The 15 minutes of President Trump’s special envoy for hostages, Adam Boehler, seem to be up. How damaging were his negotiations with Hamas? Emerging from near obscurity, he appeared on two American and three Israeli news shows Sunday, defending his shocking direct negotiations before having to eat some of his words later. His “clarifications” apparently did not suffice. Today Secretary Rubio pulled the plug on coddling terrorists. Good for him.

Mr. Boehler’s negotiation with a Hamas official “was a one-off situation,” Mr. Rubio told reporters, adding, “as of now, it hasn’t borne fruit.” Instead, hostage diplomacy at Doha, Qatar, will now be conducted by the top special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and through intermediaries. Even before those talks begin, Mr. Witkoff stressed on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” that all hostages must be released immediately, as Mr. Trump “has had enough.”

Mr. Witkoff made clear that releasing Israeli hostages and ending Hamas’s rule in Gaza are America’s main goals. Mr. Boehler, in contrast, told Israel’s Channel 13 that Jerusalem is exchanging many “hostages for one person.” What? Since when are jailed Arab terrorists “hostages”? Then he told CNN that Israel “can get all of the prisoners out, not just the Americans,” equating civilians who were kidnapped on October 7, 2023, with common felons.  

Perhaps the inability to distinguish between innocents held in tunnel dungeons as bargaining chips and convicted mass-murdering terrorists was a result of spending too much time at Doha, where Mr. Boehler reportedly talked with Khalil al-Hayya. He is one of four surviving Hamas bigs who are declining to declare themselves leader for fear of Israeli assassination. They “don’t have horns,” Mr. Boehler told CNN. “They’re pretty nice guys.”

Are they? “I want to be CRYSTAL CLEAR,” Mr. Boehler wrote on X following his media blitz. “Hamas is a terrorist organization that has murdered thousands of innocent people. They are BY DEFINITION BAD people.” Aha. Plus, too, these seemingly “nice guys” at Doha rarely agree among themselves, and often fail to communicate with the really “bad people” who are holding the hostages in Gaza, so why hobnob with them? 

No wonder those direct negotiations failed, as Mr. Rubio said. Worse yet: Kan News reports today that the elevation of Hamas into an equal partner in talks has toughened its stance and made its demands harder to square with what Israel can afford to concede. Specifically, Hamas must have derived some satisfaction from Mr. Boehler, when he told CNN that, as American negotiators, “We’re not an agent of Israel.”

True enough, and that line might get applauded in some circles at Columbia University. Yet, it is hardly a recipe for gaining favors with terrorists. As none other than Secretary Blinken acknowledged in December, “whenever there has been public daylight between the United States and Israel,” Hamas “has pulled back from agreeing to a cease-fire and the release of hostages.” Mr. Trump’s team now seems to be making the necessary course-correction. 

It’s not our purpose here to disparage Mr. Boehler. He “was given permission and encouraged” to negotiate, Mr. Rubio says. Raising the terrorists’ stature was never the idea. Meanwhile it is unacceptable that the hostages are being held in any circumstances.  On Friday Mr. Trump demanded an immediate release of all of them, or there will be “hell to pay.” We hope that Hamas is heeding the threats, rather than basking in Mr. Boehler’s glow.