Before United States President Joe Biden had even announced the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, his bid to claim a major foreign policy win in the dying days of his administration was overshadowed by his political nemesis, Donald Trump.
Trump, who will be inaugurated as the 47th US president next week, revealed that a deal had been reached on his Truth Social platform hours before Biden confirmed the agreement in a statement from the White House on Wednesday evening.
“This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies,” Trump wrote, not hesitating to claim credit for the breakthrough after 15 months of devastating war.
Speaking at the White House later, Biden said his diplomatic efforts had “never ceased”, but he acknowledged that his administration had worked with Trump’s team to ensure the US was “speaking with one voice”.
Trump had dispatched his incoming Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the ceasefire negotiations in Qatar.
Biden, who has been heavily criticised by the progressive flank of the Democratic Party over his unceasing support of Israel, said the deal was “developed and negotiated by my team” and he seemed perplexed that there could be any confusion over who was responsible for the breakthrough.
Asked by a reporter if he or Trump deserved credit, Biden replied: “Is that a joke?”
Bluster and bravado
While Trump is known for his penchant for bluster and bravado, his involvement in breaking the ceasefire impasse has been widely acknowledged beyond the ranks of his most staunch allies.
Mike Casey, a former US State Department official who resigned over Biden’s support for the war, said there was an argument to be made that Israel had timed the deal “as a gift to Trump”.
“There’s domestic political considerations for Netanyahu, and it’s essentially not that much different than the deal they could have agreed to in May,” Casey told Al Jazeera.
Casey said the Biden administration had “no real negotiations” with the Israelis because they knew the US would ultimately cave in to any of their demands.
In Israel, some media coverage went as far as suggesting that Trump’s involvement had been the decisive factor in the breakthrough.
The Times of Israel, citing two unnamed Arab officials, reported that the involvement of Trump’s envoy Witkoff in a single round of negotiations had done “more to sway” Netanyahu towards accepting a deal than Biden had done all year.
Though not going as far as giving Trump the lion’s share of the credit, Biden officials speaking privately to US media acknowledged that his team had played a significant role.
One Biden official told reporters that Witkoff had played a “very important role”, and his partnership with Biden negotiator Brett McGurk had proved “quite effective”, according to a recording of an off-record briefing posted on X by independent journalist, Ken Klippenstein
Netanyahu and Witkoff’s offices did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
‘Some goodwill to the Trump team’
Jean-Loup Samaan, a senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore, said it was “highly likely” that the Trump team pressured Netanyahu to accept a deal.
“Trump has been clear that he does not want the war to linger while he returns to the Oval Office, especially since the deal will truly begin under his watch,” Samaan told Al Jazeera.
“At the same time, one could argue that publicising these pressures likely benefits Netanyahu in his political manoeuvres with his far-right partners in the government,” he said.
“This might be a way for [Netanyahu] to convey the message that he had no choice but to show some goodwill to the Trump team to defuse the anger from ministers like Ben-Gvir and Smotrich,” Samaan said, referring to Israeli far-right cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Alam Saleh, an expert on the Middle East at the Australian National University, said that it was plausible that Witkoff played a significant role in the breakthrough and also that his influence was overblown.
“If he was able to leverage specific relationships or bring new ideas to the table, it’s not out of the question that Netanyahu could have been swayed by his position or the dynamics of the meeting,” Saleh told Al Jazeera.
“It’s definitely possible that this story is partially true but could also be overblown in terms of its significance,” Saleh said.
“Politically, the timing could be aimed at setting the stage for framing the Trump team as more effective on Middle East peace issues – something to keep in mind as this develops.”
For Biden, the overshadowing of his role in the Gaza ceasefire recalls the political fortunes of the late US President Jimmy Carter, who died last month at the age of 100.
In 1981, Carter, a one-term president like Biden, worked with the incoming administration of Ronald Reagan to secure the release of 52 Americans who were being held captive at the US embassy in Iran.
After 444 days inside the embassy, the Americans, whose capture contributed to Carter’s low public approval before his landslide election defeat, were flown out of Iran just moments after Reagan was sworn in as president, delivering the new administration a major political victory.
