Israel ‘held discussions’ with White House in wake of US hostage envoy’s TV interviews, source says

Israel “held discussions” last night with White House officials in the wake of US hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s interviews on US and Israeli TV yesterday, a source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel.

Boehler yesterday defended his direct talks with officials in the Hamas terror group, pushing back against private but intense criticism from Jerusalem. Some of Boehler’s remarks further annoyed senior Israeli officials, who told The Times of Israel they were surprised to hear the envoy comment that the US is “not an agent of Israel.”

Some Israeli officials believe that Boehler went on television to send a pointed message to Israel.

After his evening interviews on Israel’s leading TV outlets and the Israeli conversations with Washington, Boehler issued a post on X clarifying some of his statements.

Among a number of missteps yesterday, Boehler sometimes appeared to refer to Palestinian security prisoners as hostages; called Israeli hostages “prisoners”; talked about the “human elements” of Hamas leaders; critiqued Israel for accepting the term of the ceasefire deal with Hamas; stressed that the US is “not an agent of Israel”; and intermittently contradicted himself.