A man who has no official role at , Jared Kushner, last week found himself literally in the spotlight.
“Thank you Trump”
As the administration celebrated its victory in achieving a ceasefire in Gaza, Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, stood in his “hostage square” and addressed a cheering crowd that booed the reference to their prime minister , , then erupted in chants of: “Thank you, Trump!”
“October 7th was a shocking day for me,” said Kushner, who had swapped his usual suit for a plain black T-shirt. “Since then, my heart is no longer whole.”
He felt compelled, he said, “to see the hostages go home, to see their families get what they deserve, and to see this nightmare end. Also, to see an end to the suffering of the people in Gaza, who, for the most part, were experiencing this situation through no fault of their own, except that they were born into a horrible situation.”
It was a strong diplomatic move for a man whose boss and father-in-law
However, the quiet successor to his father-in-law’s real estate empire has quietly become Trump’s main channel of communication with the Middle East. Leveraging his network of contacts with regional leaders, he stands to reap huge profits if the goal of rebuilding Gaza is finally realized.
Kushner’s return to politics
It is a remarkable return to politics after Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, had effectively renounced politics following the January 6 riots at the United States Capitol that followed Trump’s 2020 election loss.
“Huge conflict of interest”
Now Kushner, who manages billions of dollars in investments, including from Saudi Arabia and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, through his investment firm Affinity Partners, is at the center of power in Washington.
“Of course there’s a huge conflict of interest here,” said Matt Dash, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy, who called lobbying the U.S. government open corruption.
“Corruption can keep the truce”
President Donald Trump greets Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump upon their arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, near Tel Aviv. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
But he added: “Part of the paradox is that the Trump Organization has so much influence in the Middle East that corruption could preserve the truce. Because everyone has a lot of money to make, there is interest and motivation to stop the war.”
The administration denies any conflict of interest in the diplomatic work of Kushner, who continues to manage an investment fund with billions of dollars from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
“Jared Kushner, pacifist and noble”
A giant poster shows images of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Middle East Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, in Tel Aviv, Israel October 12, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
“I find it frankly abhorrent that you’re trying to imply that it’s inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners in these countries, to put together a comprehensive and detailed 20-point plan that no other administration would ever be able to accomplish,” said White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt, to a reporter during a press conference earlier this month. “Jarrett devotes his energy and time to our government, to the president of the United States, to ensure world peace, and that’s a very noble thing to do.”
Studying diplomacy
Kushner, who was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in New Jersey, had no previous experience in diplomacy before being tapped to join Trump’s first administration.
He became the subject of derision after an interview early in Trump’s first term when he said he had “been studying this for three years. I’ve read 25 books on the subject, I’ve talked to all the leaders in the area, I’ve talked to everyone who has dealt with it.”
Now, JD Vance and other government supporters have reposted those statements with a sense of vindication.
When Trump returned to the White House in January, Kushner and Ivanka remained in their palatial $24 million mansion in Miami and took no official role in the transition, maintaining a greater distance from the administration than during Trump’s first term.
In the White House Kushner – Tony Blair on Gaza
For many, Kushner’s central role in the negotiations was unknown until he and Tony Blair attended a meeting at the White House in August to discuss planning for the post-war governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
Trump for Kushner
“I gave Jarrett the case because he’s very smart and knows the area, the people and a lot of the factors,” Trump said last week, shortly after the deal was announced.
“Veterans of the real estate market”
In an interview with the New York Times, Kushner explained it simply: he and Steve Witkoff, the president’s Middle East envoy, were “deal guys,” veterans of the New York real estate market who understood what made people tick.
“Many of those involved in this are history professors, because they have a lot of experience, or diplomats. It’s different being a negotiator — it’s a different sport,” Kushner said.
According to US officials, Kushner and Witkoff were given almost unlimited power by Trump to get the two sides to agree on a ceasefire: from a closed-door meeting between Trump and Arab leaders during the UN General Assembly to test a 20-point proposal on Gaza, to persuading Netanyahu to send a message of apology to his prime minister Qatar after an Israeli air strike on Doha last month, and an unprecedented meeting between White House officials and Hamas that led to the best chance to end the war in Gaza since it began in October 2023.
“Works in the background”
“One of his strengths was that he had no official status,” but had direct access to Trump, a former U.S. diplomat said of Kushner. “He was able to work behind the scenes and, through his business interests, bridge all those sides and build enough credibility to help get the deal done.”
Kushner: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an obstacle
Since Trump’s first term, according to diplomats and aides, Kushner has promoted the view that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was an obstacle to a broad rapprochement between Israel and Arab states, especially the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, that could transform the region economically.
After Netanyahu attacked Qatar earlier this month, Kushner and Witkoff reportedly saw an opportunity, as Arab leaders worried the attack could set a precedent for further attacks in the region.
Kushner dictated Netanyahu’s apology to Qatar
In an interaction first reported by the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by US officials, Kushner and Witkoff dictated the apology to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, which Netanyahu delivered by phone shortly before appearing with Trump at a White House summit House at the end of September.
“It was the kind of thing mature people do,” said a US official briefed on Witkoff and Kushner’s efforts to negotiate a truce. “That gave us some advantage.”
Observers say Kushner’s influence on Middle East policy has been evident since the start of Trump’s second term. The proposal to reshape Gaza into a vast coastal area was first floated by Kushner at an event at Harvard in 2024.
Critics accused Trump of promoting ethnic cleansing after he said Palestinians could be forcibly expelled from Gaza before reconstruction – an idea first floated by Kushner.
Aaron David Miller, a former diplomat and Middle East negotiator and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recalled meeting Kushner during Trump’s first term and described his nonchalant approach to diplomacy in the region.
Kushner told him, “Don’t talk to me about history. I don’t care about history. We do things differently here.”
The Kushner-Netanyahu ties
The Kushner family has maintained close ties to Netanyahu for decades, primarily through his father, Charles Kushner, who was a major donor to pro-Israel causes. The relationship was so close that Netanyahu once stayed at the Kushner family home in New Jersey, according to the New York Times.
Nevertheless, Kushner had told Miller that one of the key elements of Trump’s first-term diplomacy was that it would be “impossible for any Israeli prime minister to say no to him.”
“It was completely unknown to me … that this fundamental principle would create a situation very different from any other American President I had worked for.”
Describing the talks, a US official said Trump’s clear and unequivocal support for Israel enabled Kushner and Witkoff to work closely with Arab leaders and even meet directly with Hamas without alienating the Netanyahu government.
Trump, as well as Kushner and Witkoff, “stood 100 percent with Israel,” a US official said.
“Israel has great confidence in President Trump that he will not ask him to do anything that would jeopardize its security.”
Source: The Guardian
