Peloni: Negotiating with terrorists, rather than killing them, is not the way forward. It is the way back, back to October 6, and towards a repeat of October 7. While this position may be amenable to well removed interests of American bureaucrats such as Boehler, who seems to see little distinction between the parties in this war, it is counter to what Israel will accept and what Boehler’s own president is advocating. As Greenfield rightly states, “President Donald Trump is saying all the right things, on the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things” and it is time that Trump chose administrators who will support his policy rather than challenging it at every opportunity, which seems to be a point of continuity between Trump’s first and second terms, so far in any event.
by Daniel Greenfield • Gatestone Institute • March 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
President Donald Trump is saying all the right things. On the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things. Adam Boehler, the White House Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, is pushing the same nonsense that got us to October 7, 2023. His proposed deal leaves Hamas in Gaza, and has the U.S. rebuild Gaza for 10-15 years. In short, it’s the worst deal imaginable for America and for Israel. Pictured: Boehler speaks at the State Department in Washington, DC, on March 6, 2025. (By U.S. Embassy Jerusalem – DAZ_4502P, CC BY 2.0)
- President Donald Trump is saying all the right things, on the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things.
- After Trump’s common sense approach, Steve Witkoff, the “envoy” responsible for foisting the disastrous Biden ceasefire on us, would water them down and dismiss the president’s proposals. Now White House Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler… said… “Hamas suggested that they would release all hostages, lay down their weapons, and no longer be part of the politics of Gaza and that the US and its allies would ensure there was no military infrastructure remaining in Gaza. In exchange, there would be a five to ten-year truce, and the US and other countries would help rebuild Gaza.”
- Hamas is not going to “disarm.” A 10-15 year truce is a period of time during which Hamas rearms and prepares for another October 7 attack, as they have told us over and over again they will do. And Hamas, not Israel or the U.S., will decide when the truce actually lapses. Much like Hamas announced the previous two-year ceasefire was over by attacking on Oct 7.
- This proposed deal leaves Hamas in Gaza, and has the U.S. rebuild Gaza for 10-15 years.
- In short, it’s the worst deal imaginable for America and for Israel.
The Trump administration’s Gaza policy is completely divided.
On the one hand, President Donald Trump is saying all the right things. On the other hand, his team is going in and saying all the wrong things.
After Trump’s common sense approach, Steve Witkoff, the “envoy” responsible for foisting the disastrous Biden ceasefire on us, would water them down and dismiss the president’s proposals. Now White House Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Adam Boehler, who appeared to be a credible figure, decided to directly meet up with Hamas and came out with exactly the sort of thing John Kerry or Jimmy Carter would have come away with.
Boehler said that Hamas is not interested in returning to war:
@Rafi I agree.
@Sebastien Zorn, I am not trying to be funny. Let me be more direct so that there should be no confusion.
The only peace possible with Hamas is when they are ALL DEAD. Islamic terrorists all non Muslims (and all Jews) to subjugate, convert or die. So the only choice that is reasonable is to kill them first.
@Rafi That might have been funny before Oct. 7. Actually, not even. Remember Ori Ansbacher?
@Adam
This is not true. Most of the people Trump has appointed are very pro-Israel. Witcof, Boehler, Michael DiMino (deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East), and Dan Caldwell (Pentagon senior advisor) round out those anti-Israel appointments, to my knowledge in any event. If you know of others please post their names and positions.
Against these, stand Rubio, Huckabee, Stefanik, and Waltz, just to name a few. While I have serious objections to some of these appointments, their support of Israel is very well established and their positions far outrank that of those listed above, outside of Witcof.
Something to keep in mind is that Trump may be allowing his department choose their own respective staff members. We know that this is what took place with the appointment of the anti-Israel, anti-Trump, pro-Iran Daniel Davis, who was appointed by Tulsi Gabbard, whose previous record paralleled that of Davis, prior to her very recent move to embrace Trump and MAGA, as if it were genuine. So, many of these low lying appointments are very likely, like Davis, being appointed by the department heads.
