Kushner was speaking to congressional interns, one of whom recorded the conversation and leaked it to the media.
In the portion dealing with the recent clashes over Israel's installation and subsequent removal of metal detectors at the Jerusalem holy site, Kushner stated:
"I don’t know if everyone is familiar, but there were two people—two Israeli guards killed at the Temple Mount, and that’s the first time in many, many, many years that that happened, so Israelis [unintelligible] putting up metal detectors on the Temple Mount, which is not an irrational thing to do. So then what happens is they start inciting it. They say look, you know, this is a change to the status quo. The Temple Mount is a [unintelligible] occupation of Israel, and Israel was saying we don’t want anything to do with that, we just want to make sure people are safe. And that really incited a lot of tension in the streets."
Kushner also acknowledged that the Trump Administration was unlikely to succeed where past administration had failed in bringing genuine peace to the Middle East.
"What do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know. I’m sure everyone that’s tried this has been unique in some ways, but again we’re trying to follow very logically. We’re thinking about what the right end state is. And we’re trying to work with the parties very quietly to see if there’s a solution.
"There may be no solution, but it’s one of the problem sets that the president asked us to focus on. So we’re going to focus on it and try to come to the right conclusion in the near future."
The full recording can be heard here:
In the most recent edition of
Israel Today Magazine we discussed the growing rift between the Trump Administration and the Palestinian Authority, revealed when Kushner met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and firmly took Israel's side.
While the Trump Administration may indeed be unable to oversee a genuine peace, it appears that it won't follow in the footsteps of past administrations by pushing a phony peace.
If you're already a subscriber, you can
CLICK HERE to read that whole article.
If you aren't a subscriber, then what are you waiting for?
SIGN UP TODAY!
