TEL AVIV – Israel would “welcome” President-elect Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner as peace broker with the Palestinians, the country’s top diplomat said.
“We would be so happy if someone could bring peace to the Middle East. We welcome him,” Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
Hotovely’s remarks follow Trump’s statement to the New York Times that Kushner, who is married to the president-elect’s daughter, Ivanka, “could be very helpful” in brokering a deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
“I think he’d be very good at it,” Trump said. “I mean he knows it so well. He knows the region, knows the people, knows the players.”
Hotovely said Kushner’s Jewish heritage was irrelevant. “What matters is that he is American,” she said. “We will be happy if someone can promote peace.”
Hotovely, who is effectively Israel’s highest ranking diplomat since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubles as foreign minister, expressed confidence that President Barack Obama would not use his remaining months in office to support any UN Security Council resolutions calling for a suspension of settlement building or imposing a framework for a peace deal.
“I don’t see the American president not vetoing such a resolution because it is against his own interest,” Hotovely said. “His interest is that the sides will come and talk and [doing this] is counter-productive to that.”
Hotovely was in Hong Kong to accept a World Health Organization award for Israel’s field hospital expertise, the report said. At a ceremony earlier this month, the WHO recognized the IDF’s medical and disaster relief team as “the number one in the world.”