Steven Witkoff is a bad guy who is beholden to Qatar which backs hamas. It's telling that Trump chose him to "negotiate"/strongarm Bibi on his behalf.
This isn’t Biden’s doing this time. Please stop looking for ways to excuse Trump from responsibility over this. Whenever Trump does something positive, he gets credit for taking charge. If he does something negative, they are quick to blame those under him as if he has no clue what they are up to. Either Trump is the guy in charge, or he isn't.
I don't know what kind of a hold Trump has on so many that they are willing to throw their supposed principles out the window for him. I know my lone voice amounts to nothing among millions of listeners, but I can no longer listen to hosts on the radio or TV. I cannot listen to the parade of Trump lackeys being brought on wildly spinning that this abomination of a deal with hamas is somehow a good thing, just to provide cover for him. They are typical, slimy, unprincipled, self-serving politicians who know Trump has an iron grip on the GOP and their political fortunes rest on unquestioningly going along with whatever he does. There will not be any dissenters.
Another monumental betrayal by Trump? They are coming fast and furious before he even takes office. Some are still in denial over Trump’s treachery. He is a two-faced SOB. When he said he was going to end the wars, it’s obvious that he was going to achieve it by forcing our beleaguered allies to surrender to their attackers. How is appeasing terrorists amount to being America-first? Our enemies must be thrilled, our allies appalled and frightened. Trump instead of ending wars is bringing us closer to WW3. Xi will be emboldened along with Iran. Lebanon ceasefire: The new crisis between Israel, Trump's administration - Israel News - The Jerusalem Post
I feel more anger towards him than Biden because I expected so much better from Trump but was bamboozled. I know the democrats are weak appeasers who hate Israel. Trump however made public proclamations of being pro-Israel. Trump made a public display of acting tough with hamas, but that's just it, it was an act. When he said "there will be hell to pay" if there was no deal before he takes office, apparently, he meant hell to pay for Israel although everyone assumed he was threatening hamas. hamas didn't agree to a deal because they fear Trump, which is what MAGA thinks, it's because Trump applied pressure to Bibi while hamas got everything it wanted. There is nothing Trump could have threatened hamas with that the IDF hasn't already done to them. He just likes to bloviate while making deals behind the scenes. It's telling that he chose as his Mideast envoy and the one he gave the power to negotiate on his behalf was Steven Witkoff, a man who has extensive business with the hamas supporting nation of Qatar. That should telegraph what will be Trump's approach to the Mideast. Much of MAGA was certain that the choices of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador and Marco Rubio as Secretary of State was a sign that Trump was going to stand solidly in support of Israel. But that was a bait and switch. Ultimately, they just answer to Trump and are obligated to carry out his agenda unless they have enough principles and self-respect to resign if Trump should continue to stab Israel in the back. People put their trust in Trump based on his first term where he moved our embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. But those were merely symbolic gestures which simply acknowledged pre-existing facts on the ground. When it came to the serious and substantive matter of this hostages for terrorists deal, Trump did not have Israel's back.
So because members of Bibi's cabinet don't want to release thousands of terrorists, they are labeled “far right” by alleged conservatives. It's surreal to hear alleged conservatives sounding like the left-wing media, the democrats, squad etc. What they all condemned Biden for trying to do since October 7 is suddenly great now that Trump is facilitating this deal. Sickening extreme hypocrisy. These so-called "conservatives" on this station and elsewhere have zero principles. They are nothing but lackeys validating whatever Trump does. This is cult-like behavior.
Of course, by making it happen before he officially takes office, he has plausible deniability that he had anything to do with it when it all comes crashing down. At that point he will put all the blame on Biden and gaslight us that he had no role in it. His MAGA army like the good soldiers they are will all follow suit. That’s what this conman Trump excels at, causing damage and then setting up others for the blame. This happened with Afghanistan. It was Trump who actually made the deal with the taliban to facilitate our withdrawal. So, when Biden pulled out our forces to abide by the deal Trump made and which Trump had every intention of doing had he won, Biden was the one who got all the blame when it went awry. As luck woud have it, Trump, by losing in 2020 actually benefited him in that way. People say the 13 soldiers would not have been killed under Trump, but we don’t know that. That’s not to say Biden is blameless, but Trump shares equal blame for what has unfolded in Afghanistan since our withdrawal. It emboldened Xi and Iran and hamas who learned that America has no staying power.
