During an interview aired on Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son, Sagui Dekel-Chen, has been held hostage by Hamas, stated that he is grateful for the work of the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration that was “the catalyst” to reach a hostage release and ceasefire deal and there’s “very little doubt that what put this into motion was President Trump’s statement…about hell to pay, and that rattled cages around the Middle East, Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and also in the Israeli government.”
Dekel-Chen stated, “Well, my first reaction is gratitude to the two administrations, the outgoing Biden and the incoming Trump administrations, for really being the catalyst to make this happen. It’s a very rare thing, I think, in American politics today, and for something like this to happen, to sort of put aside the partisanship and to work together, shoulder to shoulder, over the course of the last few weeks, to bring us to the brink of ending this madness in Gaza and bringing our 98 hostages home.”
Later, co-host Amna Nawaz asked, “You have been very pointed in your criticism before of the Netanyahu government. You’ve accused them of not meaningfully participating in the efforts to get the hostages released. On the flip side, as you mentioned, Hamas has not been a reliable partner in these talks. But, in Israel, what do you think shifted that allowed things to get to at least this point today where there is a deal?”
Dekel-Chen answered, “It seems to me that there’s very little doubt that what put this into motion was President Trump’s statement, I believe about seven weeks ago, about hell to pay, and that rattled cages around the Middle East, Hamas, Egypt, Qatar, and also in the Israeli government. And while the plan that has been approved today, as so we learned a couple of hours ago, is pretty similar to the one that was first proposed by President Biden in late May of last year, it’s clear that the urgency to get it done no matter what came as a result of that statement seven weeks ago from President Trump.”
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