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Published October 29, 2023, 3:50 PM ET
Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner says Saudi Arabia is a safer place for Jews than U.S. college campuses.
“One of the ironies is that as an American Jew, you are safer right now in Saudi Arabia than on a college campus like Columbia University,” Kushner, who is Jewish, said on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“They allowed me to speak freely,” Kushner, 42, said of the Saudis after returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia where he spoke at a conference.
There has been a wave of anti-Semitic incidents in the US, with pro-Palestinian protesters taking out their anger on Jewish students on campus.
Columbia University was forced to postpone its Giving Day fundraiser last week amid continued tensions on its campus over the conflict in Israel. Billionaire donor Leon Cooperman has threatened to cut off funding from the institution over anti-Israel activity on campus, including from a professor who called the deadly Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 “great.”
New York University students participate in a strike supported by Students for Justice in Palestine on October 25. AFP via Getty Images
On Wednesday evening, Jewish students were also forced to stay inside a Cooper Union library in New York City while protesters shouted at them from outside.
Some of the Jewish students heard the protesters shouting, “Globalize the Intifada from New York to Gaza!” according to New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn).
Kushner, the scion of a wealthy Jewish-American family, has a particularly good relationship with the Saudis. After he left the Trump-era White House, his private equity firm received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.
During his time in the Trump administration, Kushner tried to contribute to normalization between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
A major diplomatic breakthrough came in September 2020 when the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
However, an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel still remained elusive.
Jared Kushner took a keen interest in foreign policy and the Middle East during his tenure in the Trump White House. Getty Images
Polls have shown that publics in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are wary of the move. The Biden administration had still tried to promote good relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but since Hamas’s bloody surprise attack on Israel, there are doubts about escalating tensions between the two countries.
But Kushner remained optimistic that Riyadh could still play along.
“Yes, I think they would like to move forward with the deal with America and Israel,” said Kushner when asked whether there could still be a normalization of relations.
“The deal that is being discussed is not just a partnership with Israel. It also deepens their ties with America,” he said of Saudi Arabia.
Jared Kushner met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in September 2020. SPA/AFP via Getty Images
“We must remember that America is not close to Saudi Arabia [the Saudis] will go the other way to China. And that’s why I think the topic is being discussed.”
Before war broke out in Israel, Biden administration officials considered entering into a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia and sharing nuclear technology with Riyadh for civilian purposes, The New York Times reported.
Under the hypothetical mutual defense treaty, which is one of the treaty improvers believed to still be under consideration, both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia would agree to provide military support to the other in the event of an attack.
Jared Kushner said he was not privy to many details of the possible deal being negotiated between Israel and Saudi Arabia.FOX
The Biden administration has had a somewhat difficult relationship with the Saudis. During his 2020 campaign, President Biden proposed relegating the oil giant to pariah status.
He had been vocal in his criticism of the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Earlier this month, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who served as the kingdom’s de facto ruler, kept Secretary of State Antony Blinken waiting for hours to meet and didn’t show up until the next morning, the Washington Post reported.
Meanwhile, Israel launched an expanded ground offensive in the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas members, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Saturday. More than 1,400 Israelis and 33 Americans have been killed in the conflict so far.
The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza estimated that over 8,000 Palestinians were killed. This data set has been controversial due to Hamas’ track record.
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