President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reached King Abdullah II to help end a diplomatic standoff between Israel and Jordan.
US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, spoke with Jordanian King Abdullah II to help bring an end to a diplomatic standoff between Israel and Jordan over the weekend, according to a report in Haaretz.
The crisis threatened to spiral out of control, with Jordanian forces demanding to interrogate a security officer who shot and killed a Jordanian attacker. The Jordanian government even closed off the compound and prevented Israeli embassy staff from leaving.
Kushner spoke with the Jordanian monarch after the administration was approached by Israel for assistance resolving the situation.
“We decided to quickly approach the highest level officials because we understood this was a volatile situation and that we had to end the crisis as soon as possible,” said an anonymous senior Israeli official quoted by Haaretz. “The Americans were very helpful and played a significant role in resolving the embassy crisis.”
Haaretz’s report referenced two anonymous senior Israeli officials who said that Netanyahu on Sunday night failed to reach King Abdullah II who was on the West Coast of the US at the time. Subsequently, Netanyahu asked for Israeli Ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, to request help from the White House in bringing about a solution. For their part, Netanyahu’s advisers contacted US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.
After speaking with Netanyahu, Dermer turned to Kushner, as well as the White House’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt. Both Kushner and Greenblatt then briefed Trump on the situation in Jordan, who then gave them the green light to attempt to defuse what appeared to be a looming crisis.
Kushner, who contacted senior Jordanian officials and subsequently succeeded in reaching Abdullah, requested that the embassy staff be permitted to return to Israel. Greenblatt departed for the region to help bring an end to the crisis in Jordan as well as address tensions following Israel’s installation of metal detectors at the entrances to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Netanyahu, who had vowed to bring the security guard home, released a statement on Tuesday expressing his gratitude to the Trump administration.
“I want to thank President Trump for instructing his adviser Jared Kushner and dispatching his envoy Jason Greenblatt to the region to aid our efforts to bring back the embassy team quickly.”
By: World Israel News Staff