Jerusalem Upset by Kushner's Admission that U.S. Used Doha Strike to Push Israel on Gaza
JERUSALEM, Israel – Israelis experienced a relatively quiet end to the Rosh Hashanah holiday, but that calm was overshadowed by reports that Jared Kushner was criticizing Israel’s earlier strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, saying the Trump administration used the fallout from the attack to pressure Israel into a Gaza deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a message on X wishing President Donald Trump and the American people a “happy and healthy new year,” while highlighting what he called historic progress between the United States and Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) September 11, 2026
I want to wish President Donald J. Trump, his family, and the American people a Shana Tova—a happy and healthy New Year.
Over the past year, the United States and Israel have achieved historic progress together. Iran and its evil axis are…
“Over the past year, the United States and Israel have achieved historic progress together. Iran and its evil axis are weaker than ever, while the U.S.-Israel alliance is stronger than ever," Netanyahu stated.
He also congratulated Trump for his pressure campaign against Iran.
“I congratulate President @realDonaldTrump on his blockade of Iran’s evil regime and on the economic pressure brought to bear against the world’s greatest source of instability,” he remarked.
Netanyahu added that Israel stands with the United States in confronting terrorism.
“The people of Israel stand with the people of the United States and with President Trump in confronting the forces of terror. In the year ahead, we will continue to make the world safer for all," he said.
In an address commemorating the September 11 attacks, President Trump praised American military efforts in the Middle East.
He declared, “And we salute the service members working right now to ensure the world's number-one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.”
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Meanwhile, Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, created a stir with remarks he made during a conversation with Victor Pinchuk at the “YES Annual Meeting 2026: The Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the Yalta European Strategy (YES),” about Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, a year ago.
Kushner called the strike unsuccessful and said it contributed to Israel’s international isolation.
“You know Israel did the strike in Doha, which was a terrible thing and obviously it was unsuccessful as a military operation and that led to Israel being globally isolated attack," Kushner criticized.
Kushner then said the Trump administration used the fallout from the strike to pressure Israel into a deal.
He recalled, “And we used that dynamic in order to push them into a deal that now today they’re quite happy with, where at the time they were a little uncomfortable with what we were pushing them to do.”
Kushner said the agreement ultimately benefited both Israel and the people of Gaza.
“But ultimately it turned out to be great for them and it turned out to be great for the people of Gaza because now we have a new government there that’s obviously looking to take over soon once we advance on the demilitarization," he revealed.
Kushner’s comments prompted a response from Netanyahu’s Likud party, which, in a statement, rejected his assessment of the impact of the Doha strike.
“The Prime Minister’s decision to send the IDF into Gaza City and to strike the Hamas leadership in Qatar, together with the intense pressure exerted by President Trump, are what led Hamas to drop its demands and agree to release all the hostages remaining in Gaza," the statement read.
On the ground in Gaza, Israel eliminated two Hamas weapons engineers over the weekend who were working to restore the terror group’s military capabilities, in violation of the ceasefire agreement, which calls for the disarming of Hamas.
Meanwhile, tensions remain high along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon.
Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning Sunday.
“Anyone who approaches the Ali Taher Ridge will be destroyed," he warned.
The IDF recently disarmed and blew up Hezbollah’s Iranian-funded tunnel network beneath the ridge. The network was intended as a staging base for an October 7th - type Hezbollah invasion of the Galilee.
Ahead of the explosions, Netanyahu visited the border region, where weapons extracted from the tunnel network were displayed.
“What you’re seeing here are some of the weapons that we removed from Lebanon, enormous quantities of weapons, facilitated and financed by Iran over many years," the prime minister stated.
Netanyahu pointed to some of the weapons recovered from the area, observing, “You can see an anti-aircraft cannon here, and there are rockets, there are landmines, there are computers, there are many other things.”
He added that the weapons have now been removed and are under Israeli control. saying, “Everything has been taken out and everything is in our hands.”
About The Author
Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel fulltime for more than 20 years.
Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009.
As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, as well as stories on the return of the Jewish people to their biblical homeland and archaeological stories that backup the Bible. She has traveled to Tanzania to cover Israeli doctors giving life-saving heart surgery to children there; to Poland to cover Holocaust-related events; to Paris to cover the Jewish response to the rise in anti-Semitism there; and Portugal to cover events surrounding the Bnei Anusim – Jews forced to convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition, many of whom would now like to be recognized as Jews and return to Israel.
Julie is also an integral part of CBN News’ award-winning “Jerusalem Dateline”, a weekly show about events in the Middle East that is translated into multiple languages and has a broad viewership across the world.
As the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for CNSNews.com, from 1999-2008, Julie covered Israel’s pullout from Lebanon; traveled to both Egypt and Jordan to cover aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; covered the Second Intifadah, from 2000-2005 when terror attacks were sometimes a daily occurrence, Israel’s 2005 Disengagement from Gaza and the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Her work included almost daily contact with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
While working as a news writer for METV, Julie covered the historic fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Julie received her bachelor’s degree in Theatre from Florida State University and master’s degree in Journalism from Regent University before heading to Israel, in 1987. She enjoys playing the guitar, having guests for Sabbath Eve meals, exploring, traveling, meeting people and gardening.
