Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "dubious" about US President Donald Trump's decision to appoint the latter's his son-in-law, Jared Kushner to be the architect of the so-called Deal of the Century peace plan that was supposed to put an end to the longterm conflict between the Palestinian Authority and Tel Aviv, according to a claim by former National Security Adviser John Bolton in his to-be-published memoir.
Bolton, a veteran US official and Trump appointee, wrote that prior to joining Trump's administration, he had a conversation with Netanyahu, who expressed scepticism over Kushner's ability to achieve success in an area in which everyone else has failed.
"[Netanyahu] was dubious about assigning the task of bringing an end to the Israel-Palestinian conflict to Kushner […] He was enough of a politician not to oppose the idea publicly, but like much of the world, he wondered why Kushner thought he would succeed where the likes of Kissinger had failed", Bolton wrote.
The office of the Israeli prime minister, however, publicly dismissed Bolton's claim, stating that Netanyahu "has complete faith" in Kushner’s ability, adding that Trump's son-in-law was able to "contribute to furthering peace in the Middle East". The office credit Kushner with not only drafting a peace plan, but also with Trump’s choice to suggest that Jerusalem is Israel's capital while accepting Tel Aviv's claims for the Golan Heights.
"With these accomplishments alone and under President Trump’s leadership, Kushner has already achieved what others before him did not accomplish", Netanyahu's office said, in reeponse to Bolton's claim.
Kushner’s Deal of the Century was, however, stridently refuted by the Palestinians, who would receive statehood in exchange for losing large territories to Israel and outsourcing to Tel Aviv the role of monitoring the new state's borders. In no small part, the Palestinians ignored Kushner’s offer following Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, and for the US president's refusal to officially characterize new Israeli settlements on the West Bank as illegal.