Jared Kushner takes on major role in Trump’s White House with Gaza takeover as Ivanka stays on sidelines

Signs indicate Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner could be taking on a more prominent role in Middle East relations in the second administration.

Kushner initially said last February that he would not have a White House role in a second term after serving as a senior adviser to Trump the last time around.

But when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., last week for meetings with Trump, he also privately huddled with Kushner, according to Axios.

Bibi and Kushner discussed the U.S. president’s recently proposed plans to rebuild Gaza, detailed two sources with knowledge of the meeting. They also discussed other matters related to Israeli and Middle East relations.

It comes after Trump divulged in an interview that aired Monday evening that he doesn’t see a situation where Palestinians could return to the only land they’ve ever known as home if he were to go in and help develop the war-torn Gaza Strip.

In Trump’s first term, Kushner helped negotiate the Abraham Accords in a historic move to forge relationships with Israel and its neighboring countries in the hostile region. 

And reports emerged earlier this year that Kushner, who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka, would take on an unofficial advisement role from afar regarding Middle East affairs.

Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week in a sign he will take on a more prominent role in dealing with Middle East relations then previously thought

Jared and Ivanka at the inauguration 

Meanwhile his wife and mother of his three children would remain on the sidelines in Florida and not get involved in any capacity with her father’s second term after serving as an advisor from 2017-2021.

Ivanka and her son Theodore attended Super Bowl 59 with the president in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday.

She said previously on The Skinny Confidential podcast that she just wants to be Trump’s emotional support this time around.

‘I’m most looking forward to just being able to show up for him as a daughter and be there for him, to take his mind off things and like watch a movie with him or watch a sports game, to know that he can be with me and be himself, and just relax,’ she said.

‘It’s the world’s loneliest position, the enormity of the decisions you’re making on a daily basis, how transactional everyone is with you,’ she added. ‘So it’s a very lonely perch.’

She made it clear she will have no formal role in the second Trump administration.

‘I went through years of craziness,’ she said of her first tenure in the White House.

Trump sent the world into a scramble last week when during a press conference he said the U.S. would get involved in developing and rebuilding Gaza to make it a desirable destination.

The luxury real estate developer-turned-president has long hyped-up the beautiful weather and location of the Palestinian stronghold of Gaza, out of which Hamas terrorists were operating and serving as the de facto government.

Trump doubled down on his pitch for the Gaza takeover in an interview aired on Monday and revealed he has no plans to allow Palestinians the right to move back in.

‘I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,’ the 78-year-old said on Air Force One on his way to the Super Bowl on Sunday.

But Trump suggested as far as rebuilding, the U.S. could give sections to ‘other states in the Middle East’ to develop.

Asked by Fox News host Bret Baier if Palestinians would have the right to return back to Gaza, Trump said: ‘No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing.’

Ivanka has said that she won’t take an active role in Trump’s second administration

Trump met with Prime Minister Netanyahu last week and during a press conference suggested the U.S. would help rebuild and develop Gaza into a beautiful and sought-after destination

President Trump’s daughter Ivanka has not retaken her advisory role in her father’s second White House term after serving in a big way his first time around

Ivanka and her son Theodore attended the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, February 9 with President Donald Trump

‘In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,’ he insisted. ‘Because if they have to return now it will be years before it could happen. It is not habitable.’

Aid organizations claim many parts of the Gaza Strip are no longer habitable due to the destruction that resulted from the Israel-Hamas war after terrorists invaded the world’s only Jewish state in October 2023.

Some estimate it could take between 10 and 15 years to rebuild Gaza to the point of being habitable again.

He said the U.S. would likely give sections to ‘other states in the Middle East’ to develop in Gaza.

‘Think of it as a real estate development for the future,’ Trump said in his pre-taped Fox interview. ‘It would be a beautiful piece of land.’

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