Fed Up With Netanyahu's Time-wasting, Trump Has Cut Him Out of Cease-fire Talks
U.S. hostages envoy, Adam Boehler, circumvented Israel's leadership and spoke on Israeli TV on Sunday, telling Israelis what Netanyahu tried to keep quiet – the negotiations are progressing, and more hostages will return
Chaim Levinson, Haaretz, March 10, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump has grown tired of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stalling in the negotiations with Hamas. First, the Trump administration cut out the Israeli government from the talks and spoke directly with Hamas. Now, they are also trying to cut out the middle man and speak directly to the Israeli public.
U.S. special envoy for the hostages, Adam Boehler, presented to the Israeli public on Sunday what Netanyahu refuses to say – that there have been positive developments in negotiations, and more hostages are set to return home. Speaking with Israel's Channel 12 News, Boehler told Israelis the United States had not forgotten them.
Boehler also told CNN the United States is "not an agent of Israel," demonstrating the undiplomatic style of the new administration. If a representative of the Biden administration had said the same thing, the Israeli leadership would have lost its mind.
While we have gotten used to the Trump administration, we have still not yet internalized the paradigm shift. It would be useful for Netanyahu to tattoo Boehler's statement on his hand, or at least hang it on his office wall.
Hamas, with the help of Qatar (or vice versa), understood Trump's message and is offering the same thing and more, according to Boehler on Sunday: A cease-fire for five to 10 years, laying down its arms and relinquishing its rule of the Gaza Strip.
Haaretz
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