Kushner could cash in on Israel’s war economy as he oversees negotiations

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is apparently in position to make a killing off Israel’s warmongering in the Middle East.

That’s the crux of a new report from CNN, which helps shine light on ways the president’s family is profiting from Israel’s war economy. Trump has assigned Kushner and Steve Witkoff to oversee peace efforts between the Israeli government and Palestinian leaders.

But Kushner is a businessman tasked with doing government business. In one example, his plan to use part of Gaza for a ritzy real estate development provided “a glossy sheen to ethnic cleansing,” as my colleague Anthony Fisher put it last year, dampening hopes that Kushner might at least appear to be a good-faith negotiator.

And news of his ties to Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer and other companies that provide weapons to Israel won’t help boost such hopes. As CNN reported:

At the same time Jared Kushner has acted as a key negotiator in the war in Gaza, his private equity company, Affinity Partners, has held the largest stake in an Israeli firm backing businesses involved in Israel’s military campaigns, a CNN investigation has found.

Kushner has skirted deeper scrutiny of this potential conflict of interest by acting as a volunteer envoy, rather than accepting a government job that would require him to disclose his finances.

The report centers on Affinity Partners and the hundreds of millions of dollars it has invested in an Israeli firm called Phoenix Financial, which holds large holdings in companies that make weapons and military equipment for Israel.

According to the report:

CNN used Israeli financial transparency laws to trace some of the military-linked investments of Phoenix Financial, a Tel Aviv-based firm that Kushner’s investment group doubled its stake in last year, shortly before Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. Kushner later described Phoenix as Affinity’s “best investment.”

Those records, which include only a fraction of Phoenix’s holdings, show Phoenix has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems. Phoenix also holds stakes in at least eight other companies providing equipment for the Israeli military ranging from drones to warships to demolition machinery, CNN found.

The Trump family has other financial ties to Israel’s warmongering ways as well. The president’s son Eric Trump, for instance, has invested in an Israeli drone company that has boasted about its “low-cost” killing capabilities. (Representatives for the Trump sons have said they are not involved in awarding or managing defense contracts.)

All of this underscores why the Trump administration has not earned trust that it can fairly facilitate Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Nonetheless, Kushner called CNN’s report “deeply misleading” and noted that Phoenix is a financial institution, not a defense company. His lawyer also downplayed accusations of impropriety:

An attorney for Kushner told CNN Kushner has “never participated in or directed Phoenix’s decisions” on where to invest, adding he had “no involvement in the decision to purchase, hold or sell any of the nine companies” highlighted by CNN and has never been on Phoenix’s board. They added, “any suggestion that Jared’s diplomatic work influenced Phoenix’s investments in the companies you identify, or vice versa, is incorrect.”

CNN also noted, however, that Kushner said last year that he maintained a “very active dialogue” with the financial group and regularly met with its leadership.

The post Kushner could cash in on Israel’s war economy as he oversees negotiations appeared first on MS NOW.

Source Author
Author: Source Author

From MS Now.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *