Father of hostage Edan Alexander calls on Biden, Trump and Netanyahu to ‘act now’
Trump team said to speak to Alexander family after Hamas released propaganda video of dual US-Israeli citizen; Senator Graham says president-elect wants deal before inauguration
The father of Hamas hostage Edan Alexander, who appeared in a propaganda video released on Saturday by the terror group, on Sunday called on US President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to work together to reach a deal to release the 101 hostages from captivity in Gaza.
Addressing a rally in New York urging a hostage deal, Adi Alexander asked that the leaders “not let politics or bureaucracy stand in the way of humanity,” a day after his son, gaunt-looking, called on the Israeli government and incoming US administration to work for his release in the three-and-a-half-minute-long video.
“Today, I speak as not just a father, but as the voice of my son and the other hostages whose lives hang in the balance,” Adi Alexander said at the top of his remarks. “Every day in captivity is an eternity of suffering for him and every hostage, both physically and emotionally.”
“President Biden, President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu, I call on all of you to act,” he said. “This is not a moment for politics or hesitation. This is a moment for courage, collaboration, and decisive actions.”
He urged Biden to use the last weeks of his term to negotiate a deal, reminding him that “the tools and influence of the United States are at your fingertips.”
Turning to Trump, he told him that he does not need to wait until he enters office in January “to make an impact.”
Adi Alexander, father of hostage Edan Alexander (US citizen from Tenafly NJ): “President Biden, President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu I call on all of you to act” pic.twitter.com/57pzWf7NrZ
— Gil Zussman (@gil_zussman) December 1, 2024
“The world is watching,” he said. “Act now.”
Alexander, a dual US-Israeli citizen, is a soldier who was stationed near the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7, when he was taken captive by Hamas, along with 250 other hostages. Hamas killed over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, during that attack, which sparked the ongoing war that the Israeli military is fighting against Hamas in Gaza.
Alexander was born in Tel Aviv, grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, and joined Golani as a lone soldier, after graduating from high school in 2022.
The Trump team has spoken with the Alexander family since the propaganda video was released, Channel 12 reported Sunday.
Trump wants Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal before he is sworn into office on January 20, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and confidant of the president-elect, told the Axios news site Friday.
“Trump is more determined than ever to release the hostages and supports a ceasefire that includes a hostage deal. He wants to see it happening now,” Graham told Axios, adding that the president-elect is focused on the hostages issue.”
“I hope President Trump and the Biden administration will work together during the transition period to release the hostages and get a ceasefire,” Graham added.
Following a deal that ended fighting in Lebanon on Wednesday, the United States announced a new diplomatic effort with Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages taken during Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel that set off the ongoing war and the Hezbollah attacks.
Egypt is currently hosting representatives from Hamas, who arrived in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian negotiators. Netanyahu was also expected to convene a security discussion on the topic on Sunday evening.
Netanyahu said on Thursday that he was “ready for a ceasefire” in the war in Gaza “when we think we can achieve the release of the hostages,” but would not end the war against Hamas — a core demand by the terror group — until it was destroyed militarily and in terms of its capacity to govern.
The only ceasefire so far, in November 2023, saw the release of 105 civilian hostages kidnapped by Hamas and its allies in exchange for 240 Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel.
The New York Times reported last week that Hamas had been showing increased flexibility in long-stalled talks for a deal and may agree to Israel forces temporarily remaining on the enclave’s border with Egypt.
Jerusalem has insisted that troops remain in Gaza to prevent arms smuggling from Egypt and says it is prepared only for a temporary halt in its campaign to destroy Hamas.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
Four hostages were released before the November deal, eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military, as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
