With Peace Plan Still Locked Away, Trump Envoy Kushner Visits Israel, Meets With Gantz and Netanyahu
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by Benjamin Kerstein
Jared Kushner meets with Benny Gantz (c) and Yair Lapid (l) in Jerusalem, Israel, Oct. 28, 2019. Photo: Jeries Mansour / US Embassy in Jerusalem.
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner visited Israel on Monday, meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his top rivals, Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid of the Blue and White party.
Gantz — who currently holds the mandate to try to form the next government after September’s inconclusive Knesset elections — tweeted, “I met today with the senior adviser to the US president, Jared Kushner, along with Yair Lapid and US Ambassador David Friedman. We spoke about developments in the Middle East and the good and strong relations between the US and [Israel].”
נפגשתי היום עם היועץ הבכיר לנשיא ארה”ב ג’ראד קושנר ביחד עם @yairlapid ושגריר ארה”ב דיויד פרידמן. דיברנו על התפתחויות במזרח התיכון והיחסים החזקים והטובים בין ארה״ב למדינה. pic.twitter.com/zQDLFeBjWK
— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) October 28, 2019
The Prime Minister’s Office announced that Kushner had also sat down with Netanyahu and his team, including National Security Council Director Meir Ben-Shabbat and Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer.
https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1188830110914404352
Kushner’s drop-by came at a sensitive time in Israel, amid the ongoing political stalemate, concern over Trump’s recent decision to withdraw US troops from Syria and the sense of a growing direct threat from Iran.
There is also still a lack of clarity if the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan Kushner has been working on over the past two and a half years will ever see the light of day. Its unveiling has been delayed indefinitely, due to the political instability in Israel.
