WASHINGTON — In a rare move for this prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu traveled home on Thursday on his scheduled return flight without extending his visit to Washington through the weekend.

He did delay the flight a few hours, however, to take a detour to Monticello, the historic plantation of Thomas Jefferson.

If Netanyahu took time at the site to study the way of war espoused by America’s third president, he may have seen a contrast to one of his own most fateful blunders.

For years after the founding of the United States, Barbary privateers preyed on American ships in the Mediterranean, with Congress paying humiliating tributes to the Barbary States to protect their merchants. But when Jefferson assumed office in 1801, he decided to end the payments and go to war.

“We prefer war in all cases to tribute under any form and to any people whatever,” he wrote.

For years, Netanyahu took the opposite approach in dealing with the Hamas threat from Gaza. From 2018, he allowed suitcases holding millions in Qatari cash to enter Gaza through Israeli crossings, in order to maintain a fragile ceasefire with the Hamas rulers of the Strip.

He, and all of Israel, would have been better off taking the Jeffersonian path. The payments to Hamas didn’t buy peace. Instead, they allowed the terror group to further build up its army as it prepared the October 7, 2023, invasion.

Netanyahu was in Washington to discuss with US President Donald Trump a deal in which Hamas would free half the remaining hostages its terrorists kidnapped on that day in exchange for a ceasefire.

He insists it is no capitulation, but a road bump on the way to “total victory.” Hours before he took off for Monticello, Netanyahu released a video statement in which he continued to insist that the war in Gaza would not end before Hamas is forced to accept Israel’s terms, even if a ceasefire is agreed upon: “Hamas lays down its weapons, Gaza is demilitarized, Hamas no longer has any governmental or military capabilities. These are our basic conditions.”

“If this can be achieved through negotiations — that’s great,” he said. “If it is not achieved through negotiations in 60 days, we will achieve it in other ways; by using force, the force of our heroic army.”

Despite his threats, Israel’s military operations in Gaza are still designed to reach a deal, not to defeat Hamas.

“Our forces are landing powerful blows that will get stronger against Hamas strongholds that still exist in Gaza,” Netanyahu said........

© The Times of Israel