Business

Jared Kushner is getting Saudi Arabia to invest in Israel for the first time

(FILES) In this file photo Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner attends a press conference on September 4, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. – US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week in a bid for further diplomatic deals in the region before leaving the White House, according to media reports on November 29, 2020. The visits would focus on resolving a dispute between Qatar and a Saudi-led alliance, the Wall Street Journal reported, but a number of issues could be on the agenda. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

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Jared Kushner, aka Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House Advisor, has a new private equity fund with plans to invest money from Saudi Arabia into Israel, according to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal. What’s most interesting is that Israel and Saudi Arabia have been on pretty bad terms for a long time – in fact, they have no diplomatic relations, and this is the first time to public knowledge that Saudi Arabia has ever invested in Israel.

Some have alleged that there’s something dirtier underneath, pointing to the US$2 billion given to Kushner’s firm by the Saudi wealth fund just six months after Trump left office.

Key comments:

“If we can get Israelis and Muslims in the region to do business together it will focus people on shared interests and shared values,” Kushner said. “We kicked off historic regional change which needs to be reinforced and nurtured to achieve its potential.”

“The newly reported deal looks quite a lot like MBS wanted to return the favor for all the political back-scratching,” wrote Zeeshan Aleem in an MSNBC op-ed, referring to Mohammed bin Salman. “Here’s what makes it feel so obvious: It’s a bad deal for MBS financially.”