Shortly before landing in Israel, Adam Boehler stepped up to the microphone.
When President Trump told me to get every hostage back, he wasn't joking, declared the 45-year-old in a vest and t-shirt.
We will chase down everyone who has been taken hostage.
A bit away from him, close to the cockpit in the specially chartered plane, stood a smiling Yael Alexander. A few hours later, she would be reunited with her son Edan Alexander, a now 21-year-old American-Israeli soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas in connection with the terrorist-stamped movement's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Juice and Pastries
Last week's release of the 21-year-old joy scenes. The credit is attributed in several media to Adam Boehler, Donald Trump's special envoy for hostage response.
The "quiet architect" Boehler has his own methods. During the spring, he has met with Hamas representatives in Qatar, and thereby broken with the stated US doctrine of not negotiating with terrorists. It has happened with Trump's good will and yielded results, including in Edan Alexander's case.
But the talks with Hamas over freshly squeezed juice and the pastry kunafa, as reported by, among others, Axios and The New York Times, caused outrage in Israel and in the US Congress. In the Capitol, the indignation was so great that he withdrew his candidacy for the post of hostage envoy, an appointment that requires Senate approval.
A couple of weeks later, Trump appointed him as temporary envoy for hostage response, with an employment form that does not require a green light from the Senate.
New Line: Direct Talks
That the US has at least partially changed its negotiating strategy is confirmed by Majed al-Ansari, spokesman for the mediating country Qatar's Foreign Ministry.
They started taking such contacts a while ago, to get Americans released. The administration (Trump's has a different approach when it comes to hostages and people imprisoned abroad, it's about direct communication, he tells TT during a Sweden visit.
Recently, Boehler has worked intensively along that line. Besides Edan Alexander, he has seen to it that compatriots imprisoned in Mexico and Kuwait have been released. And he is said to be behind the release of several Americans held in Russia and by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
When it comes to the Taliban – and as a direct result of talks between Adam Boehler and his counterparts in Afghanistan – we could get three Americans released from Afghan prisons. And now, through direct contact with Hamas, they got Alexander free, confirms al-Ansari, adding that the new approach is appreciated.
Being able to sit together around a table, regardless of who is on the other side, is something we encourage. You don't have to agree with them. You don't have to like or legitimize them.
No Horns?
Probably, the new tactic is a product of Donald Trump's fondness for quick results and "deals". But unlike his outspoken boss, Adam Boehler – who during Trump's first term was involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords on normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain – seems to weigh his words more carefully. That he did not demonize Hamas in the statements surrounding the talks had great significance, writes Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, a Qatari news site based in London.
I understand that the Israelis are angry, but the US is not Israel's representative. We have our own interests, said the envoy in March.
I can meet Israelis and tell them that Hamas members don't have horns. They are men like us, friendly men.
Born in 1979 in New York. Has a degree in economics from the prestigious Wharton Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. During his student years, he became friends with President Donald Trump's son-in-law and former adviser Jared Kushner, and for a time shared an apartment with him.
Has a career in the business world and as an investor behind him, mainly in the healthcare sector. Now leads the Nashville-based company Rubicon Founders, which he co-founded.
Held several positions during Donald Trump's first term, including as head of a development center for the state healthcare insurances Medicare and Medicaid, as well as leader of DFC, which is under the aid agency USAID and worked with financing development projects.
Was involved in negotiating the Abraham Accords on normalized relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain (together with Kushner).
Is now Donald Trump's special envoy for hostage response.
Lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Shira and their four children.
