Within the days and weeks previous Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington on Monday to fulfill with President Donald Trump, Israeli officers and right-wing allies of Netanyahu in the US have attacked Trump’s Center East envoy Steve Witkoff, and Qatar’s function as a essential dealer of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire settlement.
The trouble to undermine Witkoff and Qatar raises fears amongst ceasefire supporters that whereas Netanyahu outwardly helps the Trump-backed ceasefire deal, he’s quietly attempting to delay — and even scuttle — the second part of the ceasefire, which might totally finish the struggle in Gaza.
“They’re undermining President Donald Trump,” mentioned an American near each the Trump administration and Gulf Arab international locations, who requested anonymity to talk with out authorization. “It’s President Donald Trump’s deal, and President Donald Trump’s best friend who’s his official representative on the deal.”
Witkoff, a rich real-estate tycoon, performed an integral function in sealing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal within the waning days of the Biden administration, which welcomed his participation in last talks in Doha, Qatar. Most observers consider Witkoff’s strain on Israel was essential for guaranteeing Netanyahu’s buy-in.
In a now-famous story, Witkoff, who’s Jewish, requested for an in-person assembly with Netanyahu on a Saturday, and refused to simply accept the request from Netanyahu’s staff that it wait till after the tip of the Jewish sabbath. Days later, Netanyahu agreed to a ceasefire and hostage trade deal on phrases Israel had not less than partly rejected prior to now.
Trump instantly forged the “EPIC” deal as a constructive results of his election on U.S. international coverage — even earlier than taking workplace.
However right-wing Netanyahu allies, who’ve insisted on continuing with the struggle till Hamas is solely eradicated (an ill-defined and — per Israeli safety officers — illusory aim), first expressed their disappointment with Trump for pushing the deal, and have since centered extra of the blame on Witkoff, backed up by American supporters of Netanyahu’s authorities.
A former senior U.S. official with enterprise ties in Israel and Gulf Arab international locations, however no relationship to Trump, mentioned Netanyahu is targeted on mollifying the far-right politicians which are nonetheless the linchpin of his governing coalition. An finish to the struggle is prone to additionally convey a second of political reckoning for Netanyahu over his failure to forestall the Oct. 7, 2023, terror assault, and enhance the chance he faces authorized penalties for alleged corruption, based on the previous official, who requested anonymity to talk freely.
“Bibi Netanyahu gets to continue his war, which means he gets to continue his government, and at the end of the day that seems to be driving decision-making on Balfour Street more than what’s best for the people of Israel and for the country of Israel,” mentioned the previous senior U.S. official, referencing the Jerusalem road the place the Israeli prime minister’s workplace is positioned. “And if he can do that by tearing down both Witkoff and Qatar in the same breath, all the better, because it fits a narrative that also relieves him of responsibility for October 7.”
The previous U.S. official additionally mentioned he has spoken to profession officers within the Israeli authorities who share his considerations that Netanyahu is attempting to hinder full implementation of the ceasefire settlement.
Netanyahu’s resolution to have aide Ron Dermer, a hawkish loyalist, take over as head of the hostage negotiation staff with a give attention to dealing with interactions with the US has solely heightened these considerations for ceasefire supporters. Negotiations on the implementation of the second part have been supposed to start on Monday — 16 days after the beginning of the primary part — however Netanyahu has but to ship an Israeli diplomatic delegation to Doha, Qatar, to start that course of.
“He thinks he can manipulate Trump into, ‘Oh, just give me a few more weeks,’” mentioned Alon Pinkas, a former senior Israeli diplomat and liberal Netanyahu critic. “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Netanyahu and his allies have lengthy tried to demonize Qatar to attract consideration away from their very own failure to forestall the Oct. 7 assaults. These right-wing Israelis have pilloried Qatar, a serious non-NATO U.S. ally, for internet hosting Hamas’ political management and for beforehand offering money help in Gaza that included wage funds for Hamas’ authorities workers. They have an inclination to skip over the truth that Netanyahu’s authorities initially had requested the Qatari funding for Gaza — distributed along with Israel and the U.S. — as a strategy to keep away from a humanitarian catastrophe within the coastal enclave.
Having already demonized Qatar to the Israeli public, nevertheless, figures in Netanyahu’s authorities have tried to taint Witkoff by affiliation, insinuating in Israeli media that Witkoff is beholden to Qatar. To assist this declare, Israeli retailers have highlighted Witkoff’s sale of a Manhattan lodge to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund in Aug. 2023 after Witkoff and his companions had bother discovering a purchaser.
“Over the past few weeks, Israeli officials have often expressed frustration at the pressure that is actually being imposed on Israel. A source familiar with the details of negotiations even said that at a certain point it seemed as if Witkoff worked for the Qataris,” correspondent Tamir Morag reported on Israel’s Channel 14, a right-wing channel aligned with Netanyahu, on Jan. 20, earlier than laying out the small print of Witkoff’s enterprise dealings with Qatar.
“They are attacking Witkoff because they can’t attack Trump.”
– A Trump ally
The Israeli information outlet Yediot Aharonot gave the stories mainstream credibility in an article final Tuesday, which quoted Israeli officers who suspect that Witkoff and the Qataris have a “very close relationship.” These Israeli officers concern, based on the report, “The Qataris whisper in his ear and are liable to excessively influence him.”
