From Newsgroup: alt.buddha.short.fat.guy

Trained in New York City real estate, the presidentrCOs son-in-law had a single goal: Get to a yes first, and hash out the details later. rCLItrCOs just different being deal guys rCo just a different sport,rCY he said.



Last Friday, when Jared Kushner heard that Hamas would begin talks to
release Israeli hostages, he was fielding calls at his mansion, which
sits on a man-made island just north of Miami. He jumped into his car
and drove the 20 minutes to another mansion rCo this one owned by the billionaire Steve Witkoff, President TrumprCOs Middle East peace envoy.

In those crucial moments, the Trump administrationrCOs diplomatic power
center was not in Washington but in one of the wealthiest enclaves in
Florida.

The two real estate developers, charged with closing the deal on a prime
piece of Mr. TrumprCOs foreign policy ambitions, got to work setting up a command center, where they made and fielded calls from stakeholders,
including an impatient president and cabinet members in the Israeli government.

The stage had been set for a peace deal earlier that week, when Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed with Mr. Trump on a 20-point
proposal for pursuing a peace agreement.

With terms that largely favored Israel, it was still unknown whether
Hamas would sign on and agree to release hostages or relinquish control
of the enclave. As the deadline for Hamas to respond ticked closer, Mr.
Trump warned Hamas fighters that thousands of them had already been
killed, and that many more would be if they did not agree to a deal.

Hamas said hours later that it would begin talks to release hostages.

While he was working alongside Mr. Witkoff in Miami, Mr. KushnerrCOs
advice to the Israelis was not to worry about the rest of the militant grouprCOs statement, which did little to assuage Israeli concerns that
Hamas would refuse to give up its arms or political control of Gaza. Mr. Kushner was focused on the first part of the statement, which meant
hostages could soon come home.

rCLSteve and I said to Israel, rCyWe encourage you to be positive as well,rCOrCY
Mr. Kushner recalled in an interview. In phone calls, the Israelis had
been telling them that Hamas would outright reject any deal. rCLrCyThis is a time to be positive,rCOrCY Mr. Kushner reiterated.

Hours later, the office of Mr. Netanyahu said that it would agree to
begin carrying out the first phase of Mr. TrumprCOs peace plan. On
Thursday, IsraelrCOs government approved the agreement, just after Mr.
Kushner and Mr. Witkoff addressed the Israeli cabinet and discussed the
deal.

In his quest to end the Israel-Hamas war, Mr. Trump has not turned to
longtime diplomats to get the job done. His advisers say he is not
steeped in the details of what a long-term peace agreement would look
like. Instead, he has relied on his son-in-law, Mr. Kushner, to step in
and add momentum to the negotiations, which Mr. Witkoff had been
pursuing for months.

Mr. Kushner, 44, had built diplomatic relationships in Arab countries
while working as an adviser during Mr. TrumprCOs first term. He became a
key architect of the Abraham Accords, a set of diplomatic agreements
that normalized relations between Israel and three Arab states, which
gave him an understanding of the complexities of the region and the key players who operate within it.

Want to stay updated on whatrCOs happening in Egypt, Israel, and the West
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Mr. Kushner traveled to Egypt on Tuesday alongside Mr. Witkoff and found success. The pair joined a set of mediators who had already been working
there for days to convince Hamas to disarm and to give over Israeli
hostages who were taken in the wake of terrorist attacks two years ago.

The two spent the plane ride strategizing over ways they felt the deal
could fall apart, and what they could do to salvage it. When the two men
are working, Mr. Kushner is often drafting the plans as Mr. Witkoff
works the phones.

rCLIn New York real estate, yourCOre always negotiating back and forth,rCY he said. rCLBut thererCOs a lot to be negotiated before you get the contract
and you put money up hard. I think werCOre just used to complex deals that
are very dynamic, and with complex characters as well.rCY

Hours after Mr. Kushner arrived in Egypt, Mr. Trump announced that
Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement that could spell the end of a two-year conflict that began when Hamas attacked Israel, killing roughly
1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. The Israeli military has
since killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, including civilians and combatants, according to local health officials.

rCLJared is a very smart guy,rCY Mr. Trump said on Thursday.

