US President Donald Trump’s envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, issued a clarification on Sunday, after he came under fire for saying in an interview with CNN that the Hamas leaders with whom he held secret talks were “a bunch of nice guys”
“I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR as some have misinterpreted. Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people. They are BY DEFINITION BAD people. And as President Trump has said, not a single Hamas member will be safe if Hamas doesn’t RELEASE ALL HOSTAGES IMMEDIATELY,” Boehler wrote in a post on X.
In the interview with Jake Tapper which aired on Sunday, Boehler said of his direct talks with Hamas terror group officials, “We’re the United States. We’re not an agent of Israel.”
Asked what it was like for him, as a Jewish American, to sit down with “antisemitic murderers”, he explained that his job requires 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.”
Boehler also said he understands why Israel might be upset over the talks, saying he has spoken to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer about the contacts. Axios reported on Friday that Israel’s deep concerns over secret negotiations between the Trump administration and Hamas resulted in a heated exchange between Dermer and Boehler.
“I spoke with Ron, and I’m sympathetic. 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 in the CNN interview.
Among those who criticized Boehler’s comments was former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
"This past week, President Trump brilliantly presented Hamas with a binary choice: release all the hostages and surrender, or be destroyed. It is the only path to ending the war," Friedman said.
"If I heard Adam Boehler correctly on the Sunday news shows, he took the unprecedented step to meet with Hamas to consider a third way — whether a deal could be struck where Hamas 'would not be involved' in governing Gaza," he continued.
"A deal with Hamas is a waste of time and will never be kept. Attempting one is beneath the dignity of the United States. Adam, I know you mean well but listen to your boss. The choice must remain binary," stated Friedman.