Kushner criticised over ‘arrogant’ op-ed taking credit for peace in the Middle East

Jared Kushner has been criticised for a new op-ed that – while praising Joe Biden for “calling Iran’s bluff early” – claims credit for himself and Donald Trump for progress towards peace in the Middle East.

Mr Kushner, who served as a senior adviser in the White House during the presidency of his father-in-law, wrote an op-ed for theWall Street Journal on Monday where he talked about the Middle East and the role of the US in it. 

"While many were troubled by the Biden team’s opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," Mr Kushner wrote, "I saw it as a smart diplomatic move."

Mr Trump withdrew the US from the Iran deal in 2018, a move which Mr Kushner claimed gives the US a “strong hand.”

"This negotiation is high-stakes and, thanks to his policies, America holds a strong hand,” he wrote, suggesting that Mr Biden should continue to deal with Iran the way Mr Trump did.

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“Iran is feigning strength, but its economic situation is dire and it has no ability to sustain conflict or survive indefinitely under current sanctions,” he wrote in the op-ed. “America should be patient and insist that any deal include real nuclear inspections and an end to Iran’s funding of foreign militias.

“If the threat from Iran decreases, so can the region’s military budgets.”

He suggested his “pro-business approach” could normalise relations between Israel and neighbouring countries and lead to Saudi Arabia “following suit.”

The 40-year-old also said that we are seeing the “last vestiges of what has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict,” though not everyone agreed with his claims.

White House reporter for The Washington Post Annie Linskey underlined the sentence and tweeted: "Jared Kushner makes a very big claim in the @wsj this morning."

"Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal," former New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse said, "Jared Kushner evidently forgets that the Palestinians exist and that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is very much alive.”

Mr Kushner was criticised for how he described the longstanding conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, as he labelled it merely a “real-estate dispute” and diminished the role of those involved in it.

Mr Kushner wrote: "One of the reasons the Arab-Israeli conflict persisted for so long was the myth that it could be solved only after Israel and the Palestinians resolved their differences. That was never true.”

Quoting the Abraham Accords, Mr Kushner said the conflict is “nothing more than a real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians that need not hold up Israel’s relations with the broader Arab world.”

“It will ultimately be resolved when both sides agree on an arbitrary boundary line," he wrote.

Founder of Crooked Media Tommy Vietor tweeted: "Jared Kushner calls negotiations over the creation of a Palestinian state a ‘real-estate dispute’ and yet amazingly that still isn’t the most arrogant, naive part of his high school essay-turned oped in today’s WSJ.”