Who Does Bibi Trust?

1.In remarks at the International Tanach Quiz last week, even as the Jerusalem hills blazed, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made his war priorities clear for the first time, voicing a sentiment previously heard only from rightist ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.

“We have many goals in this war,” Netanyahu said. “We want to return all our hostages…. This is a very important goal. But in war there is a supreme goal… victory over our enemies. And that is what we will achieve.”

Since any Israeli plan is contingent on White House approval, one can only assume that Netanyahu’s remarks, which appeased the right flank of his government, don’t run counter to the president’s views.

Netanyahu was backed up by Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who spoke of intensifying the fighting in his first official speech last week. A source in Netanyahu’s office explained to me that Bibi is pushing a hawkish agenda to the Trump administration. The message is clear: Only victory over Hamas will make it possible to realize Trump’s vision for peace in the Middle East.