The high-stakes address was aimed at forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stand by the concessions he had thus far only been willing to make in private, while simultaneously placing the ball in Hamas’s court by calling on the terror group to accept the Israeli offer.
Two and a half months later, the breakthrough in the negotiations sought by Biden has yet to come. However, the multiphase proposal he outlined still serves as the framework for the deal that mediators are trying to drag across the finish line as they gather for a pivotal meeting in Doha on Thursday.
But as critical as Biden’s May 31 address was, it was not the speech he was originally meant to give that day, three US officials told The Times of Israel.
Earlier in May, several of his top aides had drafted an address that was even more far-reaching.
That one too advocated for a ceasefire, but the truce was presented as merely the first part of a broader regional initiative that the Biden administration hoped to advance. READ MORE
