The U.S. president's proposal reflects deep knowledge of the players and issues

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Numbness. Disbelief. Very wary hopefulness.

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These words best capture the reaction in Israel to the extraordinary press conference held on Monday afternoon in the State Dining Room of the White House.

Following two years of war with Hamas, sparked by the savage slaughter of October 7, Israelis are ground down; by grief, hardship, anger, fear and the intensifying hostility of what was the civilized world.

They are worn out by two years of constant attack in the media, diplomatic sphere, and on the battlefield. They see the feral Jew-hatred that has overtaken the West; and the media fetishization of Hamas as some sort of noble freedom fighters (and not the suicidal Islamist thugs they are). And they are overwrought with frustration over how the Israeli government has prosecuted the war and managed the hostage situation.

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