Jared Kushner, the former White House aide and son-in-law to President Donald Trump who played a leading role in crafting the Abraham Accords, says that the war between Israel and Hamas should “pause,” but not end, efforts at peace and normalization.
Kushner spoke in an extensive interview with Lex Fridman, most of which was recorded before Palestinian terrorists murdered over 1,300 Israelis on Saturday. They returned to record more after the attack, and to reflect on the path ahead for the region.
Here's my conversation with @jaredkushner, former Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump, and one of the most influential presidential advisors in modern history. We discuss the Hamas attack on Israel in the full context of the history and geopolitics of the region. This… pic.twitter.com/T8r99Ssi2c
— Lex Fridman (@lexfridman) October 11, 2023
Kushner, who played a leading role in crafting the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade, as well as in Middle East diplomacy, said that now would not be the time to resume talks, because of pressure on both sides of the Arab-Israeli dialogue.
“I think right now it’s probably not the best to think about that, I think that we want to think about that after whatever is going to happen,” he said, adding that Israel’s goal was to “eliminate or degrade” Hamas and “other Iranian threats” to its security.
“My instinct … [is] that it would be a game-changer for the region. It’s one of Iran’s worst nightmares … I always expect countries to act in their interests. I think the deal that’s on the table right now between Saudi, Israel, and America, is in Saudi’s interest, it’s in America’s interest, and it’s in Israel’s interests … Political dynamics come and go. Let’s get through this moment.”
The Abraham Accords were signed three years ago between the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Israel, and the U.S., and later included Kosovo, Sudan, and Morocco to establish peace and normal relations between Israel and Arab and Muslim states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday evening that he wanted to continue the normalization process. Two of the Abraham Accords partners, the UAE and Bahrain, condemned Hamas’s tactics without explicitly endorsing Israel’s war effort.
The Saudis have hinted that normalization talks have stopped, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) spoke with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this week, despite Raisi’s ecstatic support for the terrorists.
However, no party to the Abraham Accords has broken off relations with Israel or recalled ambassadors, leaving the deal intact.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
