Late Stage Capitalism

The days leading up to the agreement will be pored over in the months and years to come. After all, the terms appear awfully similar to a proposal presented by President Joe Biden last May. How much of the breakthrough was the result of a drastically changed Middle East, in which Hamas finds itself suddenly cut off from its allies and backers in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran? How much of it was born of Israeli politics, with Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners apparently willing, after months of opposition, to either back the deal or not topple the government over its approval? Finally, was Donald Trump’s threat of “hell to pay” if Hamas does not free the hostages by his second Inauguration, next week, a decisive factor?

Steven Witkoff, President-elect Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy, called Netanyahu’s office on Friday evening to announce that he would be arriving in Jerusalem the following afternoon, according to detailed reporting by Chaim Levinson, in the liberal Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Netanyahu’s aides reportedly told Witkoff, a billionaire real-estate investor, that the Prime Minister would gladly meet with Witkoff after the Sabbath. But Witkoff, using “salty language,” according to Levinson, insisted that Netanyahu meet him as soon as he landed. The shift in tone and demeanor seemed to catch Netanyahu unprepared. Jacob Bardugo, a political adviser to Netanyahu, conceded this week, “The pressure that Trump is exerting right now is not the kind that Israel expected.”

This is from the very liberal New Yorker magazine.

Edit: LOL about the downvotes. Stay mad libs.