Times of Israel
US hostage envoy Adam Boehler on Sunday defended his direct talks with officials in the Hamas terror group, pushing back against private but intense criticism from Jerusalem, in a spate of interviews to American and Israeli media.
Many 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.’
The direct US-Hamas talks, held in parallel to indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt, focused on releasing the American hostages still captive in Gaza, though Boehler stressed that the ultimate goal was the release of all the hostages.
‘We weren’t prepared to just sit back for two weeks,’ Boehler told Israel’s Channel 12, refusing to specify when his meetings with Hamas began or how many took place.
‘You’ve got a real chance for some movement and seeing hostages home in the next few weeks,’ he continued.
Asked by Channel 12 whether he ‘realistically’ thinks ‘that Hamas would eventually agree to lay down its weapons and not be part of Gaza’s political future,’ he answered: ‘I do believe that.’
While his meetings focused on the sole living American hostage Edan Alexander, along with the bodies of four slain American hostages, Boehler stressed that the talks were meant to lead to a wider deal for all the hostages.
‘You do not need to have fear that the president of the United States, or I, or anyone in our administration will forget you,’ he said, addressing the Israeli public.
Speaking to Kan news, Boehler described what he called a Hamas proposal that would see a five- to ten-year truce with Israel, during which time the group would disarm and forego political power in Gaza.
Hamas ‘suggested exchanging all prisoners… and a five-year to ten-year truce where Hamas would lay down all weapons and where the US, as well as other countries, would ensure that there are no tunnels, there’s nothing taken on the military side, and that Hamas is not involved in politics going forward.’
He called the proposal ‘not a bad first offer.’
Amid concerns that the White House is prioritizing the release of American hostages over Israeli ones, the US envoy reassured the Israeli public that the Trump administration intends to get both ‘Americans and Israelis out, our commitment is full.’
Boehler told CNN in an interview earlier in the day that a ‘long-term truce’ could be on the horizon, in which ‘we forgive prisoners, where Hamas lays down their arms and they agree that they’re not part of the political party going forward.’
Hamas to date has not pledged to lay down its arms or surrender political power.
Asked on Channel 12 about a reported proposal by mediators for an expanded two-month ceasefire and the release of 10 living hostages, he declined to confirm anything but said, ‘It’s a possible solution.’
Israel was set to send a negotiating team to Qatar on Monday for talks regarding the future of the ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.
Boehler told Channel 12 that the state of negotiations ‘is very well set up for the Israelis to do well’ in the talks.
The direct US-Hamas discussions broke with a decades-old policy by Washington against negotiating with groups that the US has designated terrorist organizations. Hamas has been proscribed as such since 1997.
Boehler told CNN that US President Donald Trump had signed off on his talks with Hamas ahead of time.
Boehler said that he understood why Israel might be upset over the talks, noting that he had spoken to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, about the contacts.
‘I spoke with Ron, and I’m sympathetic [to his concerns],’ he told CNN. ‘He has someone that he doesn’t know well making direct contact with Hamas. Maybe I would see them and say, ‘Look, they don’t have horns growing out of their head. They’re actually guys like us. They’re pretty nice guys,’’ Boehler said, apparently referring to officials in the terror group.
‘He doesn’t know me, and there are big stakes involved, and therefore I understand the consternation and the concern. At the same time however, we’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel, and we have specific interests at play’.
A Western official told The Times of Israel on Friday that Dermer had ‘lashed out’ at Boehler upon learning of the talks after the fact. But the envoy insisted in several of his interviews on Sunday that Israel had been informed about them.
In an interview on Fox News, Boehler said he was able to put Dermer ‘at ease’ and convince him ‘that I wouldn’t go off the rails.’
Boehler was also asked on CNN what it was like for him, as a Jewish American, to sit down with ‘antisemitic murderers.’ In response, he said that his job required him to have dialogue ‘with anybody, and that includes a lot of people that I would classify as not-so-good people, to help other Americans.’
Sitting with people like Hamas, he went on, when ‘you know what they’ve done, it’s hard not to think of it.’ However, that was not ‘the most productive’ approach, he said. ‘The most productive [approach] is to realize that every piece of a person is a human and to identify with the human elements of those people and then build from there. But it definitely feels a little odd knowing what they really are.’
Asked if he’d meet Hamas officials again, Boehler responded, ‘You never know. Sometimes you’re in the area, and you drop by.’
In yet another interview, with Israel’s Channel 13 news, Boehler was more combative toward Israel’s disapproval, saying he didn’t ‘really care’ about Dermer’s objections to his direct talks with Hamas, while referring to Palestinian prisoners as ‘hostages’ and criticizing Israel’s release of large numbers of them.
‘I don’t really care about that very much’, Boehler said. ‘I respect and understand his position, but we also have our own interests in the US, and I believe and hope that some of those interactions [with Hamas] can speed things up,’ he added.
The senior American official, who has repeatedly referred to Israeli hostages as ‘prisoners’ and has used the term ‘hostages’ to describe Palestinian prisoners, appeared to be adopting rhetoric common with Hamas but considered offensive in Israel and among many Americans. Hamas has referred to civilians kidnapped on October 7, including children and the elderly, as prisoners who were ‘arrested.’