From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 13, 2025
US hostage envoy Boehler reportedly taken off Israel file after interviews go sideways
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
US President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly stripped US hostage envoy Adam Boehler of responsibility for negotiating the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, after he angered some in Israel by holding direct talks with Hamas and conducted a series of shambolic interviews trying to defend the effort.
The move is reported by Jewish Insider, citing three GOP sources.
Boehler this week gave a series of interviews on US and Israeli outlets in which he angered Israeli officials, got the name of the sole living US hostage wrong, and appeared to speak about the humanity of the Hamas terror group.
According to JI, the offices of Republicans on the Hill spoke to Boehler this week about his interviews, which were described as “unproductive.”
“It’s like he’s in Never Never Land,” said one senator about Boehler’s inability to recognize why his comments were problematic.
According to the report, the Trump administration told Israeli officials that Boehler would not be handling the Hamas hostages moving forward.
Many GOP lawmakers want Boehler out of the administration entirely, according to the report.
“I don’t know why we’d be interested in him doing anything going forward after what we saw,” one is quoted saying.
