Jared Kushner briefed Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, on the Trump administration’s policies in the Middle East, and David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, said in a closed hearing in the Israeli parliament on Monday.
Why does it matter: Friedman said Kushner specifically informed Sullivan about the process of the Abraham Accords, through which four Arab countries normalized relations with Israel, according to lawmakers who attended the meeting. Trump’s advisers hope that President-elect Biden will continue the process and encourage other countries such as Saudi Arabia to join.
News management: The call came about two weeks ago, days before Kushner traveled to Saudi Arabia for a Gulf leaders summit. It is unclear whether Kushner brought a message from Sullivan to any of the leaders.
- White House envoy Avi Berkowitz also briefed a former Obama administration official who may be in turn for a job related to the Middle East under Biden on normalization agreements, he told me. a Trump administration official.
- According to Israeli lawmakers who attended Monday’s briefing, Friedman said he had recently met with his Obama-era predecessor, Dan Shapiro, and briefed him on the Trump administration’s work on the Middle East over the past four years. Shapiro made it clear to Friedman at the meeting that he was not part of the Biden transition team.
Behind the scenes: Friedman presented the Knesset’s foreign affairs committee with his thoughts on what the Biden administration will and should do about Israel and the region, say lawmakers who attended the briefing.
- Friedman said Biden is a friend of Israel. He also said he expected the Biden administration to put pressure on Israel on the West Bank settlement, resume aid to the Palestinian Authority and continue to lift Israel’s ties with China, an issue Friedman said Israel should take further. seriously.
Friedman also said Biden would probably try to revive the Iranian nuclear deal.
- He expressed particular concern about the influence of former Secretary of State John Kerry and former National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Biden’s Iran policy, despite the fact that none of them will work on Iran’s portfolio, said a Israeli parliamentarian.
- Friedman said Israel should not seek an immediate confrontation with Biden over Iran, but should ask the Biden administration to begin a dialogue with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries before deciding to return the nuclear deal.
Surprisingly, Friedman said Biden shouldn’t return to Trump’s policies on Jerusalem or Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. He also claimed that a fight with Israel for settlements would lead nowhere.
- Friedman claimed that Saudi Arabia would have recognized Israel within a year if Trump had won re-election.
- But he had only one criticism of his boss, saying that Trump’s relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was occasionally “too hot” and that Biden would be more critical of Turkey.
Go deeper: Netanyahu demands full control over Israel’s Iranian policy, causing a push.