WASHINGTON — President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met for four hours with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to drop his opposition to the Trump-chaired Board of Peace’s 15-point plan that calls for Hamas to disarm in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
“I mean, [Hamas] said all the right things, but, obviously, it’s very, very hard to trust a terrorist organization that committed these terrible atrocities. But we had a very cordial meeting. And they said all the right things,” Kushner, Trump’s special envoy for peace, told Fox News’ Trey Yingst after talks Sunday with Hamas leaders, followed by the Netanyahu meeting.
“And so we’re going to give them a chance to perform, but it’s going to have to be based on actions and steps, and I hope it will be true.”
Kushner added that Israel would be entitled to “finish the job” in Gaza if Hamas reneges on its pledge to warehouse weapons and transfer control of the enclave to a third party, allowing for the 2 million-person region’s reconstruction.
The US plan would transfer governance of the war-torn territory to a technocratic civilian government that was announced last year.
Netanyahu opposed the plan for fear of allowing a resurgence of the terrorist group’s power after it was hemmed into urban areas following two years of fighting sparked by the massacre of about 1,200 people across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Kushner added to Yingst that he and Netanyahu “had a very, very good meeting.”
“I think there were some valid concerns that they raised that we were able to address. And we were able to go through some of the misunderstandings and misinformation that’s been out about it,” he said of the peace plan.
“We’re very committed to the fact that we have a plan to rebuild Gaza, but we will not allow Gaza to be rebuilt until the demilitarization occurs.”
A Board of Peace official confirmed to The Post in a statement Monday that Netanyahu and Kushner “agreed that there will be no IDF redeployment from Gaza until Hamas is fully disarmed and all of Gaza is demilitarized – every weapon, light and heavy, and every tunnel. Every weapon collected will be fully decommissioned so it cannot be used again. Israel retains its full right of self-defense: if Hamas resorts to terror, violence, or attempts to rearm, Israel will retain the right to act accordingly.”
“To ensure close collaboration, the parties agreed to immediately establish two joint working groups,” the official added. “One on security and the demilitarization of Gaza, which both Israel and the Board of Peace are determined shall be complete and prompt; and a second on basic needs, sanitation, clean water, and other public health issues for the people of Gaza.”
Kushner has a long relationship with Netanyahu, having brokered the 2020 Abraham Accords through which Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
The envoy told Yingst that the Board of Pace was “not going to restrict Israel’s right to defend itself if there are any imminent threats. And so we had to clarify what that means.
“We could be seeing progress in as little as 30 days, hopefully on starting to take some of the weapons out and hopefully filling in some of the tunnels as well in the next 60 to 90 days,” he added, referring to the network of subterranean passages where Hamas kept weapons, supplies and dozens of hostages following the Oct. 7 attacks.
“So, progress could come quite soon, but we do need cooperation from both sides. And we’re going to hopefully get through it,” Kushner went on.
“For Israel, we think this is a win-win situation, because if Hamas actually gives over the weapons and the tunnels willingly over the next 60 to 90 days, that obviously would be the elimination of a huge security threat for Israel, almost an unthinkable achievement.
“And if they don’t follow through now on their commitment, everyone will see that they’re not genuine about peace, and then Israel will have a lot more support from the US and others to go and finish the job in the appropriate way.”
