White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Israel’s airstrike on Hamas terrorists in Doha, Qatar, earlier in the day was “unfortunate,” but that killing terrorists was a “worthy goal.”
Israel launched the surprise attack after Hamas rejected a final effort at reaching a hostage deal, and after a terrorist attack in Jerusalem the day before in which six Israeli civilians were killed. Hamas claimed credit for that attack.
This morning, the Trump administration was notified by the United States military that Israel was attacking Hamas, which, very unfortunately, was located in a section of Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Unilaterally bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation and close ally of the United States, that is working very hard and bravely taking risks with us to broker peace, does not advance Israel or America’s goals.
However, eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal. President Trump immediately directed Special Envoy Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack, which he did.
The president views Qatar as a strong ally and friend of the United States, and feels very badly about the location of this attack. President Trump wants all of the hostages in Gaza, and the bodies of the dead, released, and this war to end now.
President Trump also spoke to [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu after the attack. The prime minister told President Trump that he wants to make peace and quickly. President Trump believes this unfortunate incident could serve as an opportunity for peace.
The president also spoke to the Emir and Prime Minister of Qatar, and thanked them for their support and friendship to our country. He assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil.
Leavitt did not say whether Trump was angry with Netanyahu, or whether there would be consequences for Israel.
She did say that the attack on Doha was not what Trump had contemplated when warning Hamas on Sunday, when he said that an American ceasefire proposal, which Israel had accepted, was Hamas’s last chance.
Qatar was designated as a “major non-NATO ally” by President Joe Biden in 2022. The U.S. has a major air base, Al Udeid, in Qatar, which serves as the headquarters for Centcom, the regional U.S. command center.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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