President Trump hosts former Hamas hostage and IDF soldier Edan Alexander to mark two years since the October 7 massacre — a poignant moment of faith, courage, and redemption.
On the solemn second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, US President Donald Trump will host former hostage Edan Alexander at the White House, honoring his extraordinary survival and symbolizing the unbreakable bond between Israel and the United States.
The meeting, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 p.m. Israel time), comes exactly two years after Edan and more than 250 innocent civilians were abducted by Hamas terrorists from southern Israel into Gaza in one of the most barbaric assaults on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Edan Alexander, an Israeli-American who made aliyah alone to serve as a lone soldier in the IDF’s elite Golani Brigade, endured 584 harrowing days in Hamas captivity before being freed through a deal brokered by President Trump’s administration.
During a previous White House meeting in July, Edan shared a remarkable story with the President — that his captors began treating him better after Trump’s victory in the November 2024 election, sensing that the tide had turned and that “America meant business.”
He also recalled the moment that gave him hope during his darkest days: seeing a photo of his parents praying with President Trump at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s gravesite on the anniversary of the massacre.
“That was the moment I realized my family was fighting for me all over the world,” Edan said. “I knew I would come home.”
Trump’s decision to host Edan on this day carries profound symbolism — not only as a tribute to the victims and survivors of October 7, but also as a reaffirmation of America’s moral leadership in the fight against terrorism.
Last week, the President unveiled his 20-point “Trump Peace Plan” for Gaza — a bold initiative aimed at ending the war, freeing the remaining 48 hostages, and ensuring that Hamas’s military and political infrastructure is dismantled once and for all.
A senior White House official said the President views Edan’s story as “the living embodiment of Israel’s courage, the Jewish people’s faith, and America’s unshakable commitment to bringing every hostage home.”
As the world remembers the 1,200 Israelis murdered and 250 abducted on that dark October morning, today’s meeting stands as a powerful testament: Evil may wound, but it can never conquer the spirit of freedom.
