Apparently Trump is not going to be the lead dog in his plans to try and negotiate peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Now we know that job will fall to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner:
TIMES OF ISRAEL – Donald Trump praised his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner as a potential Middle East peacemaker on Thursday night, telling a black tie event on the eve of his inauguration in Washington, DC that if the task proves too much for the 36-year-old, it is impossible.
‘If you can’t produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can,” Trump told Kushner, who has been tapped as a senior advisor to the new president. “All my life I’ve been hearing that’s the toughest deal to make but I have a feeling Jared is going to do a great job.”
Speaking to The Times of London and Germany’s Bild, Trump “confirmed that he would appoint Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to broker a Middle East peace deal,” the Times said.
Asked by Bild precisely what role Kushner would play, he replied: “You know what? Jared is such a good lad, he will secure an Israel deal which no one else has managed to get. You know, he’s a natural talent, he is the top, he is a natural talent. You know what I’m talking about – a natural talent. He has an innate ability to make deals, everyone likes him.”
Trump said his daughter Ivanka, Kushner’s wife, would play no role in government.
Asked about whether he intended to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Trump replied: “I’m not going to comment on that. But we’ll see.”
It’s great that Trump believes so highly in his son-in-law. But it seems absurd to think that if Kushner can’t do it that it can’t be done.
In fact I believe as it stands now it can’t be done, period. But more than that, it shouldn’t be done. The Muslims next door and in the larger Middle East don’t want peace with the Jews. They never have and they never will.
The only way there will be a peace agreement is if Israel elects a government that completely sells them out, and based on what we saw in the last election, that isn’t terribly likely.