U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced his selection of Adam Boehler to be the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs in the incoming administration.
Boehler previously led negotiations on the 2020 Abraham Accords, the agreement that normalized diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain that was later expanded to include Sudan and Morocco.
Trump touted Boehler’s experience as a negotiator and his unanimous confirmation by the Senate as the first CEO of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.
“He has negotiated with some of the toughest people in the world, including the Taliban, but Adam knows that no one is tougher than the United States of America, at least when President Trump is its leader,” the incoming president wrote. “Adam will work tirelessly to bring our great American citizens home.”
According to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation—named for a journalist killed by ISIS in Syria in 2014—there are currently 46 American nationals known to be held captive unjustly in 16 countries.
Seven U.S. citizens are currently being held by Hamas in Gaza after being taken by the terrorist group during Hamas’s terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Four of the seven have been confirmed as dead, with Hamas continuing to hold their corpses.
Trump said on Monday that there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas did not release its hostages by inauguration day on Jan. 20.
“Those responsible will be hit harder than anybody has been hit in the long and storied history of the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “Release the hostages now.”
‘Degrees of gray’
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, welcomed Boehler’s appointment on Wednesday.
“At a time when Americans are still being held hostage in Gaza, I am so glad to see President Trump fill this critical position early,” he wrote.
In media interviews, Boehler has previously said he would negotiate with Hamas “through strength” and described the Biden administration’s push for a pause in Israeli military operations as “appeasement.”
“How well did that work in 1979 when President Carter tried to do that with hostages in Iran?” Boehler said in an interview with Fox News in November. “It doesn’t work in this region.”
Asked what incentive Hamas had to negotiate given Israel’s stated goal of eliminating the terror group, Boehler said that the existing leaders of the terrorist organization have a choice to make about what level of destruction they will meet.
“There’s many degrees of destroying Hamas,” Boehler said. “There’s eradicating Hamas from the Gaza Strip and replacing it with a government that actually represents the Palestinians. That’s one. The other one is killing every single member. There are degrees of gray here. I’m sure Hamas knows that.”
