Rep. John Curtis visited the Middle East hoping to find a path forward to peace

Rep. John Curtis went on a tour of the Middle East last week, trying to help find a way to end the war between Israel and Hamas.
In an interview with the Deseret News on Friday, the GOP congressman revealed the tough conversations he had with world leaders and high-level dignitaries about the war, his fears of an escalation, and his hopes for a long-lasting ceasefire.
The tour began in Israel. Curtis said he visited a soccer field in Northern Israel where several children were killed in a Hezbollah missile attack. Bikes and a soccer ball were still lying on the ground, next to the destruction caused by the rocket fire.
Curtis also met with the families of American hostages and joined them for dinner, sitting next to Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin. Despite being presumed alive, their son, Hersh, was found dead several days later.
Hersh Goldberg-Polin attended the Nova music festival that was attacked by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. He followed his instincts and sought refuge in a bomb shelter, but was taken hostage after being injured during the attack.
His mother, Rachel, “spent the evening talking about how for months they didn’t know if he was alive,” Curtis said. He noted the two parents had quit their full-time jobs to focus on getting their son home.
The GOP congressman found out about their child’s passing while on his way back to the United States.
“Having gotten to know him through his parents, I actually had that, that hurt in my heart as if it had been my own … my own friend,” Curtis said. “It was an intense trip.”
Traveling with Republicans Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, Curtis engaged in talks with foreign dignitaries about finding an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.
During his visit, Curtis said he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, as well as with high level officials from Qatar.
He said he sensed these leaders carry a tremendous burden. “They play a very pivotal role in what has gone poorly and could go much worse,” he said.
But is a ceasefire possible? Curtis said it is, before reflecting on the monumental solutions toward peace Israel and its neighbors have achieved in the past.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Accords, a historical peace treaty, in 1979.
“I was actually in Israel the day that Jimmy Carter signed a peace accord,” Curtis said, who was in the country as part of a Brigham Young University study abroad program.
At the time, Curtis recalled, “Everybody said that could never be done. And I do like to point out that … this is one of those moments where everybody has to find a path forward.”
He noted that the killing of six more hostages in Gaza last weekend, including American Goldberg-Polin, complicates the negotiations.
Curtis said he would have liked to visit Gaza but it wasn’t possible. The leaders he met with didn’t ignore the destruction in Gaza, he said, but focused their conversations around ending the conflict.
Jordanian, Egyptian and Qatari leaders understood Israel’s need for assurances about their security and supported making no exceptions. “We just assume that they’re not going to be on Israel’s side. But no, they are,” the GOP representative said. They also expressed concern over what they see as Hamas and Iran’s desire to escalate the conflict and create instability in the region.
He said one question that was left unanswered was, “What’s Israel supposed to do when their enemy hides under a hospital?” But, the GOP congressman said, they were united on not rushing to judgement over Israel’s difficult decisions.
“I came back more optimistic than I went, but that doesn’t mean the degree of difficulty isn’t extreme,” he said. Curtis said many of Israel’s neighbors value their relationships with both the U.S. and Israel.
Curtis, who is running for the Senate seat held by Mitt Romney, said he also asked the leaders if they had opinions on who should win the 2024 presidential election – Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. He received diplomatic answers, with most leaders saying it doesn’t matter to them. But, he said, “I think they do care.”