Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Netanyahu meets Witkoff in Washington

No readout was provided of the meeting.

Netanyahu, Witkoff
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at Blair House in Washington, D.C., April 7, 2025. Photo by Avi Ohayon/GPO.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as part of his visit to Washington, D.C. on Monday morning.

The meeting took place at Blair House, typically reserved for visiting world leaders, according to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. No readout was provided.

Earlier on Monday, the London-based, Saudi-owned, pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat cited an informed source in Cairo as saying that a new Egyptian proposal has been put forward for a hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza.

According to the report, the proposed plan includes the release of eight hostages in exchange for a ceasefire lasting between 40 and 70 days.

The source said that the proposal represented a compromise between a Hamas offer to release five hostages in return for a 50-day ceasefire and a demand from Jerusalem for the release of 11 living captives.

In a draft report delivered to the U.S. president, the commission also called for improved religious accommodations for U.S. service members.
Salah Salem Sarsour, accused of concealing Israeli military court convictions on immigration forms, argued his detention was part of a Trump admin effort to target the pro-Palestinian movement.
CENTCOM stated that the strikes targeted missile, drone and radar facilities after the Islamic Republic attacked a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the assault a violation of the ceasefire.
Now that the primaries are over, “we hope that everyone will come together and be united,” Christine Quinn, chair of the executive committee of the New York State Democratic Party, told JNS.
An Iranian official warned on Friday that the safety of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz without Iran’s permission “cannot be guaranteed.”
“We have put the train back on the tracks and going in the right direction,” said Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador in Washington. “Final destination? Peace between our two countries.”
Benny Gantz, JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan S. Tobin, Gilad Erdan, Mosab Hassan Yousef, Nissim Black and leading voices in security, diplomacy, media, law and Jewish communal affairs headline the summit’s third day in Jerusalem.