larry johnson with all the usual suspects discuss the mid east situation;

A busy day flapping my gums with Nima, Judge Napolitano and Danny Davis. The big news is that Hamas and Israel are nearing agreement on a ceasefire and hostage exchange. The really interesting part is that Donald Trump’s Special Middle Eastern envoy, Steven Witkoff, is part of the US negotiating team. If, or when, a deal is struck, both Biden and Trump will take a victory lap.

Trump has sent very mixed signals regarding his policy towards Israel. On the one hand, he appears beholden to Zionist interests by virtue of accepting a $50 million (some say $100 million) political contribution from the widow of Sheldon Adleson and has appointed Christians with strong pro-Zionists views to key national security positions. And Trump threatened to rain hell on Hamas if a hostage deal was not concluded before he takes the oath of Office on January 20th.

Then there is the other hand: Trump posted Professor Jeffrey Sachs verbal torching of Benjamin Netanyahu before the Cambridge Union on Truth Social, which even Helen Keller could see was a metaphorical punch in the nose for the Israeli Prime Minister. I think Trump understands that Israel is putting its own survival as a nation at risk if it continues with its campaign of genocide.

While the religious zealots in Netanyahu’s government are doing everything in their power to sabotage a deal, the IDF and Netanyahu want to bring an end to the fighting in Gaza because Israel is paying too high a price in terms of loss of soldiers and military equipment. In the last three days, Hamas fighters have killed nine Zionist soldiers and wounded more than 20. At least some Israeli military and intelligence commanders understand that these are not sustainable losses.

According to Haaretz, here are the outlines of the deal:..........more..........