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This week President Trump issued a last warning to Hamas saying in part, Release all the hostages now or it's over for you. 10 applies Ian Alexander, believed to be the last living American hostage in Gaza. This week I spoke to his father Adi Alexander and Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who recently returned from Qatar where he met with negotiators. Congressman, Mr. Alexander, thank you both for joining us. Thanks for having us. Thank you, Mr. Alexander. I want to start with you. A moment ago I spoke of the hell that's been endured by Ian. You and your wife have shared in this every day since October 7th. What have you told yourselves this past year and a half to persevere and, and how do you continue to find the strength every day? First of all, it took too long. Obviously the deal that was executed, at least the first phase of this deal was constructed a year ago back in the end of 2023, but we knew that our son is alive. He was seen in those tunnels by other released hostages. The hostages that were released in November of 2023, and we saw the video, the hostage video that Hamas released, and this is what kept us strong and we kept fighting for our son. Congressman, Hamas has rejected an extension of phase one of the ceasefire. Ian is supposed to be part of phase two of the ceasefire hostage release deal. What's your understanding on where negotiations currently stand? I mean, I think the, the key here is everyone is staying at the table, you know, the, the, and part of why I was in Qatar was to make sure all the parties stay at the table until we get it down and the other hostages home. I mean, there, you know, we, we don't leave anyone behind. We certainly don't leave an American behind. Uh, and we have to do everything we can every single day to pressure all the parties to keep working this until this happens, you know, and, and that means, you know, my position on this hasn't changed. We've got to crush Hamas and the other terrorists, um, and we've got to get the hostages home. Um, but you know, just, just to rewind a second of the question you, you asked about how the Alexander. Do it. It's a question that I ask myself every day. You've never seen a stronger family and a stronger community rally together, uh, and to, to get a Don Ho, who's just a regular American kid, right, went to 10 to fly high school, swam on the team, seen the pictures from the prom. You know, this is just, uh, a regular kid from a Jersey neighborhood, and we've got to get him home. An American and and I think, you know, that is what every single day I think about as I'm fighting for this, and I just, and I, the strength that I gather from the Alexander family, I can't really explain enough just how incredible they are and and how they fight every single hour and stay positive. Mr. Alexander, can you share your thoughts on where the ceasefire and the negotiation process is right now? So as the first phase ended, the second phase was left blurry, so we kind of in a no man land, and this is a new team's task to reshuffle the cards and to renegotiate. So my understanding that as we speak it's in process. We're dealing with a really tough opponent, to say the least. Um, but we, we hopeful everybody should stay at the bargaining table and keep fighting for our kids. Hamas, of course, is known for psychological terror, releasing videos of hostages again, you referenced this a few moments ago that your family received a sign of life, I think it was back in November. Uh, can you describe the range of emotions when you saw Idan in that video? Um, at the beginning, it was a short promo, uh, very, uh, early a.m., and, uh, then the full version of this video was released 33 or so minutes. Um, but, um, It was, again, it was the first sign of life for us. We saw our son for the first time after almost 422 days. Um, he, he looked pale, but he looked OK, and the most important thing, he was alive. Congressman, in in recent weeks we have seen hostages released so gaunt, so malnourished they look like Holocaust survivors, and, and when the bodies of Bair and Ariel Bebes were turned over to the Red Cross, uh, there was music blaring. There were celebrations, children cheering as their bodies were paraded in Gaza. What was going through your mind as you were watching all of this unfold? But I don't know how any American could watch that and not be sickened by what they saw and getting, you know, the mom sending the wrong body home, um, and, and watching the pictures of those, those young children. Uh, and they could be any of our kids, right? And, and the way they paraded all of the hostages who were released around, right? As if, as as you point out, like as if they were celebrating. Uh, it is, this is what you're dealing with when you're dealing with terrorists. Um, uh, that said, we've got to get all the parties to make sure they stay at the table. That's including the not just the Qataris and Hamas and the Israelis and the Egyptians and others to stay and work this through until we get a down the other hostages out. And, and I think that has to be our, our, our major focus. What I'm working on every day. It's why I was in Qatar, um, not just to make sure we get to that next phase and keep this moving along, but to make sure they don't forget that there will be a price to pay if, if, if Hamas, if, if, if Hamas continues on their path of terror and if Adan doesn't get home immediately. Mr. Alexander, could you even Bring yourself to to watch the handovers as they're happening. It's a really tough scenes, you know, and also returning the wrong body at the beginning and then it's, it's unbelievable. It's simply unable, unbelievable, but again, we, we are dealing with a really tough opponent. I mean, I wish it could be over really soon and at least the guns are quiet and we have some sort of the ceasefire, so that, that keeps us hopeful. Have you thought about what you will say to Adan when God willing you finally have him in your arms again? Just a huge hug and so many questions to ask about the October 7th and about this specific day, what happened on that day, and he obviously he's going through a very tough times and he's going through hell and he, but hopefully he will say to us that it wasn't so bad after all. My thanks to uh the Alexander and Congressman Gottheimer for sitting down with me this week. Please stay with us when we return, a new ballot design for New Jersey next on Power and Politics.

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Welcome back to Power and Politics. I'm Eric Lanz Kroner. New Jersey's attorney general extremely busy these days, what with all the lawsuits against the Trump administration. This week, AG Matt Platkin joined 20 other states in filing a lawsuit to stop mass firings of federal probationary. Employees, he says that these firings will impose irreparable burdens and expenses on the states, both to support recently unemployed workers while harming state finances and undermining state and federal partnerships, and New Jersey is asking the court to do the following. Now rule that the mass firing of probationary employees is illegal, reinstate unlawfully fired employees, stop further similar terminations, and identify affected employees. And in yet another lawsuit, the AG is teaming up with two other blue states. and Massachusetts suing over what he calls the illegal early termination of federal education grants. Platkin says that the grants are needed to help reverse a shortage of K-12 teachers in areas like math and special education. Platin releasing a statement that says in part, uh, we need more people to enter the teaching profession, not fewer, and this illegal action by the Trump administration will harm not only teachers but students in New Jersey who will be deprived of the education they're entitled to. And here's an interesting nugget for you. The governor's budget proposal includes a million dollars to hire more lawyers to challenge the Trump administration. On this week, Governor Murphy signed a controversial bill to overhaul how the state's primary ballot will look. Ballots will now be designed in an office block form, so no more county line, which gave party-backed candidates preferential placement on the ballot. Several advocacy groups and lawmakers are speaking out, including Senator Andy Kim, whose recent campaign helped put. End to the county line. He expressed his disappointment on X posting in part almost exactly a year ago. I testified in court to fix New Jersey's broken ballot and make our politics more fair. The simple premise was to have every candidate treated exactly the same on the ballot. The bill signed Thursday falls short of what voters deserve. New Jersey is extending in-person early voting. Voters will now have 6 days to fill out their ballots for early voting during non-presidential election years like this one. Previously, voters had 3 days to vote early in the primaries and 5 days to vote early in the presidential election. Governor Murphy signed the bill into law Tuesday. And that'll do it for this week. I'm Eric Lanz Kronner. As always, we thank you so much for watching New Jersey Power and Politics. We'll see you again next time.

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Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey politics at Rider University, joins the show. 

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