US President ‘s Middle East envoy and his son-in-law has met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, a day after holding rare talks with Hamas as Washington seeks to revive its stalled Gaza peace framework, the BBC reported.
Kushner arrived in Israel on Sunday after talks with in Cairo. His meetings with both sides come as disagreements over Hamas’ disarmament, an Israeli military withdrawal and the future governance of Gaza continue to hold up progress on Trump’s peace initiative.
Trump’s original 20-point plan, agreed to by Israel and Hamas last year, led to a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages taken during the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. However, subsequent stages of the agreement have made little progress.
Washington is now pushing a new 15-point roadmap to move the process forward. Hamas has accepted the roadmap, while Israel has rejected it, according to the Associated Press. The plan calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from Gaza and for the territory to be rebuilt under a new civilian Palestinian administration.
The rejection came after Trump’s Board of Peace said it had reached an agreement last month for the “complete disarmament” of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. Trump leads the Board of Peace, which was initially created as an international organisation intended to bring peace to Gaza but was later expanded to include conflicts worldwide.
Kushner’s Middle East business links
Kushner’s involvement in Middle East diplomacy comes alongside extensive business interests in the region. According to Forbes, one of his biggest private equity successes has been his investment in Israeli insurance and financial services company Phoenix.
Kushner first tried to invest in Phoenix in 2014, when he was 33 and CEO of Kushner Companies, the New York real estate company co-founded by his father and grandfather. He entered a tentative agreement to acquire a 47% stake in Phoenix, partly financed through a loan from the seller. The deal ultimately collapsed after regulatory hurdles proved too difficult.
A decade later, Kushner got another opportunity through Affinity Partners, the private equity firm he founded in 2021. Since July 2024, Affinity has spent roughly $250 million acquiring a nearly 10% stake in Phoenix.
Kushner has described Phoenix as Affinity’s “best investment” and said he has already made a return of more than nine times his original investment. Forbes reported that Phoenix’s share price has nearly tripled since Affinity first invested, while Kushner’s use of leverage further amplified his returns.
“At the time, most were scared to invest in Israel due to the uncertainty from the war,” Kushner told Forbes. “We saw Phoenix as a misunderstood cornerstone asset, and said, ‘Let’s make a big bet on Israel’.”
Phoenix manages around $170 billion in assets. Kushner does not have an official role at the company but maintains what he described as a “very active dialogue” with its management and meets its executives every few weeks.
How Middle East links helped Kushner’s business
Kushner’s political and diplomatic work has also helped shape his investment business. He left his family’s real estate company in 2017 to serve as a senior adviser during Trump’s first presidency, a role that took him deeper into Middle East diplomacy.
He later helped negotiate the Abraham Accords, which established normalisation agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and others.
After leaving the White House in January 2021, Kushner founded Affinity Partners in the Miami suburb of Sunny Isles Beach. Forbes reported that he has since raised about $4.6 billion, including $1.5 billion last year from two earlier Middle Eastern backers — Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate.
Forbes estimates Kushner’s fortune at just over $1 billion, up from at least $900 million a year earlier. His wealth includes his stake in Affinity, his interest in Kushner Companies and other investments.
Affinity has around 25 investments across at least eight countries. Besides Phoenix, the firm’s investments include building-products distributor QXO and London-based digital bank Revolut. Affinity has also backed artificial intelligence companies.
Not all of Kushner’s bets have succeeded. California-based residential solar lender Mosaic, backed by Affinity in 2022, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June.
