London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

'You can't turn a battleship around overnight': Jared Kushner downplays Saudi silence on Israel-UAE deal

'You can't turn a battleship around overnight': Jared Kushner downplays Saudi silence on Israel-UAE deal

A deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize diplomatic ties should be celebrated as a “historic step,” despite the lack of support from Saudi Arabia, according to White House senior advisor and U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Under the accord announced Thursday, which the U.S. helped to broker, Israel agreed to suspend plans to annex some areas of the occupied West Bank. It also shores up opposition against Iran, a regional power in the Middle East which the U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates all view as the main threat to stability.

Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally and a hugely influential power when it comes to regional policy toward Israel, has remained eerily quiet on news of the accord.

“I do think that we have other countries that are very interested in moving forward,” Kushner told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in an exclusive interview on Friday, referring to diplomatic ties with Israel.

“And then, as that progresses, I do think it is an inevitability that Saudi Arabia and Israel will have fully normalized relations and they will be able to do a lot of great things together,” he added.

When pressed on Saudi Arabia’s silence following the announcement of the deal, Kushner replied: “We just had the first peace agreement in 26 years and now you’re saying: ‘Well, we want to get somebody else on board right away’.” In 1994, Israel and Jordan agreed a peace deal.

“Saudi Arabia has obviously been a great leader in making (modernization) but you can’t turn a battleship around overnight,” he added.

The deal makes the United Arab Emirates the first Persian Gulf state to normalize ties with Israel and only the third Arab country, after Egypt and Jordan, to have open diplomatic ties with the country.

On Thursday, Trump described the agreement as a “huge breakthrough” between two “great friends” of the U.S., while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move could pave the way for other Arab countries to sign up to the accord.

The United Arab Emirates’ minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Thursday that the peace deal was a “win-win” solution.

The European Union also welcomed the move, saying it would likely help to promote stability in the region.

However, the agreement has been denounced by officials in Palestine, Iran and Turkey. Palestine’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates was recalled shortly after the announcement.

Kushner said during a press briefing on Thursday that Palestine’s condemnation of the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates was “fairly predictable.”

Palestine has repeatedly urged Arab leaders not to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel until a peace deal to establish an independent Palestinian state has been secured.

Peace deal ‘doesn’t change’ election dynamics


To some, the agreement is seen as a foreign policy win for Trump, who is behind in the polls against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ahead of November’s election.

Trump has made peace in the Middle East a signature element of his first term, though his administration had made little substantial progress.

“I think what we’ve done is we’ve set the stage for a lot of progress in the region by looking at it based on common sense, pragmatism, and joint interests and a common vision for a better future,” Kushner said Friday.

“We’ve taken some of the old tumors that have infected the region and we have shrunken them down over the last years,” he added, saying “everything we’ve done has been rational.”

Ayham Kamel, head of Eurasia Group’s Middle East and North Africa practice, said in a note that: “For Trump, the deal directly goes after Joe Biden’s strength. The president will trumpet that he achieved a diplomatic breakthrough that the Obama/Biden administration couldn’t.”

“The announcement (of the deal) doesn’t change our views of the election dynamics, which will be dominated by the economy and coronavirus. The announcement will excite the Evangelical Christian community in Trump’s base but would probably not have a major energizing effect overall,” Kamel added.

Biden praised the agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates without mentioning Trump administration officials.

“The coming together of Israel and Arab states builds on the efforts of multiple administrations to foster a broader Arab-Israeli opening, including the efforts of the Obama-Biden administration to build on the Arab Peace Initiative,” he said in a statement.

Comments

Wayne N Hedani 5 year ago
You can turn a battleship around in 72 seconds at 30 knots.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×