Biden cease-fire plan tightens political jam for Netanyahu in Israel

The proposal, revealed in a surprise speech by President Biden on Friday, calls for a six-week pause in fighting, during which hostages taken from Israel would be released in phases in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and there would be a significant boost in aid shipments to the Gaza Strip. The key sticking point — the same one that has doomed past negotiations — is how and when the war will officially end.

Netanyahu’s office said Friday it had “authorized” the text of the proposal. On Saturday, however, it added that “Israel’s conditions for ending the war have not changed” and that any deal that does not allow for the complete destruction of Hamas, the release of all hostages and the end of Gaza’s security threat to Israel was a “non-starter.”

Hamas said Friday that it viewed Biden’s speech on the deal “positively,” but that its willingness to engage was “based on a permanent ceasefire” and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from the Strip.

“We have every expectation that if Hamas agrees to the proposal … then Israel would say yes,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.”

But nothing in Israeli politics is so simple. For weeks, Netanyahu has been under competing pressures: from moderate members of his war cabinet and families of hostages, who have been pushing for a deal, and from more extreme partners in his coalition, who have continuously insisted on “absolute victory” in Gaza. Biden’s public airing of the cease-fire proposal has forced those tensions to the surface, meaning Netanyahu may no longer be able to stall for time.

Biden’s speech Friday came after sundown in Israel, as some far-right coalition members were observing the Jewish Sabbath, during which they abstain from work or using their phones.

When the Sabbath ended Saturday night, the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, posted on X that the deal was tantamount to “absolute defeat.” If Netanyahu goes ahead with it, he said, his party would “dismantle the government.”

Bezalel Smotrich, another ultranationalist member of the coalition, said on X that he told Netanyahu he would quit the government if the deal went through.

“We demand the continuation of the fighting until the destruction of Hamas and the return of all the hostages, the creation of a completely different security reality in Gaza and Lebanon, the return of all residents to their homes in the north and south and a massive investment in the accelerated development of these areas of the country,” he said.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government would not necessarily collapse without Ben Gvir and Smotrich, and that he would be willing to provide a “safety net” to see it through the implementation of a cease-fire deal.

“The threats from Ben Gvir and Smotrich are [an act of] abandoning national security, the hostages and residents of the north and the south,” Lapid tweeted Saturday night. “This is the worst, most reckless government in the history of the country. From their perspective, let there be war here forever.”

As political leaders traded barbs on social media, more than 120,000 people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday, according to organizers. They viewed Biden’s announcement as a turning point after eight months of agonizing limbo.

“I hope that Biden’s speech will pressure whoever needs to be pressured in order for there to be a deal,” said Mor Kornigold, whose brother Tal Shoham is among the 125 hostages still held in Gaza.

If they do not return, he said, “we will never have victory.”

“We will continue to fight until the destruction government says yes,” said Ayala Metzger, whose father-in-law, Yoram Metzger, 80, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz. She spoke near the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv, where police clashed with thousands of protesters chanting for the immediate resignation of the government. Her leg was injured by police cavalry, according to videos that circulated on social media.

“Our trust, as citizens, in the government collapsed on Oct. 7, and nothing has been done to repair it,” said Gil Dickman, a cousin of 39-year-old hostage Carmel Gat.

“Biden is showing himself as the responsible adult in the room, saying, ‘I will tell you the situation, so that no…