Trump Offers Awkward Apology for Israel’s Qatar Attack
It comes after the president controversially accepted the “unconditional” donation of a $400 million Boeing 747 from Qatar in July.
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
President Donald Trump rushed to explain why he failed to stop Israel’s attack in Qatar, the country that recently gifted him a $400 million jet.
Israel launched a strike on senior Hamas officials in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Tuesday morning. Qatar is a key mediator in ongoing negotiations for ceasefire in Gaza and maintains a close relationship with the Trump administration.
Trump distanced himself from any responsibility for the bombing in a Truth Social post, writing, “This was a decision made by Prime Minister Netanyahu, it was not a decision made by me.”
Qatar condemned Israel's strike as a “blatant violation of international law.” Hamas said six were killed but that its leadership survived the attack.
Jacqueline Penney/Getty Images
Using uncharacteristically careful language, he said the strike, “does not advance Israel or America’s goals,” though he called “eliminating Hamas” a “worthy goal.”
Trump’s post was nearly identical to the statement Karoline Leavitt read at her news briefing earlier in the day—with one notable change, apparently in response to Qatari officials disputing the press secretary’s account that Trump had “immediately directed Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to inform the Qataris of the impending attack.”
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“The statements being circulated about Qatar being informed of the attack in advance are baseless,” a spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared after Leavitt’s briefing. “The communication received from one of the American officials came during the sound of explosions resulting from the Israeli attack in Doha.”
Qatar condemned the bombing as a “blatant violation of all international laws and norms.”
In his Truth Social post, Trump explained that his attempt to notify Qatar was “unfortunately, too late to stop the attack.”
U.S. officials told Axios that Israeli missiles were already in the air by the time the country responded to the U.S. military’s query about why its jets were en route to the Gulf.
The president continued, “I view Qatar as a strong Ally and friend of the U.S., and feel very badly about the location of the attack.”
During his middle east tour in May, President Donald Trump met with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images
He said he had spoken to Qatar’s emir and prime minister, saying, “I assured them that such a thing will not happen again on their soil.”
The Trump administration controversially accepted the “unconditional” donation of a Boeing 747 from Qatar in July. When Trump traveled to the wealthy emirate in May, he was welcomed with a Cybertruck-led motorcade.
Israel’s strike came as the U.S. was waiting for Hamas to respond to Trump’s new proposal that would see all 48 remaining hostages released in return for a ceasefire and the end of Israel’s operation to occupy Gaza. The attack infuriated some of Trump’s top advisers, Axios reported.
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