Trump Makes Netanyahu Squirm With a Forced ‘Sorry’ Call to Qatar

It was genuinely striking and satisfying to see Prime Minister Netanyahu basically forced into making a public apology to Qatar today over the phone, with Trump orchestrating the setup. I don’t often hand out compliments to Trump, but this moment had a kind of poetic justice to it.

Earlier this month, Israel launched a strike in Doha targeting Hamas leadership and as we know, that attack ended up killing a Qatari security officer (among others), and inflamed tensions — especially because Qatar is one of the rare Arab states still acting as a mediator in the Gaza conflict.  The strike was widely condemned as a violation of Qatari sovereignty. 

Fast forward to today: while Netanyahu was meeting with Trump in Washington, the U.S. president pushed for a three-way call in which Netanyahu ended up apologizing to the Qatari Prime Minister. In that call, Netanyahu expressed “deep regret” for the strike, acknowledged the violation of sovereignty, and pledged that Israel would not carry out such an attack again. 

To me, what’s satisfying in this is the role reversal: Trump putting Netanyahu — someone he has long championed — in a position of diplomatic humility. Netanyahu is used to commanding deference; to see him murmur the language of regret, to make assurances to a foreign leader, and to do so under Trump’s initiative, is a small but telling demonstration of leverage and pressure.

It’s not just theatrics. The apology serves a practical purpose: it helps repair Israel’s relations with Qatar, which is critical if ceasefire talks and hostages exchanges are going to proceed.  Qatar had already been estranged from mediation efforts following the strike.  By forcing this apology, Trump may be trying to rebuild trust, or at least reset the table.

Of course, one would want to see whether the apology is sincere, whether commitments will be honored, and whether Israel’s future actions reflect this pledge. But in the moment, it was gratifying to see Netanyahu squirm, even a little, and to watch Trump pull the strings. Even if I’m uneasy about Trump’s broader agenda, this was one of those rare occasions when the theatrics aligned with something I approve of: compelling a powerful figure to own a mistake, publicly.