American allies of the Israeli proper wing have amplified the efforts to disparage Witkoff. Daniel Pipes, president of the Center East Discussion board, known as Witkoff “Qatar’s agent,” denouncing his function in negotiations over the second part of the hostage deal as a “disaster.”
Witkoff’s American critics have additionally mischaracterized Witkoff’s Jan. 7 remarks on Fox Information saying ceasefire negotiators, together with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Israeli officers, have been doing “God’s work.”
And these hawkish critics have additional jumped on Witkoff’s remarks in a Jan. 22 interview on Fox Information as an indication of his naive dovishness. Within the interview, Witkoff tentatively welcomed Hamas feedback suggesting they needed to speak immediately with the US, saying “it’s good if it’s accurate.”
Proper-wing speak radio host Mark Levin railed towards Witkoff for nodding on the prospect of direct talks with Hamas, writing on X, “Hamas committed unimaginable acts of genocide. Now we’re willing to talk to them to better understand them?”
Josh Hammer, editor-at-large of Newsweek, seized on Witkoff’s two Fox interviews to conclude that it “seems like he’s representing his bank account more than the administration he purports to serve.”
Caroline Glick, an American-Israeli contributing editor to the Jewish Information Syndicate, instructed that Witkoff ought to concentrate on adverse protection of Trump within the Qatari media throughout his first time period. “Steve Witkoff may love Qatar, but Qatar hates PRESIDENT Donald Trump,” she posted on X on Jan. 20. On Sunday, Glick introduced she could be beginning a brand new job as a world affairs advisor to Netanyahu.
Michael Pregent, a former Hudson Institute senior fellow, predicted Witkoff’s imminent dismissal in a video on X, declaring that Witkoff is “in over his head,” and that “he’s been cajoled by Qatar.” Pregent’s video made it into an article in Jewish Insider, an influential Washington-based outlet that politicians in each events look to for cues about methods to keep within the good graces of the mainstream pro-Israel foyer in the US.
In actuality, Witkoff has develop into a casualty in a proxy battle between Trump-aligned America First international coverage sorts skeptical of army adventurism within the Center East, and pro-Israel neoconservatives who usually tend to see U.S. and Israeli pursuits overlapping.
“They are attacking Witkoff because they can’t attack Trump,” the Trump ally with Gulf ties mentioned.
Trump has rejected conventional American interventionism — usually forged as an expression of U.S. beliefs — in favor of a blunt evaluation of American pursuits vis-a-vis historic allies and adversaries alike. For instance, he campaigned closely on brokering a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine, regardless of neoconservatives’ insistence on funding and arming Ukraine much more aggressively than the US already is.
Trump’s report on Israel-Palestine coverage, in contrast, has usually been extra to neoconservatives’ liking. In his first time period, Trump tore up the Iran nuclear settlement, moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and authorized of Israel’s settlement enlargement spree. And as a candidate in 2024, Trump promised to be extra pro-Israel than Biden, whom he dubbed a “Palestinian.”
However Trump’s insistence on a ceasefire deal, number of Witkoff and resolution to finish federally supplied safety safety for Iran hawks from his first administration have spooked some right-wing Israelis and their allies in the US. Trump has additionally prevented saying whether or not the U.S. would be a part of Israel in bombing Iran to rid it of nuclear weapons. He plans to have Witkoff spearhead efforts to succeed in a diplomatic settlement with Iran first if doable.
Plenty of pro-Israel Republicans, equivalent to former Majority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have additionally registered their objections to the hiring of an array of restraint-minded figures in Trump’s Division of Protection, together with Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of protection for coverage, and Michael Dimino, Trump’s deputy assistant secretary of protection for the Center East. Dimino, a former CIA analyst, and Dan Caldwell, an Iraq Struggle veteran who has suggested the administration on main protection hires, each have labored on the anti-interventionist assume tank, Protection Priorities — part of the libertarian-minded Koch community. Republican interventionists have taken to Jewish Insider to bash all three figures.
“The Koch crowd is either isolationist, anti-American or both and seeks to use American fatigue to cynically weaken our allies and diminish American power,” David Wurmser, an Iraq Struggle architect who suggested former Vice President Dick Cheney, instructed Jewish Insider.
In a latest episode of his net present, Tucker Carlson, a Trump supporter with open disdain for neoconservatives, characterised the assaults on Dimino, Caldwell and Witkoff as a part of the identical broader effort by neoconservatives to smear their opponents.
Caldwell, who Carlson is aware of personally, is “being attacked by people who never served … as somehow anti-American,” Carlson mentioned whereas interviewing Curt Mills, government director of The American Conservative, a conservative anti-interventionist journal.
Go Advert-Free — And Defend The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to cover these messages.
“Rather than say, ‘Hey, Steve Witkoff, I disagree with you, or whatever,’ it’s, ‘He’s working for Qatar,’” Carlson added. “These people are disgusting. They’re liars.”
The Trump ally with ties to Gulf Arab international locations argued although that the struggle over international coverage contained in the Republican Occasion has already been fought and received by Trumpian realists, even when interventionist neoconservatives are deploying determined measures to attempt to train affect.
“Maybe this is up for debate again in a few years,” the Trump ally mentioned. “But right now, the Republican Party position on this and the Trump administration position on this is that peace in the Middle East is a good thing, and the ceasefire deal was the right thing to do, or Trump wouldn’t have supported it.”
