- 30
- Jan.
- 2025
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the hostage release agreement and ceasefire.
Trump appointed the 67-year-old New Yorker to this role last November.
Choosing a trusted businessman, specifically a major real estate investor with no diplomatic experience, is not unprecedented for Trump, who, during his first term, appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to the same position. Kushner then oversaw the Abraham Accords, which established diplomatic and trade relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
As he steps into his role within the Trump administration, Witkoff faces a crisis-ridden Middle East amid the most significant Israeli-Palestinian war since 1948. His first diplomatic challenge was to help establish a ceasefire agreement in Gaza between Hamas and Israel, as part of cooperation between the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration. The truce took effect on January 19, the day before the new president’s inauguration.
However, Trump’s Middle East agenda does not stop there. His goal is to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia and other countries such as Qatar, and to establish lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
A Skilled Business Negotiator
Why was Witkoff chosen as the United States special envoy to the Middle East?
Thanks to a long professional career, the businessman brought decades of experience in major real estate transactions – some of the largest in New York – to the negotiating table for the Gaza truce.
Having studied law at Hofstra University, he trained as a real estate attorney. He joined the law firm Dreyer & Traub, where Trump was a client, but his ambitions shifted – he wanted to become one of the real estate moguls he was representing. He then entered the world of real estate development in New York, founding his own company, Witkoff Group, through which he became a billionaire.
In his statement announcing Witkoff’s appointment, Trump highlighted the investor’s private sector experience. “Steve has strengthened and enhanced every project he has been involved in. Steve will be an unwavering voice for peace,” Trump wrote.
Real estate associates describe Witkoff as “intelligent, personable and a talented negotiator,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
A Personal Background Suited to the Role
Witkoff is Jewish, has close ties to Israel, and maintains business relationships with the Arab world. During the 2024 presidential election campaign, he was Trump’s key liaison with the Jewish-American business community.
Witkoff appears to be leveraging his background and personal experience to better understand the current Middle Eastern issues.
On September 11, 2001, he watched from his office window as the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsed before rushing to retrieve his children. That night, he reportedly spent hours holding a rope attached to a firefighter searching through the debris for survivors.
In 2011, he lost his 22-year-old son to an opioid overdose.
Speaking about his role in negotiating the ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange agreement in Gaza, he drew a parallel with his own grief.
“I always compare my family and what we went through when I lost my son, Andrew, and what it must have been like for these families,” he said on Sunday in New York, referring to the hostages and acknowledging the suffering “on both sides.”
“So when the president asked me to do this, I thought it would be the most honorable thing I could do in my life,” he revealed, referring to the delicate foreign policy role assigned to him by Trump.
A Close Friend of Trump
Witkoff is one of Trump’s closest friends and a longtime golf partner. They were playing together in Florida when Trump survived a second assassination attempt last September.
At the Republican National Convention in July, Witkoff recounted how Trump – “a kind and compassionate person” – helped him cope with the grief of losing his son.
Additionally, during Trump’s second presidential campaign, Witkoff’s role became more significant. He was a key fund raiser, establishing connections with wealthy Jewish donors. In an early test of his diplomatic skills, he was also deployed multiple times to ease tensions between Trump and influential Republicans.
With Trump’s trust and direct access to the president, Witkoff’s close relationship with him could be one of his greatest assets to succeed in this mission.
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