Trump highlights plight of Gaza hostages and their families at inauguration event
In speech at Capitol One Arena, new US president also describes those punished for January 6 Capitol riot four years ago as 'hostages'
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Freed Gaza hostage Noa Argamani along with families of those still held hostage by Hamas were given front row seats at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration event.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, told the audience at the event in Washington DC’s Capitol One Arena that family members and released hostages were in attendance “because they’re part of an effort to retrieve their bodies so they can be buried in a proper way.”
To loud applause from the audience, Witkoff then invited the familes up onto the stage to shake hands with new president and other dignatories.
As crowds in the arena clapped, the hostages’ family members stood in a line wearing yellow scarves and holding photos of their family members kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
When the president spoke, Argamani, rescued last June by the IDF after 245 days in captivity, was seen sitting directly behind him.
Argamani was 25 when she was taken hostage from the Nova Music Festival by Hamas terrorists on a motorbike with footage of her being kidnapped, as she yelled “Don’t kill me!” becoming one of the defining images of the terror attack.
Her terminally ill mother, who had appealed for her release, lived long enough to see her return from captivity, but died three weeks later.
In a reference to the hostages Trump said in his speech: “So now the work begins. We won! We won! But now the work begins. We have to bring them home.”
He had made an earlier reference to the hostages in his first inaugration speech.
But in a move that angered some commentators the new president then made several references to those convicted of or charged with crimes related to the January 6 Capitol riot four years ago as “hostages.”
He then confirmed his plan to sign an executive order later on Monday regarding the “J6 hostages”.
Speaking later at the Oval Office Trump has said he is “not confident” the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal will be upheld through all three phases. Asked by journalists on Monday about his view on the deal, Trump said: “It’s not our war. It is their war. I am not confident.”
But he appeared to reference Hamas when he said: “But I think they’re very weakened on the other side.”
Admitting the Gaza Strip now looked like “a massive demolition site”, Trump said it will have to be “rebuilt in a different way.”
He added Gaza is in a “phenomenal location” along the Mediterranean Sea with the “best weather,” and that “beautiful things could be done over there, fantastic things.”
In further comments Trump said he believes an Israeli-Saudi Arabian normalisation deal can be reached.
“I think Saudi Arabia will end up being in the Abraham accords. .. Soon. Not a very long way, ” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office while signing off executive orders on his inauguration day.
Trump’s new Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had also pledged to expand the Abraham Accords, the US-backed agreements struck during Trump’s first term of office.
“A stable and prosperous Middle East is not an unattainable dream. It is a goal within our reach,” Witkoff said, introducing Trump at an inauguration rally.
Trump also signed an executive order on Monday night to protect the United States from “foreign terrorists and other national security and public threats”, which mandates the government to remain “vigilant” in issuing visas to foreign nationals.
The order stresses that those approved for entry must not pose a threat to Americans or national interests. It did not state which organisations were immediately impacted by is believed to signal the end of funding to the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.
The US had historically been UNRWA largest contributor but had suspended contributions to the agency until March this year.
Trump also revoked an executive order brought in by former president Joe Biden which authorised the sanctioning of West Bank settler extremists.
In a further controversial moment, billionaire Elon Musk was widely condemned for making what appeared to be a fascist Nazi-style salute at the end of his speech.
Hours later, Musk responded to the criticism of the gesture in a post on X.
“Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is so tired,” he wrote while reposting a message from 2022 in which he declared that he was no longer a Democrat and as a result was awaiting a “dirty tricks campaign”.
Musk had pounded his chest and shot his right arm in an angular motion toward the sky after making a speech celebrating the arrival of the new Trump administration, saying he felt its ideology in his “heart.”
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