COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone
Israeli media are now reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering “a brief resumption” of the onslaught in Gaza in order to pressure Hamas to make concessions and change the terms of the ceasefire agreement which was signed on January 19.
The Times of Israel reports:
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a brief resumption of fighting against Hamas to pressure the terror group into making further concessions, according to an Israeli television report aired Saturday as he held high-level deliberations on the stalled negotiations to advance to the second stage of the hostage-ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
“Hamas has rejected Israel’s proposal to extend the first, 42-day stage of the deal, which formally expires Saturday night, insisting that the deal proceed with phase two, which Israel has largely refused to negotiate for the past month.
Thirty-three Israeli hostages were released, eight of them dead, in exchange for nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners. Five Thai nationals held hostage in the Gaza Strip were freed separately.
“With the ceasefire expected to lapse at midnight, Netanyahu and DefenCe Minister Israel Katz will meet Sunday, along with other security officials, to discuss preparations for a potential resumption of fighting in Gaza and a review of all potential war fronts, Channel 12 news reported.”
Headlines should not be that ‘Hamas refuses to extend the first phase of the ceasefire’ – they should be that ‘Israel refuses to begin talks on the second phase of the ceasefire’, which would bring a definitive end to the war. Israel has also repeatedly violated the ceasefire.
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) March 1, 2025
This framing that Hamas has “rejected” Israel’s proposed extension of phase one is just the current propaganda line from the US-Israeli PR machine.
- LISTEN: A reading of this article by Tim Foley
- READ MORE: Israel touts US plan to extend truce for half of remaining captives in Gaza
In reality the terms of the ceasefire deal say that Israel and Hamas were supposed to move on to phase two of the agreement this weekend, but Israel has been refusing to negotiate the second stage of the agreement this entire time because it would entail a withdrawal of Israeli troops and a commitment to a lasting peace.
This idea that the first phase of the ceasefire should be “extended” instead of continuing on to the second phase is a brand new proposition the US and Israel just started pushing a few days ago.
It is therefore Israel which is rejecting the ceasefire as written and trying to write up new terms for the deal; Hamas is just insisting on the terms of the ceasefire it agreed to.
Trump sends Netanyahu weapons. Video: Caitlin Johnstone
But today we’re being hammered with this message that Hamas is rejecting peace. A tweet by Axios’ Israeli intelligence operative Barak Ravid reads as follows:
“Israeli Prime Minister’s office says Israel agreed to a US proposal for extending the Gaza ceasefire in return for release of hostages but claims Hamas refuses.”
So that’s the official message we’re being fed by the consent-manufacturing machine, as the Trump administration sends even more weapons to Israel. The White House has just used its “emergency powers” to bypass congressional oversight for a $3 billion weapons transfer to the Netanyahu regime, right after posturing as a stern tough guy who cares about making peace in his controversial dustup with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Zelensky show was nice but doing this on the eve of the possible collapse of the Gaza ceasefire deal is absolutely despicable (article by @KyleAnzalone_) pic.twitter.com/THhdVSLvVz
— Dave DeCamp (@DecampDave) March 1, 2025
As readers have no doubt already heard, the entire Western political-media class has been in an uproar since Trump and Vice-President JD Vance made international headlines by publicly raking Zelensky over the coals for his role in “obstructing peace” with Russia, even accusing him of “gambling with World War Three.”
Democrats are rending their garments over the public humiliation of Saint Zelensky and crying about the “bullying” behaviour of Trump and Vance, while Republicans are applauding the whole ordeal as a sign that Trump is a strong and heroic peacemaker who doesn’t take any guff from Washington’s warmongering proxies.
But the most immediate and glaring point about Zelensky’s public castigation is that this same administration doesn’t appear to be taking that same energy to Benjamin Netanyahu as he prepares to resume a genocide.
And of course it doesn’t. Trump has publicly admitted to being bought and owned by the world’s wealthiest Israeli, megadonor Miriam Adelson, while JD Vance is the protégé of virulent Zionist billionaire Peter Thiel.
What we witnessed on Friday was Trump speaking to Zelensky in public the way Adelson probably speaks to Trump in private. We can certainly never expect to see him speaking that way to Netanyahu.
It is good that things are moving toward peace in Ukraine, but this war was never intended to be permanent. It was only ever intended to be a temporary quagmire to bleed and divert Russia as much as possible while advancing strategic objectives elsewhere, which we recently saw manifest in the empire’s successful regime change operation in Syria.
Zelensky, like every other US imperial asset, was only ever intended to be used and then discarded. The gears of the imperial war machine roll onward.
Caitlin Johnstone is an Australian independent journalist and poet. Her articles include The UN Torture Report On Assange Is An Indictment Of Our Entire Society. She publishes a website and Caitlin’s Newsletter. This article is republished with permission.
