US Senior Advisor and Middle East envoy Jared Kushner canceled his scheduled trip to Israel where he was supposed to join several world leaders attending the World Holocaust Forum and update the international community on the progress made on his Mideast peace plan.
Kushner nixes attendance at Israel's Holocaust Forum, citing 'weather conditions' https://t.co/RWWh8nKj8g
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) January 22, 2020
Since assigning him to broker peace in the Middle East in 2017, Jared Kushner has been promising a historical peace plan that can effectively end the decades-old conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Even though Kushner's latest announcement of canceling his trip to Jerusalem cited weather conditions in the Alpine town of Davos where he was attended the World Economic Forum his announcement didn't seem convincing to many people on social media. They pointed out that many international delegations had made it from Davos to Israel despite the weather, including Prince Charles of Wales.
Lots of world leaders arrived Israel today from Switzerland. What "weather conditions" are delaying Kushner?https://t.co/ZrWSbChysB https://t.co/oCcEZP6EBx
— avi scharf (@avischarf) January 22, 2020
Jared Kushner cancels trip to Israel for World Holocaust Forum and to discuss peace plan because weather in Davos would have delayed him too long. Somehow Prince Charles has made it from Davos to Jerusalem in time for dinner ?
— Catherine Philp (@scribblercat) January 22, 2020
#BREAKING: US Vice President Mike Pence lands in Israel ahead of World Holocaust Forum -- check out our liveblog for all the latest on #WHF2020JLMhttps://t.co/PZw37Qg5qC
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) January 23, 2020
People online speculated if the last-minute change of plans on Kushner's schedule is related to US politics, especially as the US President's trial hearings continue at the Senate.
The Justice Department did not hand over the FBI's summary of Jared Kushner's interviews with Robert Mueller last week because "a member of the intelligence community" needs to ensure the material has been properly redacted, a department attorney said https://t.co/vAArtqMplH
— CNN (@CNN) January 22, 2020
So The Prince of Wales can fly from Davos to Israel, but Jared can’t...?
— Midnight Sun ??? (@michelleoljema1) January 22, 2020
Other commentators linked Kushner's decision to head back to the US with the political arena in Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival Benny Gantz haven't been able to form a government after the latest elections last September, which makes things harder for Kushner's aspirations of presenting a Mideast peace plan.
Swiss weather or... political weather in Israel. If I were Jared, the last place I’d want to be right now is in between Netanyahu and Gantz.
— Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) January 22, 2020
Additionally, news of potential involvement by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, a close friend of Jared Kushner, in personally hacking the phone of Washington Posts' owner Jeff Bezos have added to the tension in the Trump administration.
This is especially the case since Kushner was accused of facilitating the sale of a malware tool developed by Israeli NSO cybersecurity firm, which is believed to have enabled the Saudi crown prince to hack Bezos phone in May 2018.
The Saudis obtained Pegasus from Israeli company NSO in November 2017, ahead of the Ritz incident. I've been told that it was Jared Kushner who facilitated the sale. The Ritz "residents" were its first targets. https://t.co/YnuaZjz9nB
— İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 21, 2020
He has to rush back to US because of breaking scandal over his ties with Saudi Crown Prince, spyware, Bezos, and murder of a journalist and bribe money.
— Maui (@tahiti93) January 22, 2020
Questions have also been raised regarding the possibility of Kushner being another victim of a potential hacking campaign that may have targeted other international influential figures.
If the Saudi Prince hacked Bezos phone with malware on what’s app how are you feeling about Kushner communicating with him and having our national secrets? https://t.co/5SVZVPmBSx
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) January 22, 2020
Last week, news of an Israeli-US disagreement over Israeli plans to officially annex area C of the West Bank circulated in the media, with many sources pointing at the US rejection of Israel's plans and its timing. Area C makes up about 60% of the West Bank area and annexing it by Israel poses a very dangerous threat to peace efforts in the region, according to many analysts.
Naftali Bennett continues his quest to (one way or another) annex Area C, which amounts to 60% of the West Bank https://t.co/rMzGpU0dJA
— AmericansforPeaceNow (@PeaceNowUS) January 15, 2020
Senator Lindsey Graham of the US senate warned Mr Netanyahu's adminstration not to annex the West Bank because Israel will be officially an Apartheid state.
— Naz Lallmohamed (@naz_lallmohamed) January 17, 2020
Israel has invited many world leaders to attend the fifth World Holocaust Forum on Thursday, commemorating the 75th anniversary of liberating the Auschwitz extermination camp, in which Nazis held over a million Jews during WWII.
Today's events will feature a number of speeches by world leaders including US Vice President Mike Pence, Russian President Vladimir Putin of Russia, Prince Charles of Cambridge, in addition to French President Emmanuel Macron.
