Who is Steve Witkoff, Trump’s man at the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks?

As both United States President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump try to take credit for Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a relatively unknown political newcomer in Trump’s incoming team has emerged as a key figure in sealing the deal.

Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate developer and investor, was reportedly instrumental in delivering the message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Trump wanted the deal in place by the time he takes office next week.

Witkoff has been a friend of Trump for four decades. The two men play golf together and Witkoff was with the president-elect during an assassination attempt at his Florida golf course last September. Now, he’s Trump’s Middle East envoy.

In addition to his business style and personal interests in the Middle East, Witcoff reportedly shares Trump’s brash personality.

Last Saturday, as negotiators inched closer to a deal, Witkoff reached out to Netanyahu’s office to finalise the deal but was told by aides that the Israeli leader could not be disturbed during Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Witkoff, who is Jewish himself, responded “in salty English”, saying that he did not care what day it was. Netanyahu obliged.

“He gives us a lot of authority,” Witkoff added.

Trump announced Witkoff as his incoming Middle East envoy shortly after winning the presidential election in November, and while his administration is not taking over until Monday, Witkoff quickly got involved and travelled to Doha to participate in ceasefire negotiations that had been continuing for months.

While he has no foreign policy experience or training, his appointment is in line with Trump’s preference for unconventional picks with little expertise. “We have people that know everything about the Middle East, but they can’t speak properly … he is a great negotiator,” the president-elect said of his friend.

After the deal was announced, Trump said Witkoff would continue “to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven”.

Witkoff attended Netanyahu’s 2024 address to the US Congress, and praised the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech to US lawmakers as “strong”. “It was epic to be in that room,” he said. When Biden temporarily suspended military aid to Israel last year, Witkoff seized on the pause to fundraise for the Trump campaign.

Trump and Witkoff share a close and enduring relationship, having known each other since the 1980s.

“That history and the longevity of the relationship indicates deep trust and loyalty which will give Witcoff a longer leash to manoeuvre on the Middle East peace file,” Zaha Hassan, a political analyst and fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Al Jazeera.

Hassan also noted that while others Trump has nominated to key roles in his administration have tended to have strong pro-Israel views, “Witcoff’s proclivities aren’t yet clear”, she said. “What we do know now is that he successfully helped negotiate a ceasefire, something the Biden administration couldn’t do for 15 months.”

Hassan also pointed to Witcoff’s business dealings with Gulf states as background that could potentially make him “a good broker for regional peace”.

“Given Trump’s desire in realising a Saudi-Israeli normalisation agreement and the Saudi requirement that such a deal would have to include a Palestinian state or an irreversible path to one, some hope exists that Trump, unlike Biden, will use the leverage of the office of the presidency in the service of a true ‘deal of the century’,” she said.

Related Articles

Back to top button