Netanyahu & Dermer sabotage US-coordinated hostage deal / 'Guardians of the State’ warn Netanyahu: “You are harming the values of the State & the Zionist Enterprise”

Conflicts Forum’s compilation tracking strategic developments in Israel, 17 March 2025

Senior US diplomatic & intelligence official attacks Netanyahu & Dermer: “It's a completely f**ked-up world if the Trump Administration has to fight attempts of Netanyahu, Dermer and all that gang to thwart it. It's hard to believe … not only are they not helping us, but they are using every disinformation tactic in the media in the US and in Israel” /

Netanyahu challenges Israel’s Constitutional Order -- Announces plan to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar/

‘Guardians of the State’ warn Netanyahu: “You are harming the values of the State and the Zionist Enterprise” /

Ben Caspit: ‘Israel on the brink of an abyss! The Qatargate investigation is the defining event of our generation’

[These compilations are drawn from analysis & commentary by leading Israeli political and security commentators, predominantly published in Hebrew — as reports published in Hebrew often provide a different window on Israeli internal discourse]

Netanyahu & Dermer sabotage US-co-ordinated hostage deal

(Ronen Bergman, Yedioth Ahoronot, 14 March 2025)

In a long piece this weekend in Yedioth Ahoronot, one of Israel’s leading security commentators, Ronen Bergman, details how Netanyahu and his Strategic Affairs Minister, Ron Dermer, have successfully co-ordinated efforts to sabotage Trump’s initiative to release further Israeli hostages/prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and an end to the war in Gaza.

Key Points:

Washington realized that the chances of a comprehensive deal were not great. Netanyahu himself said from the Knesset podium that the gap between the sides was too great. US representatives were also informed that Israel was preparing a military operation in Gaza, which it could launch at any moment. [The US] decided that the right way was to hold direct, urgent, and secret talks with Hamas.

The Israeli security establishment was surprised [at the direct US-Hamas talks, as was] the political establishment, “which exploded with rage, there is no other way to describe it” [said] a source ... Netanyahu's entourage tried to minimize the damage … [realizing] they could lose control of the [negotiations].

The Americans were surprised by what came [next] – a sharp attack, coordinated by countless conduits, trumpets, Knesset and Congress members, ministers and senior government officials, against the American move. “It's a completely f**ked-up world if the [Trump] Administration has to fight the attempts of Netanyahu, Dermer and all that gang to thwart it. It's hard to believe, but we want [to] do more than the Israeli government to free the hostages, and not only are they not helping us, but they are using every disinformation tactic on the media in the US and in Israel” … this is how, in the harshest terms, a senior American diplomatic and intelligence official attacked Netanyahu and Dermer.