‘Nothing happened on ceasefire until Trump intervened’ Israel’s first lady says after Israel attacked Hamas negotiators
Israel’s first lady Michal Herzog told LBC's Rachel Johnson that ‘nothing happened’ on ceasefire talks before Trump intervened, days after Israel bombed Hamas’ negotiating team as they were discussing a peace deal.
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It comes as her husband, Israel's president Isaac Herzog, visited Sir Keir Starmer in what he described as a 'tough' meeting.
Ms Herzog was asked if Israel had made the status of the hostages “one of collateral damage, because if you attack the very negotiators you're supposed to be dealing with, then there is no possibility of a peaceful solution.”
She told LBC’s Rachel Johnson that negotiators “had been going back and forth” for the duration of the war, but “except when President Trump really intervened, nothing happened.”
“So, as I say, I don't know what's behind the scenes. I don't have the intelligence that those who made the decision, decided upon,” she said on Rachel Johnson’s Difficult Women podcast.
It comes just one day after Israel launched airstrikes on Hamas’ top negotiating team and leadership, who were gathered to discuss the US-backed ceasefire proposal in the Qatari capital Doha.
Donald Trump has styled himself as a ‘peacemaker’ and emphasised his efforts to achieve peace deals between Russia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Hamas.
The attack, which Trump was made aware of ahead of time, has been seen as undermining efforts to achieve a ceasefire to end the war in Gaza, as Israel had already accepted the deal on the table.
Israel has faced widespread condemnation for the move - even from the US president who said he was “very unhappy about every aspect” of it.
Ms Herzog also criticised the BBC, saying they ‘misrepresented’ her husband’s statement which was quoted by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in their ruling that Palestinians in Gaza had “plausible rights to protection from genocide”.
In that ruling, Mr Herzog was quoted as saying all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
“The entire [Palestinian] nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said. “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved.”
But Israel’s first lady said media organisations had ‘misquoted’ her husband. “Of course, misquoting has become a trend in social media and around the world, and unfortunately, even by international courts,” she said.
She then hit out at the BBC, who quoted that line in their coverage ahead of the Israeli president’s visit to the UK, saying “unfortunately, BBC has not exactly lived up to what I would consider journalism, appropriate journalism and true reporting.”
“I can't say that I follow the BBC, I follow other channels, but I think that journalism is not what it used to be,” she said. “And I think that they have agendas of their own. And they misquote and they misquote, and that's very unfortunate.”
The BBC has been contacted for comment. Yesterday, director-general Tim Davie said airing a documentary which had the son of a Hamas member as a child narrator, which the corporation came under significant criticism for, was a 'bad mistake'.
Ms Herzog spoke as her husband, Israeli president Isaac Herzog, met with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer - as protesters gathered outside demanding his arrest as a war criminal.
Downing Street said Starmer “condemned Israel’s action in Doha yesterday as completely unacceptable. He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see”.
Many Labour MPs also condemned Mr Herzog’s meeting with Sir Keir and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, frustrated that the government isn’t taking a tougher stance with Israel.
The Israeli president said his meeting with Starmer “was a meeting between allies, but it was a tough meeting.”
He added: “Things were said that were tough and strong, and clearly we can argue, because when allies meet they can argue. We are both democracies, we both understand the threat from the jihadists.”
Asked what had been "tough" about his meeting with Sir Keir, president Mr Herzog said: "Prime Minister Starmer presented his views regarding a Palestinian state, regarding the humanitarian aid in Gaza, and I offered that it would be a fact-finding mission coming to Israel, sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level.
"Because we have full answers and we are fully transparent. And, you know, we argued. We definitely argued out of respect.
A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir “reiterated his huge concern” about Gaza “implored Israel to change course.
“They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations, [the Prime Minister] added."
The spokesperson added that both leaders "agreed that the hostages who were cruelly ripped by Hamas from their families nearly two years ago must be released" while Sir Keir offered his condolences for the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Monday.
Sir Keir concluded by saying the UK and Israel were "long-standing allies", and he would "continue his work to secure an enduring peace and a better future for the Israeli and Palestinian people alike".