President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will likely continue to play a critical role in the Middle East negotiation efforts, though this time in an unofficial capacity outside the Trump administration, CNN reported on Friday.
According to the report, Kushner’s close relationships throughout the region are seen as hard to replicate. CNN cited regional diplomats as well as Israelis who worked with Kushner during the first Trump administration.
Kushner has discussed US-Saudi diplomatic negotiations involving Israel with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman multiple times since leaving the Trump White House, said a source familiar with the discussions.
The source did not identify when the talks took place and whether they occurred before or after the start of the Gaza conflict. But they included discussions on the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a key diplomatic objective of both the Biden and Trump administrations, the source said.
Kushner, 43, has a close relationship with the kingdom, which congressional investigators say has invested $2 billion in his private equity fund, Affinity Partners, that he set up after leaving the White House.
Affinity and Kushner have denied that Saudi Arabia’s investments are a payoff or a conflict of interest. Affinity said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and his staff do not understand the realities of private equity.
Talks on Israel recognition hit roadblock
“The reason so many people go to Jared for his insights and his opinions is that he’s had such a record of successes,” said a spokesperson for Kushner.
The source close to the equity fund manager declined to provide more details of the discussions with the crown prince, also known as MBS, saying he did not want to violate the friendship between the two. “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to share that,” the source said.
A spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in Washington did not answer questions about Kushner’s discussions with MBS.
In a September 18 speech, the crown prince said the kingdom would not recognize Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, suggesting a deal may be close to impossible for the foreseeable future.
That’s a shift from February, when three sources told Reuters that Saudi Arabia was willing to accept a political commitment from Israel to create a Palestinian state, rather than anything more binding, in a bid to get a defense pact with Washington approved before the US presidential election.
To encourage the Saudis to recognize Israel, the Biden administration has offered Riyadh security guarantees, assistance with a civilian nuclear program, and a renewed push for a Palestinian state. The deal could reshape the Middle East by uniting two longtime foes and binding the world’s biggest oil exporter to Washington at a time when China is making inroads in the region.
But the Gaza conflict has thrown the talks into uncertainty. The war and humanitarian crisis have strengthened Arab and Muslim support for the Palestinians in their decades-long conflict with Israel over land and statehood, making it difficult for Saudi Arabia to discuss recognizing Israel without addressing Palestinian aspirations.