A secret channel between Netanyahu and Hamas… accidentally discovered by the security establishment
An Israeli newspaper has revealed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conducted “secret contacts and negotiations” with Hamas without the knowledge of Israel’s security establishment.
Netanyahu conducted direct contacts and negotiations with Hamas in 2014 without the knowledge of the Israeli security establishment.
The newspaper reported that “Netanyahu used Israeli businessman Shlomi Fogel as an intermediary in these contacts.”
It noted that the talks “did not take place through the traditional channels used over the years in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which generally involved Egypt, Qatar or another mediator. Instead, the two sides communicated directly.”
How the negotiations took place
According to the source, “that year, Netanyahu sent businessman Shlomi Fogel, acting on the instructions of Yossi Cohen, who was then head of the National Security Council, to speak directly with senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad in the Gaza Strip.”
“The communication took place by telephone and continued for several weeks. Netanyahu laid out the broad outlines, Cohen drafted the messages, and Fogel conducted the talks.”
Other negotiations
Separately from Fogel’s role, the newspaper reported that Netanyahu, who was seeking to reach a ceasefire during the operation Israel called “Protective Edge”, “sent a security delegation to Egypt that included Generals Yoav Mordechai, Nimrod Sheffer and Amos Gilad, as well as then-Shin Bet director Yoram Cohen.”
According to the source, the delegation conducted ceasefire negotiations through Egyptian mediators with representatives of Hamas and other factions in the Gaza Strip.
However, the negotiations stalled and no progress was made. At one point, “military officials were surprised to discover that a secret communication channel was operating in parallel with the official negotiations, while the Israeli delegation was travelling back and forth between Israel and Cairo.”
When they confronted Netanyahu
According to the newspaper, officials later learned that Fogel, who was close to Netanyahu, was the person conducting the talks with Ghazi Hamad, who at the time served as a deputy minister in the Hamas government in Gaza.
Senior security officials confronted Netanyahu and asked him for an explanation. The prime minister denied the matter, however, and instructed them to contact Fogel and demand that he end the communications.
The officials later discovered that Fogel had been acting with Netanyahu’s authorization and approval, without the knowledge of the defence establishment.
Fogel initially received a warning but continued his contacts. The officials eventually discovered that he was acting with Netanyahu’s approval, with Netanyahu directing his activities while Cohen drafted the messages on his behalf.
The shock
The revelation that a secret communication channel had been operating came as a major shock to the heads of Israel’s security agencies.
A security official, who spoke to Maariv on condition of anonymity, said: “Everyone was astonished.”
The official added: “It was 2014. The situation was not what it is today, when Netanyahu had long since declared war on the entire system. He had appointed all of us and sent us to negotiate in Cairo, while at the same time he was conducting direct negotiations with Hamas without our knowledge.”
He continued: “When we confronted him about it, he denied it. But when Shlomi Fogel was summoned and questioned, he proved to us that everything had been done with authorization and approval. It was a pivotal event, almost as though the writing had already been on the wall, but we failed to see it.”
In 2014, Israel launched a military operation in the Gaza Strip, which it called “Protective Edge”, in response to rocket fire from the territory. The operation resulted in the deaths of more than 1,450 Palestinians.
After 51 days of the operation, a ceasefire was reached through Egyptian mediation.
