On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “The Brief,” Ruby Chen, whose son, Itay Chen, is believed to have been killed in the October 7 attack, and, if so, has had his body held in Gaza, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but stated that he thinks any disagreements between President Donald Trump and Netanyahu “will happen behind closed doors, because each time that there was daylight between the United States and Israel, Hamas did take a step back and was less engaged.”
Chen said, “I think that there is a growing understanding by this administration that it even needs to take a more active role in the dynamics that hopefully would get us to the ceasefire.”
Host Jim Sciutto then asked, “The President has said that he’s not happy about these strikes. Do you and other hostage families see a rift between Trump and Netanyahu on these negotiations?”
Chen answered, “I don’t think we will see those publicly. I think that those will happen behind closed doors, because each time that there was daylight between the United States and Israel, Hamas did take a step back and was less engaged. So, — but I know that the President of the United States was not happy with the developments of this week, and I hope to believe that he has added incentive energy after meeting hostage families this week again, which was very nice of him to do so, even though it was not planned, and it gave some energy to him and to his team to try to get this to the finish line.”
Later, Chen added that he thinks Netanyahu is “playing Russia[n] roulette with my son and the probability of bringing him back. And I see him less of a partner for me and my family to bring Itay back, and that is why I’m here in the United States calling to the President of the United States and his administration and asking them to do more to bring my son back, a U.S. citizen, after two years in captivity.” And stated that the Qatar strike put the U.S. in a tough spot.
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