Days ago, Trump reposted a video on his Truth Social featuring Jeffery Sachs saying:
NETANYAHU IS A DEEP AND DARK SON OF A BITCH, WHO SEEKS TO DRAG THE UNITED STATES INTO THE MIDDLE EAST WARS
I think that is a telltale sign of what Trump really thinks of Bibi and what his policy will be towards Israel. They had a falling out before after the 2020 election because Bibi made a congratulatory phone call to Biden. Trump then proceeded to trash talk about him not just for that but for building “settlements” which Trump felt was an obstacle to peace, while actually praising the terrorist head of the PA Abbas. This was all revealed in a book that came out at the time. So, it seems there was some contention between them and that the relationship was not as friendly as we had been led to believe. Perhaps bringing down Netanyahu is Trump’s ultimate revenge. If so, Trump will have achieved what Schumer, Biden, Blinken and the democrats have wanted for so long, to take Bibi out of power. Schumer was calling for his removal at the height of the war last year. Netanyahu is despised because he insists on fiercely defending and protecting his country and the Jewish people and stubbornly would not end the war until total victory. That is until now when faced with Trump. Sadly, Trump might actually be carrying out the desired agenda of the Biden regime, the squad, the European Union, the UN and the rest of the Jew-haters who desperately wanted to see Bibi fall.
These isolationist morons many of whom hate Jews or at least oppose our relationship with Israel think that it amounts to defiance of the deep state by throwing Israel under the bus. These Jew-hating conspiracy theorist nutcases think everyone in Washington are warmongers eager to send our military to fight wars for Israel because they get money from AIPAC. Never mind we never fought any war for Israel. Never mind China and Qatar are the ones buying Washington politicians.
In reality Trump is doing exactly what the deep state desires, particularly the State Department, which is to throw Israel to the wolves. The State Department has been anti-Israel for decades, outright antisemitic in many cases. Just this past year several resigned over Biden’s tepid public “support” for Israel, even as Biden, Blinken etc. were strongarming Bibi to surrender behind the scenes. Well now that is coming to fruition by of all people Donald Trump who’s first term saw him be the most boldly pro-Israel president. This is such a major letdown.
Some are rationalizing this deal as being part of a grand scheme with Trump and Bibi collaborating on a long-term plan to destroy hamas or the islamo-nazi regime in Iran. Sorry, but I don’t see any 4D chess at play here. It is exactly as it looks on the service, I’m afraid. If I’m wrong, I’ll gladly retract my assessment. Trump vowed to end wars and that’s what he’s doing, whatever it takes. Since he has no control over how the bad guys behave and no actual leverage over them, he decided to come down on the party he has leverage over, which is Israel. It’s that simple. Sure, he will probably reinstate the sanctions against Iran, but what about Qatar and Turkey who also are allied with hamas. This will be the fate of our other allies Ukraine and Tawain, to be thrown under the bus.
In the world of bad deals, this deal will forever be at the top of the list.
In exchange for a few dozen people, many of whom are already dead, the Israelis are going to be releasing hundreds of convicted murderers/terrorists, all of whom, you can bet your last nickel, will be back on the streets within a week, picking up where they left off.
In the long run, israel will almost certainly suffer thousands of new casualties in exchange for those few dozen people.
Is it any wonder that Hamas and their supporters are dancing in the street and declaring “victory?”
Who, among those in the civilized world, can possibly consider this a good and acceptable deal?
You can disagree with Biden, but for eight months he has declined to force Netanyahu to accept this deal, and immediately before that he spent a lot of political capital on getting $15 billion in military aid to Israel -- a package Trump openly opposed, and Vance and Rubio voted against.
Trump also was totally silent on the decapitation of Hezbollah, openly supported Hezbollah's candidate for President of Lebanon, and seemed to regret the removal of Assad from power. Trump has given us plenty of reason to suspect him and those who are shocked that he forced this deal on Netanyahu need to look at their ability to judge character.