‘Preposterous’ – US envoy denies rift between Trump, Netanyahu

Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, calls reports of souring relationship between the president and Israel’s prime minister “fake news.”

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East denied reports of a falling out between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the claims “preposterous.”

Over the past two weeks, various media outlets have cited unnamed officials claiming that the two leaders are increasingly at odds with each other, with Trump reportedly frustrated over Israel’s plans for a new Gaza ground operation and its opposition to talks with Iran.

Netanyahu, for his part, was reportedly taken aback by Trump’s decision to enter into a ceasefire with Houthi terrorists in Yemen without informing Israel and by comments by various administration officials – including the president – suggesting Iran may be allowed to retain a civilian atomic program in a future deal.

On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff criticized the Netanyahu government’s policies vis-a-vis Gaza.

The U.S. “wants to return the hostages, but Israel is not ready to end the war,” Witkoff was quoted as saying. “Israel is prolonging it, despite the fact that we don’t see where else we can go. An agreement must be reached.”

However, later that day, Breitbart released a second half of an interview with Witkoff, in which the envoy pushed back on reports of a growing divide between the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government.

“I’ve been at multiple meetings with the president and the Prime Minister—they’re friendly,” Witkoff said. “They’re good friends in fact.”

Witkoff went on to accuse media outlets of blowing minor disagreements between Trump and Netanyahu out of proportion, calling the reports “fake news.”

“You have a newspaper person who hears about a small disagreement about something that normal human beings like me and you would pay no attention to, but that particular newspaper reporter then conflates that into some large article about some massive issues that they have? It’s preposterous.”

Regarding Israel’s planned takeover of the Gaza Strip, Witkoff conceded that the administration would prefer “a peaceful result,” while blaming Hamas for refusing to agree to a new hostage deal along the lines of the ceasefire and which lasted from January 19th to March 2nd.

“We’re hoping that we can do that without the Israelis having to go in. There’s some talk about that but I hope it doesn’t have to happen. We have a deal on the table that Hamas could have taken six weeks ago. I’ve discussed this with the Israelis at length and the other stakeholders in this process. Hamas should say yes to it.”

“It is a path to a peaceful dialogue and maybe even a peaceful, long-term, durable solution to this. But Hamas is going to have to demilitarize, and they’re going to have to quickly get to the terms we’ve set forth and we hope that they do.”