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For someone who does not have an official role in the White House, Jared Kushner last week took the main stage as Donald Trump was essential in the Middle East.
When the administration took a victory lap to put down the fire in Gaza last week, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, then stood in Tel Aviv’s Sales Square, and later broke into the chase: “Thank you Trump!”
“October 7th for me was Built Day,” said Kushner, who had ditched his traditional business suit for a black T-shirt. “Since then, my heart has not stopped.” He felt he had a responsibility, he said, “To see the hostages come home, to see their families get the closure they deserve, and to end the night.”
It was a powerful political vision from a man who had been threatened with “hell” in Gaza. But the beloved heir to his father’s real estate empire has been quiet and blunt about Trump’s outreach in the Middle East, laying down the rolodex of leaders in the region and setting the goal of reviving Gaza at an all-time high.
It was a notable gain in the political spectrum after Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, took a political oath of office after a January 6 protest at the US Capitol following Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
Now, Kushner, who manages billions of dollars in investments including Saudi Arabia and Qarar’s Emperol West Fund in his Investment Fund, lives in the Nexus of Power in Washington DC.
“There’s definitely a huge conflict of interest here,” said Matt Duss, a former senior vice president at the Center for International Policy, who described the influence as “full of open deception.”
But, he added: “Part of what’s surprising is that the Trump organization is so entrenched in the Middle East where corruption supports the ceasefire.”
The administration has denied that there is a conflict of interest in Kushner’s political work while continuing to use investment funds to manage billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the Qatari State.
“I think you’re incredibly optimistic that you’re trying to suggest that it’s wrong for Jared Kushner, who is respected around the world and trusted by the most critical administrations in this country,” White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavet said earlier this month. Jared gives his energy and his time to our government, to the President of the United States, to protect the world, and that is a very good thing. “
Kushner, who was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in New Jersey, has no previous experience in speaking before he was proposed by his father, New York Real Estate Developer Charles Kushner, to join the first Trump administration. He was ridiculed after the first interview in Trump’s first term when he said “he was reading this now. I read all 25 books in the whole”.
Now, jd vence and other supporters have been treated and taken to repeating words that have the meaning of confirmation.
When Trump returned to the White House in January, Kushner and Ivanka stayed in the $24m Miami MegaMamuon and did not take a formal place in the transition, keeping more distance between them and the administration of Trump’s first name.
For many, Kushner’s major role in the negotiations was unknown until he and Tony Blair participated in a White House meeting in August to discuss planning for the Postwar Inspection and the reconstruction of Gaza.
“I put Jared in it because he’s a very smart guy and he knows the district, he knows the people, he knows the players very well,” Trump said last week shortly after the deal was announced. In an interview with the New York Times, Kushner simply explained: he and Steve Witkoff, “they manage the East East Heast, veterans of the New York Real Estate Event that we understood.
“A lot of people who do this are history professors, because they have a lot of experience, or diplomas. It’s very different from guys – it’s just a different game,” said Sushner.
According to US officials, Kushner and Witkoff were given almost unlimited authority by Trump to get both sides to agree with the Minister of Cump and the Arab Ministry last month, in an unprecedented meeting between the White House authorities and Hamas that led to a good opportunity to end the war in Gaza since it began in October 2023.
“One of his strengths was that he was illegal” but still had direct access to Trump, said Kushner’s former US diplomat. “He can work behind the scenes, and in his own business interests, to cover all sides and build enough credibility to help get a deal across the line.”
Related: ‘Water Property’: What are the interests of Trump Real Estate in Palestine?
Since Trump’s first term, diplomats and allies say, Sushner has pushed the idea that the Israeli conflict was a stumbling block to trade between Israel and the UAE, which could transform the region’s economy.
After the Tetangahu strike earlier this month, Kushner and Witkoff said they felt open, as Arab leaders worried that the attack could set a precedent for further strikes in the region.
In an interaction first reported by the Wall Street Journal and then confirmed by US officials, Kushner and Witkoff dictated the apology to the Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani that Netanyahu delivered by telephone shortly before he and Trump appeared together at a White House summit in late September.
“It was the best thing done by mature people,” said a US official on Witkoff and Kushner’s efforts to negotiate a ceasefire. “That got us some grounding.”
Observers say Kushner’s imprint on Middle East policy has been visible since the start of Trump’s second administration. One of the signature proposals – that Gaza be re-incorporated as a major maritime zone – was first presented by Kushner at an event at Harvard in 2024.
Aaron David Miller, who was the exhibitor of Colomat and the Middle East in the Middle East, and a high-ranking person in the international peace conference, remembered the meeting Kushner during the first time of Trump and explained his way of talking to the speakers.
“[Kushner] ‘Don’t talk to me about history,’ Miller recalled. I don’t care about history. We do things differently here. “
Kushner’s family has maintained close links with Netanyahu for decades, especially through his father, Charles Kushner, who was a major contributor to pro-Israel advocacy. The relationship was so close that Netanyahu once stayed at Kushner’s family home in New Jersey, according to the New York Times.
Despite that, Kushner told Miller that one advantage of Trump’s communication in his first term was that he “made it difficult for any Israeli prime minister to say no to him”.
“I didn’t know that … that system was actually creating an environment unlike any other American President I’ve ever served in,” Miller said.
Explaining the speeches, the American official said that the support of Israel’s words made Keshner and Witkoff work in cooperation with Arab leaders and meet directly with Netanyahu’s government.
Trump, along with Kushner and Witkoff, “were standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel 100%”, said the US official. “Israel has a lot of confidence in President Trump that he will not ask him to do anything that would compromise its security.”
