All right, now, give us more perspective on this.
We've been joined by Miss Ruthie Blum,
who's a former adviser at the office of Prime Minister
Netanyahu.
She is also an author and an award-winning columnist,
and she's joining us live from Tel Aviv.
Now. Miss Blum, thank you very much indeed for taking
time out and speaking to us here and beyond.
Now what we are looking at are again,
another round of potential negotiations where the United States and
Qatar and Egypt have said that there is an agreement
framework,
and it is now up to Israel and Hamas to
come together and to sign this agreement and implement a
ceasefire deal along with the release of hostages.
Do you think at this moment the Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu is willing to sign a ceasefire deal and also
to secure the release of the hostages?
OK First of all, before I start,
I'd like to thank you for having me again.
Second, I'd like to make one correction to your description
of Gaza,
which you called occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in
2005, evacuating every last Jew from there.
It is not occupied territory.
So that's just, you know,
let me just interject. I get the point that you're
making,
but this is something that a lot of experts have
commented because
Israel controls everything about Gaza.
It is still described as occupied Palestinian territory.
This is how it is internationally described.
But that aside, the question that I want to ask
you is this,
you know, can Netanyahu at this moment go ahead and
agree to a ceasefire
settlement and also secure the release of the hostages?
The reason why are this question is there are a
number of military leaders within the state of Israel who
are saying that Netanyahu is the one
who has stayed away from agreeing to a cease fadi.
OK, so first of all,
of course he can. Second of all,
not all the security chiefs in Israel say that.
In fact, very recently, the Israeli media,
I am aware that it's been reported and I know
there are certain security tools who said that.
What has not been reported sufficiently is that the chief
negotiator,
security chief who's been going to the negotiations,
said that he has to admit that this is not
Netanyahu's fault, that there's no deal.
Second of all, Netanyahu would be the first to sign
such a deal,
a if it involved a return of all the hostages,
which Hamas has refused to do,
and 2nd, if Israel retains the right to
defeat Hamas or to go back in and proceed with
the war to defeat the terrorists.
Now, this is the main sticking point that that it's
not just Netanyahu.
The majority of Israelis cannot agree to this because,
A, it will just endanger the rest of us,
and B, it would endanger the half of the hostages
that remain in Gaza.
All right. My next quick question to you is a
lot of political analysts are saying that Netanyahu has tried
to extend this war by as much as possible because
the minute this war ends,
that it also mean that Netanyahu may end up losing
his job and could be prosecuted for charges of corruption
that he faces.
Is that an assessment that you agree with?
Oh, total, I disagree with that assessment totally.
Number one, Netanyahu has been on trial for three years.
This war has nothing to do with that trial,
nor would the end of the war have anything to
do with that trial.
That's number one. Number two,
Netanyahu, if he really wanted to preserve his seat,
as everyone's saying, and if he really wanted to become
the darling of the media,
all he would have to do is capitulate to Hamas,
end the war, have have all the opposition parties then
praise him,
join the government, and then he certainly would not lose
his seat.
In fact, his remaining term on these sticking points makes
him very unpopular with the press and with the oppositionists.
All right, all right, you're out of time.
Thank you very much indeed for joining us,
Mr. Ruthie Bloom and getting us your perspective there.
Thank you for having me.
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