Biden administration officials were furious Thursday, demanding that the Israeli side make amends after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on the Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire plan announced by the U.S.-led group of nations on Wednesday night. He demanded that an official statement be made. It’s a diplomatic embarrassment, sources told CNN.
By Wednesday, U.S. officials had received word from Ron Dermer, one of Netanyahu’s closest confidants, that the prime minister was joining a cease-fire framework suggesting a 21-day cessation of fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border. All guarantees were given. Dahmer himself saw the proposal and approved it, according to people familiar with the matter.
But within hours of President Biden announcing the proposed ceasefire, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his office dismissed the idea of an impending ceasefire as “wrong,” while the prime minister warned against Israeli attacks on Hezbollah. I vowed to continue.
Angry US officials, convinced that Netanyahu was reacting to domestic backlash from far-right members of his own government, scrambled to get answers from the Israeli side.
For example, one official said that when Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Mr. Dermer in New York City on Thursday, he demanded that the Israeli side issue a public statement. This appears to have partly prompted the prime minister’s office to issue a statement on Thursday saying that discussions on the proposed ceasefire would continue in the coming days. The statement did not explicitly endorse or reject the proposal.
“Israel highly values the United States’ efforts in this regard, as the role of the United States is essential in promoting regional stability and security,” the statement said.
A person familiar with Mr. Blinken and Mr. Dermer’s lengthy meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly would put that simply.
Prior to his meeting with Blinken, Dermer also met with senior White House officials, including Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein. Officials said the talks were “candid.” Mr. McGuirk and Mr. Hochstein were among the senior officials who believed Mr. Netanyahu was also on board, since Mr. Dermer was involved in the cease-fire drafting process.
Israel claims: A senior Israeli official said Friday that all the confusion and contradictions surrounding the ceasefire proposal were an “honest misunderstanding” between Israel and the United States.
Another Israeli official said there were still questions that needed to be answered before Israel agreed to the proposal.
“What will happen with a ceasefire? Will they (Hezbollah) be able to rearm?” the official asked. “They can bring weapons not only through Beirut airport, but what about the Syrian border?”
“Clearly, a serious discussion is needed,” they added.
This post has been updated with comments from Israeli authorities.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Alex Marquardt contributed reporting to this post.