Trained in the bare-knuckle arts of New York City real estate, Mr.
Kushner and Mr. Witkoff think of themselves as deal guys working for the ultimate deal guy. Their approach is simple: Get to a yes first, and
hash out the details later. The two have spent a lot of time together
over the past few weeks, crisscrossing Miami, then the country, and now
the world, in pursuit of peace. The rebuilding of Gaza is also in their sights.

rCLThe experience that Steve andrCaI have asrCadealrCaguys is thatrCayou have to
understand people,rCY Mr. Kushner said. rCLYou have to be able to kind ofrCaget the bottom linerCaout of them, and thenrCasee whorCado you think isrCaplaying games, and how muchrCaroomrCado you have to push things?rCY

He added: rCLA lot of the people who do this are history professors,
because they have a lot of experience, or diplomats. ItrCOs just different being deal guys rCo just a different sport.rCY

Diplomacy and Business

Mr. Kushner has received bipartisan praise for his role in the
negotiations, but as an unpaid volunteer, he is not subject to the same
laws and disclosure requirements of a government employee. And Mr.
Kushner has extensive business dealings in the Middle East, enriching
himself as he builds deep diplomatic relationships with leaders across
the region. His critics have said that he is evading bureaucratic
safeguards designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

As for any questions about Mr. KushnerrCOs moneymaking efforts in a region
of the world where he is trying to negotiate peace, the White House has
said there is no problem.

rCLI think itrCOs frankly despicable that yourCOre trying to suggest that itrCOs
inappropriate for Jared Kushner, who is widely respected around the
world and has great trust and relationships with these critical partners
in these countries, to strike a 20-point, comprehensive, detailed peace
plan that no other administration would ever be able to achieve,rCY
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said last week when
asked about whether his involvement was appropriate.

She added: rCLWe are very proud of that plan, and we hope Hamas will
accept it, because it will lead to a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East.rCY

Mr. KushnerrCOs private equity firm, Affinity Partners, is almost entirely financed from overseas investors, and has taken money from government
wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

rCLIn order for the next stage of this agreement to be successful, Jared Kushner needs to stop approaching this issue as a real estate deal and
start focusing on political and human rights,rCY Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, said in a statement.

If Mr. Kushner seems like a familiar face in the Trump White House, that
is because he never really left. He was an unpaid senior adviser to Mr.
Trump during the presidentrCOs first term, as was his wife, Ivanka Trump,
the presidentrCOs eldest daughter. Both faced intense criticism from
Democrats for not being moderating forces with Mr. Trump, particularly
on his efforts to restrict immigration.

The onslaught of headlines about their unpopularity were so constant
that Mr. Trump would sometimes joke that instead of marrying the
football player Tom Brady, sherCOd married Mr. Kushner. rCLJared hasnrCOt been so good for me,rCY Mr. Trump would remark at points.

Relations have since improved.

Mr. Kushner began focusing on matters from prison reform to normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab nations. He left the White
House, and his private equity firm has made money from his relationships
with some of those countries. His father, Charles Kushner, was given a presidential pardon for tax evasion and retaliating against a federal
witness, among other violations. The elder Mr. Kushner, a campaign
donor, is now the U.S. ambassador to France.

rCyThe Right TimingrCO

Mr. Kushner has stayed in his father-in-lawrCOs orbit as a volunteer
adviser, and he has long abandoned any pretense that he would be the one
to mediate Mr. TrumprCOs impulses. Instead, he has leaned heavily into Mr. TrumprCOs approach to achieving peace in Gaza, a process in which the president has made decisions on gut instinct over careful deliberation.

Michael Herzog, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, said
the combination of Mr. KushnerrCOs connections in the Middle East and his status as a member of the Trump family made him particularly valuable
during the negotiations.

rCLI believe Jared played a role in convincing President Trump, together
with Steve Witkoff, to come out with this initiative,rCY he said of the 20-point peace plan. rCLIt was the right timing. Everyone around here
didnrCOt give it much chance, but it worked.rCY

Mr. KushnerrCOs efforts are even winning praise from Democrats. Thomas R. Nides, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel in the Biden administration, said he was thrilled the final hostages were set to be released.

rCLHe was exceptionally important in Abraham Accords, knows how to manage
Bibi and understands the Arab countries,rCY Mr. Nides said of Mr. Kushner. rCLForget my politics, IrCOm more than happy to give him as much credit as
he deserves.rCY

Until recently, Mr. Kushner had a much less visible role in the
presidentrCOs orbit. He was frequently in touch with his father-in-law and some of the presidentrCOs top aides, and made occasional visits to the
White House.

Roughly eight months ago, Mr. Kushner started working with Tony Blair,
the former British prime minister, on plans for a postwar Gaza. In
August, the two of them met with Mr. Trump and his top aides to discuss
the future of the Gaza Strip. In the weeks since that Oval Office
meeting, Mr. Kushner emerged as a key player in the negotiations,
working closely with Israel and the Arab nations.

rCLThis is way more than I kind of anticipated,rCY Mr. Kushner said in an interview. rCLI think thererCOs a chance that when I get home, my wife
changes the locks on the house.rCY

Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager


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