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Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is expressing his hope that the former president will win reelection in 2024 while praising the Trump administration, in which he was a senior adviser, for its Middle East policies.
While Kushner has been vocal about his support for his father-in-law's campaign, his wife, Ivanka Trump, has chosen to remain quiet. After Trump announced his run for president last November, she made it clear that she does "not plan to be involved in politics." She also served as a senior adviser in her father's administration.
Kushner, meanwhile, is speaking highly of Trump while saying that President Joe Biden has shown weak leadership during Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Hamas' recent attack on Israel.
Appearing on Lex Fridman's podcast, Kushner said, "I do think that the job [Trump] did as a foreign policy president was tremendous. Now, more and more people are beginning to recognize that.
He continued: "Now, under President Biden, this is the second war that's broken out in the world, and when you have weak leadership, the world becomes a less safe place," he said, referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict. "My hope and prayers are that President Trump is reelected and that he's able to then restore calm and peace and prosperity to the world."
Kushner, who headed Middle East policy in the Trump White House, particularly relations between the Palestinians and Israel, also said there would be hope for peace in the Middle East if Trump wins the presidential election. The former administration, he said, had a foreign policy aimed at making the Middle East an economic and diplomatic resource for the U.S.
"I do think that the region has tremendous potential, it's just been held back by bad policy, bad leadership, bad objectives," he said. "When President Trump left office in 2021, the Middle East was really on a very positive trajectory, and if the right things happen, it can continue to be so."
However, since Saturday's Hamas attack on Israel that has led to a new war in the region, Kushner has been criticized for his foreign policy initiatives in the Trump administration.
Kushner aided Trump in the brokering of the Abraham Accords, a peace agreement between Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates that was signed in September 2020. But Kushner has been criticized for the agreement's failure to provide any solutions to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
As for Ivanka, while she has chosen to remain out of the political spotlight, she said last November "I love my father very much" on the day he announced he was running for the White House again.
"This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family," she wrote on Instagram.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more