REPORT: Biden Officials Admit They Never Pressured Israel for Ceasefire, as Israeli Leaders Boast of Playing Washington
“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period… We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”
—Former Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog:
A sweeping Israeli Channel 13 investigation has exposed the Biden administration’s complicity in Israel’s 19-month war on Gaza. Nine top Biden officials acknowledged avoiding real pressure on Israel—even as the death toll surpassed 30,000. Israeli leaders openly bragged they dragged out the war, playing for time until Donald Trump’s return.
Former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Ambassador Tom Nides, and others defended their unwavering support for Israel—even as they admitted enabling a campaign one U.S. aide described as “killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying.”
Here’s what the investigation revealed: 🧵⬇️
1. “Killing and Destroying for the Sake of Killing and Destroying”
➤ Ilan Goldenberg, a senior national security aide, described the war’s aimlessness: “If they’re never going to do this, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is, Hamas is still going to control Gaza. You’re just killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying. But you’re not building an alternative.”
➤ U.S. officials pushed a post-war plan modeled on the anti-ISIS campaign, proposing that Arab states temporarily secure Gaza—but Netanyahu blocked it, refusing any role for the Palestinian Authority.
➤ Far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich openly pushed for reoccupying Gaza and rebuilding settlements. Netanyahu refused to advance alternatives, keeping the door open to their demands.
2. “We Fought for Over a Year and the Administration Never Said ‘Ceasefire Now’”
➤ Israeli officials were blunt about the benefits of Biden’s passivity. Former ambassador Michael Herzog declared:
“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted.”
➤ Biden aides privately admitted Netanyahu was dragging out the war. “He’s undercutting it every step of the way,” said Goldenberg. “All the security people are coming out and saying it.”
➤ He also revealed there were internal discussions in Washington about Biden giving a speech to pressure Israel politically, possibly triggering new elections there—but Biden backed off.
3. U.S. Covered for Israeli War Crimes and Blocked Aid Report
➤ State Department adviser Stacy Gilbert resigned after being cut out of the process of drafting a legally required arms compliance report.
➤ The final version cleared Israel of violating U.S. law—despite overwhelming evidence of aid obstruction. Gilbert called it “shocking in its mendacity,” adding: “Everyone knows that is not true.”
➤ Even as settlers looted Gaza-bound trucks and Israel blocked humanitarian aid, Biden certified compliance—and kept weapons flowing.
4. Netanyahu Sabotaged Captives Release Talks to Prolong the War
➤ Biden officials revealed that Netanyahu deliberately tanked negotiations, fearing a deal would force him to end the war.
➤ American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin was scheduled for release the day he was executed. Amos Hochstein confirmed: “There’s no doubt… those hostages would be alive.”
➤ Netanyahu’s public campaign to retain control over Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor was viewed by Biden officials as a smokescreen to kill the deal.
5. Biden Backed Israel Even After Netanyahu Publicly Undermined & Insulted Him
➤ Biden once told Netanyahu he was “full of shit,” and hung up the phone mid-call. But as Ambassador Tom Nides put it: “Biden saw [Netanyahu] as a manipulator, a magician… But he stood by him through the end.”
➤ In May 2024, Biden announced he was pausing a shipment of 2,000-lb bombs over concerns about their use in Gaza. Days later, Netanyahu accused the U.S. of freezing broader arms deliveries—reportedly pausing Biden’s plans to restore the paused shipment.
6. Saudi Deal Collapsed Because Israel Refused to Make Any Concessions
➤ Biden officials described how a U.S.-Saudi normalization deal—coupled with defense and economic pacts—was nearly complete. But it required Israel to accept a “political horizon” for Palestinians.
➤ Dan Shapiro, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, explained: “We always understood that the Israeli government depended on far-right ministers who would try to block that commitment… that might require an election or a coalition shuffle.”
➤ Former U.S. ambassador Jack Lew called Israel’s refusal to engage “kind of shocking.”
➤ Amos Hochstein said: “I don’t understand the decision not to grab that opportunity as the most important strategic move Israel can make.”
➤ Herzog claimed Netanyahu deliberately stalled, hoping Trump would return to office and take credit: “It was my understanding that Trump preferred for the deal to wait until he got into office so that he’d be the one to do it.”
