Former United States President Donald Trump wanted to publicly support Blue and White Chairman Benny Gantz for Prime Minister before the March 2020 elections – this is what Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reveals in his new book that will be published on August 23. Kushner served as his senior advisor at the time of the American president.
why is it important:
Kushner’s words indicate how bad the relationship between Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu was at that time and how enthusiastic the American president was about Netanyahu’s political opponent Benny Gantz after their meeting on January 27, 2020, on the eve of the presentation of the plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Behind the Scenes:
Kushner writes in his book that the background to the words was Netanyahu’s speech at the presentation ceremony of the “Deal of the Century” at the White House on January 28, 2020, during which he announced that he would work to annex the Jordan Valley and the settlements in the West Bank, something that, according to Kushner, President Trump did not agree to at all. Trump’s senior advisor points out that before the ceremony at the White House, he specifically asked Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, that Netanyahu give a short speech and rise above politics. “Both the content and the style of the speech were off the mark. There was no call for reconciliation with the Palestinians. It was an election campaign speech for his voters at home and he presented our plan in a distorted way,” Kushner writes.
Kushner writes that he felt discomfort towards the Arab ambassadors who came to the ceremony to express support for the Trump plan and heard Netanyahu talk about annexation. “I promised them that there would be a balanced plan with compromises from both sides and this was absolutely not the deal that Bibi described in his speech,” he emphasizes.
According to Kushner, when the ceremony ended he walked with the president back to the Oval Office and Trump expressed disappointment with Netanyahu. “Bibi gave an election speech, I feel filthy,” Trump said, according to Kushner.
Trump’s senior adviser said that after the meeting with Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz that took place the day before, the American president praised the former chief of staff and said that he likes him very much. According to Kushner, shortly before the elections in Israel in March 2020, Trump contacted him and asked if he should take an unusual step and publicly support Benny Gantz’s candidacy for Prime Minister. A former senior official in the White House said to Walla! Because Kushner and the American envoy Avi Berkowitz advised Trump not to interfere in the Israeli elections and to deal with whatever the result may be.
What next:
Trump plans to run for the presidency of the United States in 2024. In an interview he gave at the end of June to the Newsmax network, Trump said that he was disappointed with Netanyahu, but did not rule out the possibility that he would support him if the former prime minister ran for re-election. “I’ll think about it,” Trump said.