Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, praises ‘very valuable’ potential of Gaza’s ‘waterfront property’
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jared Kushner, former White House adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property,” and suggested that Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the area.
“Gaza’s waterfront real estate could be very valuable if people focused on building livelihoods,” Kushner said in a Feb. 15 interview posted earlier this month on the Middle East Initiative’s YouTube channel, a program of Harvard University. Kennedy School of Government, and first reported by The Guardian on Tuesday. “If you think about all the money that went into this tunnel network and all the munitions, if it had gone into education or innovation, what could have been done?”
“It’s a bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to get the people out and then clean it up,” Kushner added. “But I don’t think Israel has stated that they don’t want people to move there.”
Responding on Tuesday to will improve if the international community and their citizens take responsibility for their leadership.”
About 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Israel seeks to eliminate Hamas following the militant group’s deadly attack on October 7. Since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 70,000 injured in the Gaza Strip.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a future Rafah operation with Biden administration officials.
The agreement to hold such talks came as President Joe Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the rift between the allies over the Gaza food crisis and Israel’s behavior during the war has grown, according to reports. the White House. . White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the talks would take place in the coming days and were expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.
In last month’s interview, Kushner also suggested it could be possible to get civilians out of Rafah and possibly into Egypt “with the right diplomacy,” also putting forward a plan for the Negev Desert in southern Israel.
Furthermore, Kushner suggested that he would “just bulldoze something in the Negev, I would try to move people there,” adding, “I know this won’t be popular, but I think it’s a better option to do . , so you can go in and finish the job.”
“I think Israel has done a much harder job than many other countries in trying to protect civilians from casualties,” Kushner added.
The debate over the war between Israel and Hamas has emerged as a major theme of this year’s US presidential election, creating divisions between Biden and Trump, as well as within their own parties.
When asked in an interview Monday about Democrats’ growing criticism of Netanyahu over his handling of the Gaza war, Trump charged that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and hate “their religion,” setting off a firestorm of criticism from the White House and the White House. Jewish leaders.
He doubled down on those comments Tuesday, telling reporters in Florida that “the Democrats are very, very opposed to the Jewish people.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meanwhile, delivered a speech from the Senate floor, calling Trump’s comments “utterly disgusting and a textbook example of the kind of anti-Semitism Jews face.”
Kushner worked on a wide range of issues and policies within the Trump administration, including peace efforts in the Middle East. Noting that he is not interested in rejoining the White House if Trump — who last week became the presumptive Republican Party nominee — wins the 2024 presidential election, Kushner said last month that he was focusing on his investment activities and his life with his family in Florida. of the public eye.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP