pressure point with almost no resistance. He conducted a choir of right-wing voices that manipulated the Biden administration, which, in turn, was fearful of being labeled “anti-Israel.”

The presidential election results proved that the administration’s trepidation was unfounded. As opposed to almost all other population groups where support for Trump increased, American Jews voted for Harris in 2024 at the same high percentages as in every previous election. But the fear had done its job.

The administration put forward justified demands, and there were even a few hesitant attempts to apply pressure, which Netanyahu chose to exaggerate significantly. He managed to distort the image of the most Zionist administration in the history of the United States into one that endangers the security of the State of Israel.

What has been lacking all along has been clarity, and its absence is what led Netanyahu to choose to appease his coalition partners over the demands of Israel’s strongest and most important ally.

Blinken has visited Israel many times; envoys have come and gone, but they all received the same treatment of nodding heads and time-wasting, without the Israeli government feeling any urgency to convene in order to take crucial decisions on the release of the hostages or shaping the post-war agenda.

The active involvement in the past week of Steve Witkoff, Trump’s designated envoy to the region, has proven what can work. The Trump Administration does not come with a set of values and plans, but with two other things that may finally extricate the region from of the paralysis afflicting it — clarity and leverage.

The Israeli right has praised and lauded Trump throughout the past year, presenting him as Israel’s savior. It will be difficult for them to now portray him in the opposite light. Netanyahu’s meeting with envoy Steve Witkoff in his office on the Sabbath indicates a new approach. Witkoff set the schedule and did not allow Netanyahu, as is his habit, to drag out the time.

Blinken was correct to present his plan for the day after in Gaza; perhaps the Trump administration will succeed where its predecessors failed and to actually implement it. It is to be hoped that Trump will be more effective in securing the return of the hostages, ending the war, and promoting a regional normalization deal alongside a political horizon for the Palestinians.

For supporters of Israel in the US, the conclusion is palpable. Opposing the use of American leverage does not help Israel; rather, it helps the right-wing government in Israel, whose vision of Israel’s future is of less importance to them than their messianic vision and their selfish political survival.

About the Author
Nadav Tamir is the executive director of J Street Israel, a member of the board of the Mitvim think-tank, adviser for international affairs at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, and member of the steering committee of the Geneva Initiative. He was an adviser of President Shimon Peres and served in the Israel embassy in Washington and as consul general to New England.
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