Steve Witkoff: The real estate investor who sealed the Gaza ceasefire

With the Gaza ceasefire talks approaching Trump's declared deadline, his new Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff went to close the deal with Benjamin Netanyahu.

When he was told by Netanyahu's office that he was not available during Shabbat, he allegedly responded in a "salty" response, making it clear that he didn't care, says the Middle East Eye.

In the words of one report from Haaretz, Witkoff said Trump expected Israel to agree to the ceasefire, and "things that Netanyahu had termed life-and-death issues…suddenly vanished".

So, who is Witkoff, Trump's new man in the Middle East?

Witkoff is a Republican and a billionaire Jewish-American real estate developer. His soft, slightly nasally voice masks his reputation as a hard-charging negotiator who developed the nerve for leveraged loans as a teenager betting at the racetrack. When he was starting off in the cut-throat world of New York City real estate in the 1990s, he wore a handgun strapped to his ankle, according to a Wall Street Journal expose from the time. 

Witkoff has been praised for pushing the ceasefire across the finish line. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani credited him in a speech announcing the deal on Wednesday, albeit one usurped by Trump's earlier proclamation that an "EPIC" ceasefire had been reached. It is important to note that Witkoff was mentioned before the sitting Biden administration's envoy, Brett McGurk. 

The New Yorker turned south Floridian has no official training as a diplomat and his appointment epitomises Trump's disdain for traditional bureaucrats and policy wonks, who are steeped in area expertise and boast graduate degrees in international relations but lack private sector experience.

"We have people that know everything about the Middle East, but they can't speak properly…he is a great negotiator," Trump said at a press conference in January, praising his friend.

There, Trump reiterated his now infamous pledge that "all hell will break out" in the Middle East if the hostages held in Gaza were not freed by the time he takes office on 20 January. "You know what that means, do I have to define it for you," he barked at a journalist, who pressed for details.

Witkoff may not have Trump's bravado, but the two golfing friends go back nearly forty years.

Fix, lease, sell...or refinance

Witkoff first met Trump in 1986 when he was a young real estate lawyer at a white-shoe law firm where the future president was a client. Associates say Witkoff was inspired to ditch his corporate job and enter real estate because of Trump.

Witkoff started out by buying small tenements in the Bronx and Harlem during the 1987 real estate crash. His early deals were a far cry from globe-trotting ones he would strike later in the Gulf. He relied on a small regional bank called M&T in Buffalo, New York, for loans.

To cut costs, he performed the labour on his buildings himself - even reportedly leaving a 1992 New Year's Eve dinner party to dig a sewage trench.

Like Trump, his real estate empire was based on debt and a close-knit circle of family, friends, and their relatives - some of whom he hired when they were out of work.

"We fix buildings, lease them up, and then sell or refinance them," Witkoff told The Wall Street Journal in a 1998 interview.

By then, Witkoff was a proper player in New York real estate with bodyguards and a sprawling empire of office buildings.

Witkoff Group's portfolio comprises properties in New York, southern Florida and Los Angeles. One of his latest projects is Shell Bay, a luxury golf development near Miami, where one-bedroom condos start at $1.9m.

Praise on Gulf states

Like the Trump organisation, Witkoff's firm has done business with the energy-rich Gulf.

In 2023, he sold Manhattan's swanky Park Lane Hotel to the Qatari Investment Authority, the country's sovereign wealth fund, for $623m. Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund also took a stake.

Trump has tapped a slew of Middle East experts for senior government positions, often those who have been critical of Qatar and Islam.

Witkoff's incoming deputy, former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, said she converted to Judaism in Saudi Arabia, where people "hate Jews".

Trump tapped Eric Tagger, a Republican Senate staffer who has slammed Qatar for its alleged ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, as the top official overseeing the Middle East at the National Security Council.

However, Witkoff has rarely waded into the details of Middle Eastern culture and religion or debates on groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. He is all business and has been universal in heaping praise on Gulf states. 

At Qatar's 20204 Economic Forum, he praised Qatar, calling it "very, really impressive", adding, "whoever they had who master planned here did a really good job…this is solid government. The hotels here are magnificent".

Witkoff has expressed similar admiration for the UAE's pro-business agenda. In December, he took the stage at Bitcoin MENA, a cryptocurrency conference in Abu Dhabi. Witkoff and Trump's sons are cofounders of World Liberty, a crypto company.

Witkoff doesn't speak much in public, but when he does, he is measured and deliberate. Appearing on Fox News in January, he said Trump's "strong stance, his certitude in asserting that 'all hell would break loose' is moving people", when asked about the ceasefire talks. 

He added: "They (the hostages) are living in terrible conditions, and it's time for everybody to come back."

His remark that "There will be plenty of Palestinians who will be released as a result of this and they will go home to their families," did not elicit a response from Fox News host Sean Hannity.

With Trump saying he will use the hostage deal to expand the 2020 Abraham Accord agreements, Witkoff is likely set to delve deeper into the world of Gulf politics and the Israel-Palestine conflict.

He has also said he wants to solve tensions with Iran over a nuclear weapon "diplomatically…if people are willing to adhere to their agreements", but, ever the negotiator, he did not show too much of his hand: "We are not going to have a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."