By Howie Silbiger, Editor-in-Chief
Trump and Netanyahu strutted into Washington and announced a peace plan like they were unveiling a new product launch. Twenty points, a shiny press conference, and no questions. On paper it sounds neat. Hostages back in seventy two hours, Hamas drops its weapons, Gaza handed to some international committee chaired by Trump and Tony Blair. In reality it is a setup. If Hamas refuses, Israel gets the green light to hit them even harder. If Hamas accepts, terrorists walk away with amnesty and Israel gets tied up in a foreign babysitting project while the world congratulates itself.
Israel’s politicians lined up to clap like seals. Herzog called it historic, Lapid and Gantz praised it, even the opposition played along. The far right cried betrayal, the left whispered surrender, and protesters in Tel Aviv sketched cartoons on the beach. Rockets are still landing and people have time to draw caricatures. That is Israel in a nutshell, everyone arguing while soldiers carry the real burden.
Qatar and Egypt carried the papers to Hamas. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey, Indonesia all issued their polite welcomes. Everyone knows Hamas will laugh and toss it in the trash. And when that happens the world will somehow still blame Israel. That is the script, the same tired one every single time.
The plan itself is a joke. Amnesty for killers who put down their guns. A foreign committee to run Gaza. Silence about the tunnels, silence about the massacres, silence about the rocket fire that forced Israel into this war in the first place. It turns Hamas into a partner and Israel into the obstacle. That is not peace.
Let us not kid ourselves. This is Trump angling for a headline and Netanyahu trying to hold his shaky coalition together. Hamas will never accept it and Israel will be left holding the bag. Which means Israel will do what it has always done, fight on its own.
This is not a plan for peace, it is a plan for politics. The world can clap all it wants. Israel survives by destroying its enemies, not by smiling for cameras. Until the hostages are back and Hamas is gone, no foreign committee and no staged press conference is worth anything.
Howie Silbiger is the host of The Howie Silbiger Show on Truetalkradio.com and Political Hitman on Israelnewstalkradio.com. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Montreal Jewish News.
