Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the potential for “a dialogue” with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar for helping facilitate the cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, despite facing scrutiny for previous ties to the Gulf nation. 

Asked by Fox News’ Dana Perino to respond to a top Hamas official telling The New York Times, “We are prepared for a dialogue with America in achieving understandings on everything,” Witkoff replied, “I think it’s good if it’s accurate.”

“I think you can get everybody on board in that region. I really do. With a new sense of leadership over there,” Witkoff added, noting that “everybody” in this case included Qatar. 

“Oh my gosh, Qatar was enormously helpful in this [cease-fire agreement]. Sheikh Mohammed [bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the Qatari prime minister], his communication skills with Hamas were indispensable here,” Witkoff said. Many other conservatives have been deeply skeptical of Qatar’s influence and role in the negotiations, viewing the country as a supporter of Hamas and urging the U.S. to exert pressure on it.

The president’s Middle East envoy said that he and Trump did not attempt to make changes to the cease-fire and hostage-release deal originally put forth by the prior administration, which has been criticized by some Republicans as harmful to Israel’s ability to defend itself and eliminate future terrorist threats.

“We had nothing to do with the mathematics behind the prisoner release and the hostage release,” Witkoff said, adding that terms of the agreement were set “in the so-called May 27th protocol that was agreed to by Hamas, by the Israelis, and monitored by the United States under the Biden administration. That set the mathematics around how many Palestinians in Israeli jails would be released for each hostage who was coming out.”

“Our job was to speed up the process because it felt like it had bogged down,” Witkoff explained.

Witkoff, a real estate mogul without diplomatic or Middle East experience prior to his current role, has had past financial dealings and other relationships with Qatar, and was a target of its lobbying efforts, facts that raised concerns among some conservatives when Trump first picked Witkoff for the role.

Witkoff’s comments on Qatar are driving growing concern in the pro-Israel world about the envoy.

Michael Pregent, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former intelligence officer focused on the Middle East, strongly criticized Witkoff in a video on X on Wednesday.

“He’s f**king up already,” Pregent said of Witkoff. “He’s got it all wrong. He’s praising Qatar. He’s talking about engaging with a terrorist organization, he’s been disrespectful to the Bibi Netanyahu government when it comes to the cease-fire. He’s taking credit for a lot of things but he’s undermining the president’s message.”

He described Witkoff as a “real estate guy who’s close to Trump that’s in over his head, he’s been cajoled by Qatar.” He said that any American official who, like Witkoff, praises Qatar, has “no idea what the f**k they’re doing.”

Pregent predicted that Witkoff would be soon dismissed, along with Michael DiMino, the Trump administration’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, who has alarmed the pro-Israel world.