President Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff appeared on Fox News Wednesday, where the host, Dana Perino, read him a quote from a senior Hamas official who told the NY Times, “We are prepared for a dialogue with America in achieving understandings on everything.”
Witkoff responded: “I think it’s good if it’s accurate.”
Pundit Mark Levin was aghast, tweeting: “Say what? Witkoff said it is good if the United States talks directly with Hamas? Where’s the foreign policy A-Team? Don’t we have a new Secretary of State just confirmed unanimously by the Senate? Even Blinken didn’t suggest this. Hamas committed unimaginable acts of genocide. Now we’re willing to talk to them to better understand them?”
What’s worrisome about the event above is not so much that the man Trump trusts to represent him in the Middle East is in favor of negotiating with Hamas, but that Mark Levin should have to go out of his way to explain why it’s a bad thing, because of, you know, the atrocities and stuff.
Witkoff also stated on Fox News that he would join a team of “outside overseers” stationed in and around the Gaza Strip to maintain safety after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. His comments to Fox News appeared to be the first public acknowledgment of plans to deploy external inspectors in Gaza, including US officials.
Witkoff told Fox News that a ceasefire in Gaza was a critical step toward expanding the Abraham Accords. Asked about potential new members of the Abraham Accords, Witkoff suggested Qatar, Hamas’s biggest sponsor who financed the terrorists’ multi-billion dollar tunnels and rockets project over more than ten years.
Witkoff’s financial dealings with Qatar, a country that has sought to influence him through its lobbying efforts, have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest (Trump’s Envoy Who Squeezed Netanyahu for Hamas Concessions Involved in Qatari Business).
In his statement announcing the appointment, Trump remarked that Witkoff, whom he has known for decades, “will be an unrelenting voice for peace and make us all proud.”
Ben Baird, the director of advocacy for the Middle East Forum, commented on Witkoff’s appointment: “One can’t help but wonder if there aren’t some geopolitics at play here. It’s not a sure bet how people like Witkoff are going to enact policies. They’re not always going to benefit Qatar, and especially when you have competing interests involved, I still think they’ll do what’s best for American interests.”
