Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) had stated unequivocally that “we have to completely destroy Hamas” at a conference at the Pierre hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Monday. But on his way out, he was intercepted by relatives of Evyatar David, a 24-year-old Israeli hostage held captive by Hamas in Gaza, and his comments grew more nuanced.

Many families of the hostages and other Israelis are calling for an immediate deal to free the remaining captives in the Gaza Strip, even if Hamas retains power for the time being.

“It’s a hard thing for the president,” Scott told JNS of the quandary that faces U.S. President Donald Trump about whether to force a hostage release and ceasefire deal on Israel to bring about immediate results. 

I’m sure President Trump will make the right decision, but we’ve got to get these hostages home, and Hamas has to be destroyed,” the senator told JNS. “If Hamas is not destroyed, there will never be peace.”

Scott told JNS that he will see the president this week and plans to relay the messages from the relatives of hostages that “they appreciate his hard work.”

“I know President Trump is working hard to get hostages home, and I’ll thank him for what he’s done,” the senator said. “But, you know, he’s always reminded that there’s more to do.”

‘We’re closer than we ever were’

Adam Boehler, Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, told JNS on his way out of the same event that freeing the hostages or ousting Hamas from power is a “false choice.”

JNS asked the envoy what he would advise the president if Hamas offered to release the remaining hostages in exchange for ending the war and allowing it to continue to control Gaza. 

“It’s a false choice,” Boehler repeated, without elaboration.

The hostage affairs envoy said at the event that he believes “we’re closer than we ever were” to a deal between Israel and Hamas in part “because of the movement of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces on the ground.”

Israel has put significant military pressure on the Gaza Strip.

“If Hamas wants to come forward and make a legitimate offer they’re willing to stand by and release hostages, we’re always open to that,” Boehler stated publicly.

Boehler took a swipe at countries that issued statements on Monday criticizing Israel’s posture on the war and demanding that it permit more aid to flow into Gaza.

“The United States has always been a fervent supporter of Israel,” Boehler said publicly. “If I were a European country, I’d be particularly sensitive in how I criticize Israel.”

Simcha Rothman, a Knesset member from the Religious Zionism party and chair of the body’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, told JNS outside the conference that he doesn’t believe, as has been reported in the news, that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are divided on how to approach Gaza.

“We get support and we are very thankful, of course, in a time of need and always,” Rothman told JNS. “Israel must, of course, take action and fulfill, from my point of view, the best solution that makes the most sense to the situation, which is Trump’s solution.”

Trump has, at various points, proposed several approaches to the Strip. Rothman told JNS that he prefers one of the president’s articulated approaches in particular.

“You should say, ‘Open the gates of hell until they release all the hostages,’” Rothman said. “We must win this war. We must win this war fast, and I think Trump’s way is the best way to do it and that’s what we should do.”

‘We want to do this diplomatically’

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, discussed Iran in public comments on Monday at the conference. The congressman said that he trusts Trump “unequivocally” to deal with the Islamic Republic.

“The president, across the globe, wants to use business and not bombs. That’s his strategy, and we see that play out in this situation as well, but it plays out in a very pointed way,” Mast said publicly.

Trump has said that Iran’s economy could open up dramatically if there is a deal related to its nuclear program. 

“We want to do this diplomatically, but if we have to do it kinetically, don’t think that that’s off the table,” Mast said publicly. “It’s not off the table.”

Rothman told JNS that “100% of the political spectrum in Israel and everyone in Israel, and actually, everyone who understands the situation, knows you cannot have a nuclear Iran.”

“You cannot give them the capacity of basically destroying the free world,” the Israeli politician said.

Trump is “making sure that the entire region is safe from Iran,” Rothman told JNS. “He says, ‘If it will happen by agreement, by all means. If it does not, it goes by force.’ I think that’s the way to do it.”

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