Edan Alexander thanks Trump – ‘You’re the only reason I’m here’

The president jokes that he is nervous talking to the recently freed hostage, telling Edan Alexander that he is now the more famous one.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Edan Alexander, the American-Israeli hostage released last week by Hamas as a supposed goodwill gesture to U.S. President Donald Trump, thanked the president personally in a phone call on Tuesday that went viral after being released by the White House.

Smiling and with his voice shaking slightly, the 21-year-old IDF soldier said, “Mr. President, you’re the only reason I’m here. You saved my life.”

Very graciously, the president joked, “I’m very nervous talking to you, Edan, because you’re a much bigger celebrity than I am.”

“That’s no way to become a celebrity; we’ll do it a different way next time,” he added, with Alexander and his family laughing in response.

Trump noted that “for awhile, we thought we lost you,” referring to statements Hamas had made while negotiations for Alexander’s release were going on, when the terror group claimed that they had “lost touch” with the soldier after an Israeli air strike.

Rubbing his forehead, Alexander responded, “Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m really honored, and you’re an American, and we love you, and we’re going to take good care of you,” Trump responded before going on to praise Alexander’s parents, who were in constant touch with both the previous and the current American administrations during their son’s 19-month horrific ordeal in the hands of Hamas terrorists.

“Your parents are incredible. I saw your mother. She was pushing me around a little bit—putting a lot of pressure on me,” Trump said with more humor.

Alexander’s mother, Yael, could be heard breaking into laughter in the background, saying first, “Like a good mom,” and then, “Like a Jewish mom.”

The phone call took place as the family was sitting in the Sourasky Medical Center on Monday, where Alexander had been taken for a thorough examination and initial recovery after being released to the Red Cross, which transported him over the border to IDF hands.

U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff rushed to see them the next day and used his phone to set up the call with the president, who was in Saudi Arabia to begin his three-day trip to Arab allies in the Middle East.

Trump ended the phone call with Alexander’s parents, commending both them and himself over the success in returning their son.

“Congratulations,” Trump said. “It’s lucky I produced because otherwise I would have been in trouble. They were saying Trump is the only one who can do it.”

He then invited the family to the White House to have “the biggest celebration we could have.”

In his own phone call to the Alexanders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu credited both Trump, for his diplomatic effort, and the IDF, for its recently stepped-up military pressure on Hamas, saying they were the “winning combination” that led to the former hostage’s freedom.

There are still 58 hostages being held in Gaza, 35 of whom are known to be dead.