Jordana Miller, ABC News correspondent Interview

Jordana Miller talks with Mendte in the Morning about the release of Edan Alexander from Hamas captivity.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'll tell you what we've all seen now if you haven't,
we'll play as some of the sound from it. We've
all seen the mother and child reunion in Israel between
hostage Edon Alexander who was released, who grew up in Tenafly,
and her mother in Israel. And if you didn't get
emotional when you saw when you heard this, you need

(00:23):
to check yourself. Wow that you could feel the outpouring
of emotion of not only the heartbreak that they've been
going through in the in the concern, but the exhilaration
of Edon finally being in his mother's arms. Let's go

(00:49):
to Jordana Miller, who has been covering this story from
the very beginning in Israel. Jordana, I know that you're
a non biased reporter, but you had to feel something
this moment.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Listen. I think everyone that's been living in Israel through
this war felt something.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
It's like a great wave. It brings all of us
up for a little bit. We realize, Wow, a young
person's life was saved from you know, the dark tunnels
and torture tunnels of Hamas captivity. It's something to celebrate.
Feels like a miracle. For hours and hours, and that's
what it was like yesterday, and so much emotion around

(01:33):
those reunions with his mother and his siblings, and his dad,
later his grandmother, who I can tell you has been
All of them have been on Israeli media. They've been
fixtures really since October seventh. And I'm not sure anyone
quite believed that he would get out because he was

(01:54):
an Israeli soldier. He was in uniform on October seventh,
and those are the last guys that Hamas, you know,
will let out, and usually for a very heavy price.
But President Trump, you know, he is always the disruptor,
and here he decided to talk directly with Hamas and
secure his release. The Israelis didn't have to pay anything.

(02:17):
They didn't release any Palestinian prisoners, anybody with blood on
their hands for his release. They did temporarily pause the
fighting around the area where he was released yesterday.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Oh, Jordana Millwerre just cut out. We'll try to get
her back. But I can I can imagine all of
this happening, but I would imagine all.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Of them have come through and he was then quickly.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, it's we're cutting in and out with jor daddy,
let us try to get Jordana. You're cutting in and
out for some reason. We're going to try to get
a bitter connection if that's okay, and then uh, and
then come on back on, because it's important to hear
what your Dana has to say right now, since she's
been covering this for so long. But I guess the

(03:09):
next question for Jordana is, yes, this is exciting, and
it is exciting. And Donald Trump did negotiate this and
did talk with Amas and that's why this happened. And
dam was extremely thankful for that. He held up a
sign that said thank you Donald Trump as he was
in the plane. But I would imagine that in Israel

(03:31):
right now there are other hostages, other hostages believed to
still be alive, and other bodies. I would imagine the
feeling in Israel is right now. This is a wonderful moment.
This is an exhilarating moment. It's hope. It brings everybody hope.
But the hope it brings for the highest hope is

(03:52):
for those who have family being held hostage by Hamas.
And you have to just be human in this and say,
this is so wonderful I'm so happy for the Alexander family.
I'm so happy that Edon has been released, But what
about my son? What about my daughter? You have to

(04:14):
think of all the hostages at this point. Yes, there
is elation when one is released, and it brings hope
to everybody, and it brings hope to the families of
the other hostages. I get that, But it comes with
the realization that others are still being held. And now
we have Jordana Miller back. What I was just talking about,
Jordana is that and you can address this better than

(04:37):
I can. That there has to be a feeling of
elation in Israel, but also there are other hostages still
being held, some of them still alive.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
That's right, that's right. I was just getting to that.
We all feel this wave of elation that someone has
been saved and comes out of Gaza, but then it
only takes few hours to realize that wait a second,
there's still twenty living hostages and more than thirty bodies
that Hamas is holding, including for American bodies, and you know,

(05:13):
there's still a lot of work to be done to
get them out. I think one of the most important
I would say, byproducts of this direct negotiation President Trump
carried out with Hamas is that he you know, in
some sense, he bypassed Israel completely and it was in

(05:33):
some sense an embarrassment for the Israly Prime minister. On
the other hand, he was able to put Natanielle in
a position where Natanielle really has to go back to
the negotiating table and figure out if he can get
another ceasefire instead of embarking on this massive ground operation

(05:53):
that he vowed to implement and begin what he called,
you know, the new phase of the war, totally conquering Gaza.
If clear, President Trump doesn't want that. He wants a piece,
He wants a deal, and he's it seems like he's
really telling the prime minister, you're gonna, you know, we
need you to try to to get a deal. And

(06:15):
the Prime Minister is sending a delegation to Doha today.
And I think that's good news because this kind of
maverick move has paid off, not only in bringing out
Idon Alexander, who was kidnapped just at the age of nineteen,
right he had two birthdays in captivity, young man American

(06:37):
from New Jersey, but also to try to put the
whole ceasefire talks back on track and try to get
some more hostages out and in a period of quiet
and more aid into Gaza. It's clear that's what the
president wants, and it's not clear that's always what the
Israeli Prime Minister wants.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Jor Dana Miller, ABC News correspondent, reporting from Jerusalem. Jordana,
always great to talk to you, and I feel so
happy for you and all of the people in Israel
right now and of yours. You're right, more work has
to be done, but this is a positive step forward.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
J Miller, A little light in the dark.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yes, that's that's very well said Jordenna Miller, ABC News
correspondent from Jerusalem.