Blinken denies telling Qatari emir to delay efforts for rapid Israel-Hamas hostage deal

Former secretary of state Antony Blinken outright denied on Wednesday that he told Qatar to wait to broker a deal between Hamas and Israel, as was attributed to him in a Tuesday Haaretz article.

"For the record, this is false. Complete fiction," he wrote in a post on X/Twitter with a screenshot of his quote.

Haaretz reported on Tuesday that UAE President Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ) warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation against Israel days before the October 7 massacre. 

Since then, Netanyahu has denied the report and has threatened to sue the left-leaning Israeli daily.

'Haaretz' claims Blinken told Qatar to wait on deal between Israel, Hamas

Later in the report, Haaretz claimed that Blinken spoke with Qatari Emir Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the evening of October 7. The Qatari emir reportedly told Blinken that he had offered to negotiate a quick deal. 

“There are hundreds of hostages in Gaza, and among them, in my estimation, dozens of civilians. They need to be released now. I offered the Israelis to mediate a quick deal for their release, but they are not interested,” said the emir.

The article says Blinken responded, “Let’s wait,” and added, “I will speak with Netanyahu personally.”

The former secretary of state also reportedly told the Qatari emir he would travel to Israel within three days of the conversation.

“Right now, the situation is complex,” Blinken said, as quoted by Haaretz. “Israel is still under attack, and there’s no one to talk to. We will wait three days.”

Notably, the UAE did warn senior US and Israeli officials that Israeli actions and rhetoric were “putting regional stability at risk” in the period leading up to the October 7 massacre.

Also on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post that the Biden administration was unaware of any specific warning from the UAE before October 7 that Hamas was planning a major terror attack.