President-elect Donald Trump named Steven Witkoff, a longtime close friend and Jewish businessman, whom he called a “highly respected leader in business and philanthropy,” as his special Middle East envoy.
“Another great call. Steve is a brilliant businessman and a lover of Israel who will receive a warm welcome throughout the halls of power within the Middle East,” wrote David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Witkoff, who is chairman and CEO of an eponymous firm that he founded in 1997, “has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous,” Trump stated. “Steve will be an unrelenting voice for peace, and make us all proud.”
The businessman “has leveraged his extensive real estate expertise to successfully lead the financing, repositioning and construction of over 70 properties in major business districts in the U.S. as well as abroad and with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami,” the president-elect added.
He noted that Witkoff has also practiced law in addition to working in real estate and has served on the Real Estate Board of New York’s executive committee and the board of the Jeffrey Modell Foundation. He also chairs the real estate advisory board of the Miami Business School, is a trustee at Hofstra University and has been a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.
Witkoff, who was born in the Bronx, has been a major donor to Trump’s political action groups and was, as a lawyer, among Trump’s early clients. A 1999 profile in the Observer referred to Witkoff as “a spare, knifelike man who keeps a copy of the book Tough Jews on his desk and used to carry a gun while collecting rents uptown.”
“President-elect Trump has nominated Gov. Huckabee as ambassador to Israel. American Jewish Committee looks forward to working with Gov. Huckabee and newly appointed special envoy for the Middle East Steven Witkoff to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship, bolster Israel-diaspora relations, and promote strong connections between American Jewry and Israel,” stated Ted Deutch, CEO of the AJC.
