White House officials concerned Netanyahu authorized Doha strike to derail hostage deal – report

White House official: “Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he [Netanyahu] bombs someone. That’s why the president and his aides are so frustrated with Netanyahu.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Although the alliance between U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been consistently strong, White House officials told Politico that the president is expressing frustration with Israel’s prime minister to the extent of suspecting that the strike on Hamas leaders in Doha may have been a way to sabotage the U.S.-backed hostage and cease-fire deal.

According to the report, doubts have grown since Tuesday’s strike, with Trump and his aides questioning whether Netanyahu was deliberately undermining the talks.

One source close to Trump’s team told Politico, “Every time they’re making progress, it seems like he [Netanyahu] bombs someone. That’s why the president and his aides are so frustrated with Netanyahu.”

The U.S. official noted that Trump has even voiced his frustration with Netanyahu to leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates during his Middle East trip in May.

Netanyahu’s actions, the official said, complicate American diplomacy, particularly when they affect U.S. ties with Qatar and Syria.

Following the strike, which the U.S. indicated Israel had warned about but only shortly beforehand, Trump declared on social media that the decision to strike Hamas leaders in Doha was “made by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me.”

He continued: “Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”

“That was the most publicly critical I’ve seen a Republican president be of an Israeli leader in quite some time,” the person close to Trump’s national security team said.

Despite this, the official confirmed there are no plans for Washington to reprimand Netanyahu. Israeli officials said Netanyahu and Trump spoke twice after the Doha strike, describing the conversations as “good.” Still, Trump has made clear the strike was Netanyahu’s decision, remarking that it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.”

Politico further reported that Qatar’s prime minister will visit New York and Washington on Friday for meetings with Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to address the strike and ongoing Gaza cease-fire discussions.