Reading tea leaves: Is the US signalling potential differences with Israel?

By James M. Dorsey

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A stickler for language, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu twice this month remained conspicuously silent when senior Trump administration officials chose words that signalled potential changes in US policy towards Gaza, the Palestinians, and Hamas.

Mr. Netanyahu may not want to awaken sleeping dogs by reading publicly too much into recent statements by Steve Witkoff, President Donald J. Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Adam Boehler, the president’s hostage negotiator.

Earlier this month, Mr. Boehler set off alarm bells by speaking to Hamas directly, the first ever face-to-face encounter between a US official and the group designated a terrorist organisation by the United States.

Mr. Netanyahu also seeks to avoid suggestions that the US and Israeli policies may diverge.

Even so, Mr. Netanyahu cannot ignore the fact that Messrs. Witkoff and Boehler’s remarks signalled that the Trump administration might soften its attitude towards Hamas if the group releases the remaining 59 hostages it holds since its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, disarms, and agrees not to be part of Gaza’s post-war administration.

With some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, killed in the October 7 attack, that’s a no-go as far as Mr. Netanyahu is concerned. He insists there is nothing to talk about except for the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas, which, in his mind, can only be achieved militarily.