It seems that Jared Kushner has been secretly talking with MBS regarding the ever shifting and conflicting loyalties between the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and presumably Iran. It would be absurd to think that this was going on without Donald Trump being looped in on what those discussions entailed. Beyond the obvious conflict of interest involved given Kushner’s investment company apparent foreign influence peddling scheme, it could also be a violation of the Logan Act. And beyond that, it’s a very real question how much of an impact it could be having on how things are unfolding in the Middle East during this election cycle.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has discussed U.S.-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…
In a Sept. 18 speech, MbS said the kingdom would not recognize Israel without the creation a Palestinian state, suggesting a deal may be near 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 U.S. presidential election…
To encourage Saudi Arabia 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.
So, while Kushner was holding private talks with MBS and Donald Trump was again running to be president, MBS’s stance on recognizing Israel changed and became much more aggressively antagonistic towards what had been an agreed on approach with the Biden administration. That’s bad. But it gets even more messy. In spring of 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to re-open relations and their embassies to one another. This caused destabilization and paranoia in Israel:
Since returning to office late last year, Netanyahu and his allies have hinted that a deal with the kingdom could be approaching. In a speech to American Jewish leaders last month, Netanyahu described a peace agreement as “a goal that we are working on in parallel with the goal of stopping Iran.”
But experts say the Saudi-Iran deal that announced Friday has thrown cold water on those ambitions. Saudi Arabia’s decision to engage with its regional rival has left Israel largely alone as it leads the charge for diplomatic isolation of Iran and threats of a unilateral military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. The UAE also resumed formal relations with Iran last year.
Then later in 2023, after the start of the Israel/Hamas war, Saudi Arabia started talking with Iran again, further cementing Israel’s isolation and likely their hunger for more aggressive action against their adversaries in the region.
Saudi Arabia is putting U.S.-backed plans to normalize ties with Israel on ice, two sources familiar with Riyadh's thinking said, signaling a rapid rethinking of its foreign policy priorities as war escalates between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas…
The conflict has also pushed the kingdom to engage with Iran. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took his first phone call from Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi as Riyadh tries to prevent a broader surge in violence across the region.
The two sources told Reuters there would be a delay in the U.S.-backed talks on normalization with Israel that was a key step for the kingdom to secure what Riyadh considers the real
prize of a U.S. defence pact in exchange.
Of course, all of the instability, shifting loyalties, and hot military conflict in the Middle East is having a
sharp impact on markets and oil prices. And all of that is happening
by coincidence right before a major American election:
With Biden seemingly boxed in regarding the situation on the ground in Israel and its neighbors, pulled in several directions at once and trying to maintain some semblance of sanity in the region, his administration’s hands seem to be tied in many ways. The news that Kushner, and through him presumably Trump, is covertly working with MBS regarding Israel raises all kinds of questions that are reminiscent of the Iran hostage crisis that handed Reagan his victory over Jimmy Carter (ie where Reagan, who was of course not president at the time, was also working behind the scenes with a foreign power to rig the election in his favor).
Whatever Kushner and MBS have discussed, we’ve seen a lot of movement in the Saudi position over the last year or so, making it more difficult for Biden’s team to create stability in the region. It’s difficult to imagine that none of Saudi Arabia’s calculus had something to do with what Kushner was promising MBS if Trump were to win in November, especially since during a large portion of that time, the betting money was that it would be Trump, not the current president, who would be in a position to deliver promises to the region in 2025. And given Kushner’s relationship with Netanyahu, there’s even more reason to question what share of the current crisis in the region can be laid at the feet of the Biden administration or if more than previously thought rightly belongs to Trump and Kushner. Either through scheming or incompetence, whatever Kushner (ie Trump) talked about with Saudi Arabia doesn’t seem to be working out very well for America. I think we can safely say that Jared Kushner’s loyalties lie with himself and with his father in law, if only because Trump could be in a position to deliver even more wealth to his family if he regains the presidency.
Whether we’ll ever know what Kushner discussed with MBS is an open question, but the likelihood is that we will not. The fact that it happened at all is infuriating. The fact that it very likely is affecting the election and America’s national security is inexcusable.