Clarification: Negotiators were discussing adding American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin to the release list on the same day he was executed. He was not yet formally “scheduled” for release. Amos Hochstein said: “There’s no doubt… those hostages would be alive.”
The full investigation in Hebrew is available here:
🔴 BREAKING: Israel Launches New Wave of Strikes Across Southern Lebanon
The Israeli military has unleashed heavy airstrikes across various parts of southern Lebanon in what Al Jazeera described as the most serious escalation since the ceasefire that ended the 2024 war with Hezbollah.
Israel’s security cabinet convened today to assess the escalating situation in Lebanon, Israel’s Channel 12 reports. The outlet earlier said that Israeli officials are preparing for a potential new confrontation with Hezbollah, aimed at weakening the group and pushing both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government toward what they describe as a “stable agreement” with Israel.
Lebanon’s Army, L’Orient Today reports, submitted its second monthly report today to the Cabinet outlining operations carried out south of the Litani River to locate and dismantle Hezbollah weapons depots and other military infrastructure in the border area.
📸 Israeli airstrike hits an iron workshop and a sawmill between the towns of Tura and Al-Abbasiyeh in south Lebanon.
More details: ⬇️🧵
Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for various towns in southern Lebanon before striking them, including Taybeh in south Lebanon.
Teir Debba, roughly 10 miles north of the Israeli border and a short distance from the Mediterranean coast, was also hit with a massive wave of bombardment:
📌 Axios: U.S. Drafts UN Plan for Gaza Security Force
The U.S. has circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution to establish an International Security Force (ISF) in Gaza for at least two years, Axios reports. The U.S.-led mission would have a broad mandate to govern and secure Gaza through 2027, operating “as an enforcement force, not a peacekeeping force,” with troop contributions expected from Egypt, Türkiye and Indonesia, and deployment targeted for January 2026.
The ISF would be asked to:
▪️ secure borders
▪️protect civilians
▪️train a new Palestinian police force,
▪️and oversee Gaza’s demilitarization, including disarming Hamas.
It would operate under a unified command approved by the Trump-chaired Board of Peace (BOP) — branded by Palestinians as “Balfour 2.” Israel and the U.S. envision the BOP as Gaza’s governing authority, effectively reviving a form of foreign colonial guardianship that all Palestinian factions uniformly rejected in a joint statement after unity meetings on October 23–24.
Full text of US proposal as published by Axios’ Barak Ravid
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FULL TEXT OF THE DRAFT SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION ON THE GAZA INTERNATIONAL FORCE:
The Security Council,
Welcoming the Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict of 29 September 2025 (“Comprehensive Plan”), and applauding the states that have signed, accepted, or endorsed it, and further welcoming the historic Trump Declaration for Enduring Peace and Prosperity of 13 October 2025 and the constructive role played by the United States of America, the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the Republic of Turkey, in having facilitated the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip;
Determining that the situation in the Gaza Strip threatens regional peace and the security of neighboring states, and noting prior relevant Security Council resolutions relating to the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question;
Endorses the Comprehensive Plan, acknowledges the parties have accepted it, and calls on all parties to implement it in its entirety, in good faith and without delay;
Welcomes the establishment of the Board of Peace (BoP) as a transitional governance administration with international legal personality that will set the framework and coordinate funding for the redevelopment of Gaza pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan, until such time as the Palestinian Authority has satisfactorily completed its reform program, the satisfaction of which shall be acceptable to the BoP;
Underscores the importance of the full resumption of humanitarian aid in cooperation with the BoP into the Gaza Strip through cooperating organizations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Red Crescent, and ensuring such aid is used solely for peaceful purposes and not diverted by armed groups, with any organization found to have misused such aid deemed ineligible for continued or future assistance;
Authorizes Member States participating in the BoP and the BoP to:
(A) enter into such arrangements as may be necessary to achieve the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, including those addressing privileges and immunities of personnel of the force established in paragraph 7 below; and
(B) establish operational entities with, as necessary, international legal personality and transactional authorities for the performance of its functions, including: (1) the implementation of a transitional governance administration, including the supervising and supporting of a Palestinian technocratic, apolitical committee of competent Palestinians from the Strip—as envisioned by the Final Communique of the Emergency Summit Conference of the Extraordinary Arab Summit—which shall be responsible for day-to-day operations of Gaza’s civil service and administration; (2) the reconstruction of Gaza and of economic recovery programs; (3) the coordination and supporting of and delivery of public services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza; (4) any measures to facilitate the movement of persons in and out of Gaza, in a manner consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and (5) any such additional tasks as may be necessary to support and implement the Comprehensive Plan;
Understands that the operational entities referred to in paragraph 4 above will operate under the authority and oversight of the BoP and are to be funded through voluntary contributions from donors and BoP funding vehicles and governments;
Calls upon the World Bank and other financial institutions to facilitate and provide financial resources to support the reconstruction and development of Gaza as it would provide to its members, including through the establishment of a dedicated trust fund for this purpose and governed by donors;
🔴 REPORT | Israel is preparing a coordinated media campaign ahead of foreign journalists’ entry into Gaza for the first time after two years of genocidal killing and destruction, according to Israel’s YNET. Officials say the goal is to control the narrative as reporters document the destruction firsthand.