@Sebastien
He is pulling his name from the nomination of US presidential envoy for hostage affairs, which requires Senate confirmation. He could never be confirmed given the public condemnation of his mismanagement displayed in just a few weeks time. Unfortunately, he is going to be nominated to a position working on the same topic, but at a lower level which does not need confirmation.
There is a larger and more disturbing problem with Trump’s appointments to Middle East diplomatic posts. Nearly all the people he has appointed to Middle East diplomatic posts and are sympathetic to the terrorist groups fighting Israel, and Iran. One even called Hamas fighters “nice guys” and fine young men,” although he later tried to walk back these remarks. Trump seems to be two-faced towards Israel. He makes strongly pro-Israel and anti-Hamas statements. But then he appoints a “humanitarian envoy to Ramallah and Gaza who freely distributes “Humanitarian aid” to the Gazans living under Hamas, even distributing it to Hamas representatives. He negotiated a “15-year truce” in other words, a Hudna) with Hamas. Anyone familiar with Islamic history knows that hudnas end up being broken by the Muslims and facilitate the Muslim’s conquest of their “peace partners.”.
Again, why has Trump appointed so many people like this to posts in the Middle East. Is his pro-Israel public stance just a pose he adopted to win Jewish votes, while in provate he supports the Arabs against Israel? I would value the opinion of my fellow commenters about this quesrion,
Only peace possible with Hamas is when they all find out that there are no virgins waiting for them.
Boehler, is a naive idiot. Israel complained about him and he has been removed as a negotiator.
Another sneaky way to get to the TSFS – we will rebuild Gaza! [and then hand it over to the PA as its state].
Boehler has since been removed from hostage negotiations.
My impression from the A7 report is that Trump’s announcement merely referred to the hostage freeing, not to resuming battle afterwards.
I believe he is committed to helping Israel in the latter.
Trump has definitely f ____d up in his apointments for the Middle East. He’s appointed people who support the Obana-Biden line or worse for nearly all his pointments. This is indeed a continuation of his policies in his first term, when nearly all of the people he appointed to senior positions advocated policies that directly contradicted Trump’s own publicly declared, and all ended up resigning or being fired by Trump. As soon as these “senior officials” left office, they immediately denounced their former boss in media interviews, claiming that he was unfit for office. Go figure why he appointed these people in the first place.
Same old, same old from “the Team”. When will they ever learn about Islam? Or should I say, when will the ever stopped “being impressed” by the money being thrown at them?
Military Independence; Israel has proven that it has that. Now is the time to take the opportunity to create real change using it.
Adam D: 100% correct!
The USA can sign this deal and enjoy it but Israel does not need to. As Boehler and Witkoff say, they are representatives of the USA, not Israel. I suggest that Israel do what it needs to do and if the USA is rebuilding the Gaza Strip when it happens, maybe they should have been cooperating with Israel instead of forcing a deal on everybody. I’d suggest that Trump gets his people together in a closed session in the Oval Office and decide if they prefer Israel or Hamas as allies.
Back to Muhammed’s “Hudna” again.
Witkoff likes Qatar it seems. Qatar is the Muslim Brotherhood supporting country and was until recently the 1st choice for lavish living by Hamas leaders. Witkoff sold a building to Qatar’s Investment Fund for $623 million.
At Qatar’s 20204 Economic Forum, he praised Qatar, calling it “very, really impressive”, adding, “whoever they had who master planned here did a really good job…this is solid government. The hotels here are magnificent”.
Adam Boehler – just Jared Kushner’s ex-roommate – Kushner got $2 billion from Saudi Arabia
No conflict of interests here….No, no, no, no, no
A terrible deal – a truce (or “hudna”) is neither a ceasefire nor a surrender. As the writer says, it’s a pause in fighting. It would let Hamas rearm and become even more dangerous next time. I don’t understand how Trump’s envoy can come up with such a disastrous non-solution when Trump himself is on-board with Israel’s needs. I suggest this deal should be voted down and the envoy sent packing.The only acceptable deal would be a surrender by Hamas. Meanwhile Israel must do whatever it takes to defend herself and drive out Hamas.