(JNS) Almost immediately after the Hamas-led Palestinian invasion of Israel last Oct. 7, the Biden-Harris administration began demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu present his “day after” plan for Gaza. Netanyahu insisted that the day after had to wait until the war was won.
But over time, Netanyahu began explaining contours of his post-war plans. They included the de-Hamasification of Gaza and permanent Israeli military control over Gaza. Since genocidal Jew-hatred and the goal of annihilating Israel is shared by Hamas and the U.S.-supported Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu insisted the P.A. cannot succeed Hamas in running Gaza.
The Biden-Harris administration didn’t like Netanyahu’s plans. But since they made sense to the vast majority of Israelis, and because 80% of Americans consistently told pollsters that they support Israeli victory, rather than fight Netanyahu, the administration maintained an outward stance of supporting Israel while using the U.S.’s formidable leverage over Israel to inhibit or block Israel from carrying out operations that would fundamentally change the strategic reality on the ground permanently, enabling the implementation of Netanyahu’s “day after” plans. (And save Israelii lives, ed.)
The administration’s demand for a “day after” plan wasn’t a request for an actual plan. The administration was demanding an Israeli commitment not to seek to use the war to fundamentally change the strategic realities on the ground that existed on Oct. 6, 2023. The U.S. wanted those conditions, which enabled Hamas to build its army of genocide, to continue to exist at the end of the war. And it wanted Netanyahu to accept this condition, which if accepted would block all prospects for Israeli victory. READ MORE
