August 24, 2025 | 01:26 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has admitted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to wage war against Palestine for "decades," even while his government was officially involved in ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.
Miller revealed this during an interview with Israel's Channel 13, as reported by Anadolu on Saturday. He stated that former Secretary of State Antony Blinken had warned Israel’s war cabinet at the start of the conflict that the country risked facing an endless rebellion without a clear plan for Gaza's future.
"You’re right. We are going to be fighting this war for decades to come. That's the way it's been. That's the way it's going to be," Miller quoted Netanyahu as responding to Blinken's statement.
Allegations of Undermining Ceasefire Efforts
Channel 13 also reported that Netanyahu, along with far-right figures National Security Adviser Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, had thwarted a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas at least five times.
Miller confirmed the report, stating that Washington was aware of Israel’s actions but chose to remain silent.
"We had no broad mandate. At times it was zero," Miller said, noting that the situation often changed abruptly, even when U.S. envoys were preparing to travel.
As the U.S. pressured Palestinian resistance groups to agree to a six-week ceasefire to prevent an Israeli invasion of Rafah in April 2024, Netanyahu openly vowed to continue attacking Rafah, with or without a truce.
Furthermore, Miller revealed that in July 2024, Israel introduced additional demands regarding the Philadelphi Corridor, even after Hamas had accepted a U.S.-mediated proposal. Israel delayed the deal for nearly a month because Netanyahu insisted on maintaining a military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border.
U.S. officials have referred to this as a crucial turning point that derailed momentum toward an agreement. "It is consistent with the pattern we saw for many months. They (Israelis) were always looking for ways to add conditions or make the terms more difficult," Miller said.
"That maybe was the most frustrating of all, because we were so close to getting a deal that could have certainly brought hostages home and maybe ended the war once and for all."
War Crimes and Political Maneuvering
Last June, Miller, who had often been a public face for the Biden administration's strong support for Israel, admitted that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza. "I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is – without a doubt – true that Israel has committed war crimes," Miller told Sky News, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
United Nations experts and leading human rights groups have accused Israel of committing acts of genocide, a campaign to destroy the Palestinian people, in part or in whole.
Channel 13 further reported that in late 2024, Netanyahu dismissed a breakthrough proposal from Israel's security agency Shin Bet, opting instead to wait for the possibility of Donald Trump's return to the White House.
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