Here’s what to know: 🧵👇
2/ Under a plan the government presented to the Supreme Court, Israeli and foreign journalists will be allowed into Gaza under IDF escort up to the “yellow line.,” ie in Israeli-controlled areas where there are just some hundreds of Palestinians reportedly residing.
The announcement came during a petition by the Foreign Press Association challenging Israel’s media restrictions.
3/ Officials in the Foreign Ministry, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, and the National Public Diplomacy Directorate have held strategy meetings to prepare for what they describe as a coming wave of “anti-Israel” reporting.
🚨The effort includes creating “demonstration sites” to show how Hamas allegedly operated within civilian areas, and show signs of Hamas in homes, schools, and hospitals.
🔴 Ben Gvir Calls for Death Penalty While Standing Over Bound Palestinian Prisoners
Israel’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on his Telegram channel on October 31, standing over Palestinian detainees lying face-down, bound and blindfolded, declaring: “These guys … the Nukhba who came to kill children and women … there’s still something that must be done — the death penalty for the terrorists.”
It was his second such prison visit this month, renewing calls for executions as Israel arbitrarily detains thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Rights groups say his theatrics signal the deepening systemic torture inside Israel’s prisons, where starvation and abuse have already been widely documented.
For more details on conditions in Israeli prisons and detention sites, see report by PBS linked below.
Israel announced on Tuesday that it will bar the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian detainees held under the so-called “unlawful combatants” law — a measure first enacted in 2002 that permits indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial of Palestinian individuals in military facilities.
Israel operates two parallel detention systems for Palestinians. Administrative detention, used mainly in the West Bank, allows the military to hold people for renewable six-month terms without charge, based on secret evidence of a supposed “security threat.” The Unlawful Combatants Law, passed in 2002 and applied mostly to people from Gaza, goes further — permitting indefinite detention without trial for anyone labeled an “enemy fighter.” While administrative detention is reviewed by military courts, the combatants law places detainees almost entirely outside judicial oversight, creating a harsher, open-ended regime of imprisonment.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Hamas of “staging excavations” in eastern Gaza, saying the group “knows where the remaining hostages are” but is refusing to transfer the remains.
In a statement, Israel alleged that Hamas is “moving and reburying body remains, and staging a false discovery for the Red Cross to witness.”
The video attached does not show all that. It only shows bodies being buried or recovered in Gaza.
Israel’s army said the body handed over by Hamas on Monday did not belong to any of the remaining captives. According to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, Hamas returned additional remains of a captive whose body had already been buried in Israel.
🟢 In a wide-ranging interview on Al Jazeera Arabic’s Al-Muqabla (“The Interview”), Hamas’s chief negotiator Dr. Khalil al-Hayya gives his most detailed public account yet of the movement’s position on the ceasefire, Gaza’s governance, weapons, the prisoner and captive files, and unity talks with Palestinian factions — including rival Fatah.
Below, Drop Site highlights nine defining moments from the conversation. Each clip is auto-translated but paired with a full cleaned English transcript for non-Arabic speakers. 👇
1⃣ Hamas believes Israel’s war on Gaza is over. Al-Hayya says the resistance will not provide Israel with any excuse to resume fighting:
2⃣ On the group's search for the remains of Israeli soldiers after, and on Israel’s use of the issue as an excuse to continue blocking aid and crossings: