World
Trump hostage envoy dismisses report of Israel abandonment threat as 'fake news'
FIRST ON FOX: In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital at the annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York, Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler responded to a Washington Post report that claimed President Donald Trump threatened to abandon Israel unless the war ended as “fake news.”
“That sounds like fake news to me,” he said. “I think the president has maintained a very high degree of support for Israel.” He added, “He may be saying, ‘Hey, listen, let’s try to end the war,’ he might speak strongly, but I think American president, in particular, this president’s support, President Trump’s support for Israel is ironclad.”
Separately, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also rejected the claim. In an interview with Israel’s Ynet, he said, “Their reporting is nonsense. They need to listen to what the President says – not what some uninformed ‘source’ pretends to know.’”
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR LASHES OUT AT UN OFFICIAL, CONDEMNS UK, FRANCE, CANADA STATEMENT ON AID
United States Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler spoke at The Annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York City on Monday, May 19, when he said a deal to return Israeli hostages is “closer than we ever were.” (Credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Boehler emphasized that the U.S. government’s primary focus remains on securing the release of the 58 hostages still held by Hamas. “I think there’s obviously continued back and forth. The President made it very clear that he wants something to come to conclusion.”
“I know that he and Steve [Witkoff] are working very hard right now to try to bring that home. So, a very fluid situation, but our primary focus is number one, the hostages, and number two, Israel’s security,” he said.
On the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Boehler addressed the recent development of opening borders to allow aid trucks into Gaza after two months of a blockade. He also discussed the new U.S.-backed mechanism that could potentially replace the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
“Perhaps there needs to be a replacement for UNRWA. We’ve had a lot of issues with the U.N. And if this works, if it gets food to the Palestinian people who need it, then I greatly favor it,” Boehler said.
Later, in an interview on stage at the Jerusalem Post conference, Boehler recalled the tense moments surrounding the release of American-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander. “It’s an unbelievable moment. It was an unbelievable moment on Sunday. The whole time, we couldn’t sleep. It was exciting, nerve-wracking. We watched pretty much real-time. We were waiting for Steve Witkoff to come. We were waiting the whole time for the Red Cross. When the helicopter landed, we saw it on TV. That first phone call was unbelievable. It was right on Mother’s Day when we went over. It had a lot of meaning — for me, Steve, and everybody.”
ISRAEL TURNS TABLES ON UN OFFICIAL CLAIMING ‘GENOCIDE’ IN GAZA WITH BASIC QUESTIONS
U.S. Special Envoy Adam Boehler and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff met with the families of hostages for nearly two hours in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. (Paulina Patimer)
As for the timeframe for the hostage deal, Boehler expressed cautious optimism: “I think it’s getting closer and closer to making a deal here. If Hamas wants to come forward and make a legitimate offer, they’re willing to stand by and release hostages, we’re always open to that.”
He also credited the recent Israeli ground operations for increasing pressure on Hamas, saying, “I do think we’re closer than we ever were. Part of that is because of the movement of Israel and the IDF on the ground.”
Finally, addressing the recent joint statement from the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada, which condemned Israel’s military operations in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire, Boehler responded firmly. “The United States has always been a fervent supporter of Israel. If I were a European country, I’d be particularly sensitive in how I criticize Israel.”
World
Amy Poehler Says ‘SNL’ Actors ‘All Played People We Should Not Have… I Misappropriated, I Appropriated’: Everything in Comedy Has an ‘Expiration Date’
Amy Poehler recently took accountability for her problematic “Saturday Night Live” characters while talking to former cast member Will Forte on her “Good Hang” podcast. Poehler said that every comedian who has appeared on “SNL” over the years has “played people that we should not have played” and “the part about getting older and being in comedy is you have to, like, figure out, ‘Oh, it’s like everything has an expiration date.’”
“There was even on [‘SNL50’], when they had that segment which was like, ‘Here’s all the ways we got things wrong,’ and they showed way inappropriate casting for people,” Poehler added. “We all played people that we should not have played. I misappropriated, I appropriated…I didn’t know.”
Poehler was referring to the “SNL50” sketch in which Tom Hanks introduced an In Memoriam segment calling out the many problematic jokes and sketches “SNL” has aired. The montage of poorly-aged bits includes jokes about sexual harassment and such infamous moments as Adrien Brody sporting dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent.
“Even though these characters, accents and … let’s just call them ‘ethnic’ wigs were unquestionably in poor taste, you all laughed at them,” Tom Hanks said in a winking moment at the audience. “So if anyone should be canceled, shouldn’t it be you, the audience? Something to think about.”
Speaking to Forte on her podcast, Poehler added: “The best thing you can do is make repairs, learn from your mistakes, do better. It’s all you can do.”
Watch Poehler and Forte’s full “Good Hang” conversation in the video below.
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If President Trump decides not to order a strike on Iran’s main underground enrichment site at Fordow, Israel has a number of options to destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility buried deep under a mountain south of Tehran.
One option includes sending elite Israeli Air Force commandos from Unit 5101, known as Shaldag, which, in Hebrew, means kingfisher, a bird known to be patient and dive deep under water to find its prey.
In September, members of this elite unit surprised the world by entering an underground missile factory used by Iran in Syria.
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. “Even though smaller, the Syrian facility produced advanced ballistic missiles, precise ballistic missiles using Iranian technology, as well as Iranian money.”
AMERICA’S IRAN DILEMMA: HOW TO STRIKE FORDOW WITHOUT LOSING SIGHT OF CHINA THREAT
“There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow,” former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. (Amos Yadlin)
Israel attacked the site from the air a few times but was not able to destroy the site.
Unit 5101 (Shaldag) used the cover of darkness and diversionary airstrikes to enter the secret site, plant explosives and destroy the complex. Like Iran’s Fordow mountain complex south of Tehran, it was 300 feet underground.
HOW BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS WORK AND HOW THEY COULD DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR SITE
“The Air Force took care of all the guards around the perimeter, and Shaldag got in, and the place is gone, destroyed,” Yadlin said with a slight smile.
It’s not the first time Israel has had to plan to take out a secret nuclear complex against the odds and alone. In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak.
Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack.
In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack. (Amos Yadlin)
“We didn’t have air refueling at that time. We didn’t have GPS. It was dumb bombs, smart pilot, but a very difficult operational mission when Iraq was in a war (with Iran). So, the state of alert was very, very high,” Yadlin recalled. He and the other pilots believed it might be a suicide mission, and they might not have enough fuel to return home.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. The White House at the time did not want to assist in the strike. Yadlin has seen history change after Israel has acted alone carrying out daring missions like the exploding pagers that killed most of the top commanders of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
WHY US MUST DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR FACILITY NOW
In 2008, when it was determined that Israeli F-16s could not reach Iran’s nuclear sites, Yadlin ordered Mossad to come up with another way to take out Iran’s uranium enrichment at Natanz. Two years later, Israeli and American cyber warriors introduced Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that caused thousands of Natanz centrifuges to spin out of control, setting back Iran’s nuclear enrichment.
More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel’s Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. (Amos Yadlin)
The decision to strike Fordow, the crown jewel and heart of Iran’s nuclear program, is different, and Israel prefers the U.S. to use its B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.
“Anybody who wants the war to be over soon, to be finished quickly, have to find a way to deal with Fordow,” Yadlin said. “Those who think that attacking Fordow will escalate the war, in my judgment, it can de-escalate and terminate the war.”
And it could serve as a deterrent to China and Russia, who will see the power and capability of the U.S. military’s unique capability.
Another option would be to cut power to Fordow. Without power, the centrifuges enriching the uranium could become permanently disabled.
When asked if Israel could take out Fordow without American B-2 bombers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox’s Bret Baier in an exclusive interview last Sunday, “We have quite a few startups too and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve. And I don’t think that I should get into that.”
How did MAGA become Trump’s biggest opponent of a US strike on Iran? The Republican base is split over Trump’s rhetoric about getting involved in another foreign war. Conservative stalwarts like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are pushing back. Could a US strike on Iran be a blow against Trump at home?
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