The two men tasked with getting Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire have revealed what it took to get Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize to Qatari officials for a deadly attack on Hamas targets in the country.
Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff told how the American President was left furious by the surprise attack on Doha on September 9, which he feared could derail peace talks as lead Hamas negotiator Khalil al-Hayya’s son was among those killed.
They noted that Trump was oblivious to the Israeli prime minister’s plan to strike Doha and they ‘felt betrayed’ by the attack.
‘I think he felt like the Israelis were getting a little bit out of control,’ Kushner said. ‘It was time to be very strong and stop them from doing things that he felt were not in their long term interest.’
‘The apology needed to happen,’ Witkoff said. ‘We were not moving forward without the apology and the president said to [Netanyahu], “People apologize.”‘
‘It was the linchpin that got us to the next place,’ he added. ‘It was really, really important that it happened.’
Trump then held the phone for Netanyahu on September 29 as he read a scripted apology to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani from the Oval Office.
The President also gave Qatar a new security guarantee – and even allowed Kushner and Witkoff to speak directly with Hamas officials, despite the United States designating the group as a terrorist organization.
The new revelations came as Trump responded to claims that Hamas has once again started firing at Israeli targets.
This appears to show Trump is not dancing to Netanyahu’s tune. ABN
American Buddhist Net 