Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is a member of a Jewish family that escaped Nazi camps in Poland during World War II and moved to the United States in 1949.
Born in New Jersey in 1981, Jared Kushner graduated from Harvard University in 2003 and earned an MBA from New York University in 2007, and became the head of Kushner Companies in 2007, which was founded by his father in 1985.
Kushner and President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump were married in 2009. Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism in order marry Kushner.The fact that Trump’s son-in-law and daughter are Jewish is significant in terms of U.S.-Israel relations. Kushner is believed to boost the relations between the two countries.
Jared Kushner also owns a newspaper called “Newsobserver.”
Kushner’s name was recently involved in the anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia.
Kushner’s meeting with Saudi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman only days before the purge revealed that the operations were a part of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia alliance. Kushner met with Salman on Oct. 28 in Riyadh. The White House did not make any official statement regarding the secret meeting.
Kushner was also prominent in the crisis that broke out between Qatar and the Gulf states in June. Shortly after U.S. President Trump’s visited Saudi, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Yemen and Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism. They also imposed a land, sea and air blockade.
A joint declaration accused 59 individuals and 12 charity groups in Qatar of being “linked to terror.” Qatar has called the move "unjustified."
In May, Kushner was revealed to have negotiated between Saudi authorities and Lockheed Martin, a company that manufactures defense systems, and organized a nearly $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Israel has launched lobbying activities through the United States, as it sees the recent developments in Saudi Arabia as an opportunity to attack Lebanon.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri on Saturday announced that he resigned, less than a year after his government received a vote of confidence from parliament.
“I have sensed what is being plotted covertly to target my life,” he said in his resignation statement.
Kushner was also involved in the investigation into the alleged Trump administration-Russia ties during the 2016 campaign for presidential elections.
"I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector,” Kushner said in a statement before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump’s son-in-law Kushner acknowledged that he met with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak, and denied establishing a secret back-channel or an "an on-going secret form of communication."
