Report: Netanyahu to lay out red lines during Trump meeting

Prime Minister Netanyahu planning to present Israel’s red lines to Trump during meeting in Mar-a-Lago next week, including  offer for a Plan B should existing Gaza plan fail.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present President Donald Trump with Israel’s red lines regarding the implementation of the second phase of the Gaza peace plan, as well as offer an alternative should the administration’s current proposal fail, the Hebrew daily Ma’ariv reported on Wednesday.

Netanyahu is slated to fly to Florida and meet with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate on December 29, as the White House struggles to move forward with the second stage of the president’s Gaza plan, including the disarming of Hamas, the deployment of an international stabilization force, and the gradual withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza.

However, amid repeated declarations by senior Hamas leaders that the terror group will not surrender its weapons and with lingering questions regarding both the composition of the Gaza peacekeeping force and whether the force will be used to confront Hamas over its refusal to disarm, Israel remains skeptical the next phase of the Gaza deal can be implemented as originally laid out.

Citing Israeli sources with information regarding the prime minister’s trip, Wednesday’s report claimed that Netanyahu will not only present Israel’s concerns but will also question the logic of the framework currently being pursued by the US, under which the international stabilization force will be tasked with ensuring Hamas disarms.

“By definition, you cannot establish a stabilization force in an area controlled by Hamas,” an Israeli official was quoted as saying.

“No country will agree to send its soldiers to fight Hamas terrorists and do the dirty security work.”

A second Israeli source echoed this sentiment.

“Anyone imagining a force that could ‘disarm Hamas by force’ is living in a fantasy.”

Netanyahu will reportedly emphasize to Trump that Israel will not accept the deployment of the peacekeeping force or the establishment of a technocratic Palestinian administrative committee to manage Gaza unless Hamas has first been disarmed.

The IDF will not withdraw from any territory while Hamas retains its arsenal, Netanyahu will tell Trump, and the “yellow line” demarcating IDF control in Gaza will not be modified.

Furthermore, Netanyahu is expected to reject any efforts to initiate reconstruction work inside the Hamas-controlled “red zone,” where 98% of Gaza’s population is located, before Hamas is disarmed.

However, the prime minister is expected to offer a Plan B should Hamas continue, as is widely anticipated, to reject calls to disarm.

This alternative plan would enable the US to coordinate international reconstruction efforts in areas under Israeli control, thus encouraging Gazans to leave Hamas-controlled territory, pressuring the terrorist group.

This would also reduce pressure on Israel to continue to permit large-scale aid transfers to Hamas-controlled areas, thus cutting into a major lifeline for the terror group.