Arab States Shield Hamas While Israel Urged to Reject Defensive Posture Ahead of Kushner Meeting

Ahead of Jared Kushner's meeting in Israel, retired Lt. Col. Amit Yagur critiques the recent roadmap endorsed by Palestinian factions, which was brokered by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, the United States, and the UN Peace Council. This plan aims to restrain arms, withdraw Israeli forces, deploy an international stabilization force, and transfer governance to a national committee in Gaza. The statement accompanying the roadmap stresses the need for continued active U.S. involvement to ensure Israel fully complies with the agreements.

Yagur highlights the duplicity of the so-called "old order gang", Qatar, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, who seek to reshape the narrative by portraying the silence of 18 Arab states as a balanced stance, while in reality, this is a limited bloc's move. The participation of the UAE, an Israeli ally, further weakens the statement's unity. Internationally, the Arab-Muslim bloc presents itself as a proponent of peace and normalization in English, but in Arabic, it perpetuates the narrative of "Zionist aggression" and whitewashes Hamas.

The fact that the U.S. is engaging directly with Hamas creates a distorted symmetry, equating Israel and Hamas as equal negotiating parties, a point Yagur suggests Kushner should challenge. The core tactic of the "old order gang" is to delay progress with hollow disarmament statements and prevent Israeli decisions until the Trump administration's term ends, preserving Hamas as a strategic asset.

Yagur warns Israel against adopting a defensive stance and urges it to mobilize the 18 silent states in the Peace Council who recognize the reality. He calls on the U.S. to bridge the gap between the English and Arabic narratives, halt the stalling tactics, and demand commitments from the old order states for a new regional order that places Israel centrally and unequivocally. He emphasizes that it is time to cut through the diplomatic theater and advance decisively.