Kushner: Abbas, Olmert jealous they couldn’t bring about peace themselves

Jared Kushner spoke out against Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, saying that they are jealous of the peace plan for having the potential to accomplish what they could not.

By TAMAR BEERI

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 01:40

US President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke out on Thursday night against former prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s planned joint press conference opposing the “Deal of the Century,” calling their actions “almost pathetic.”

“It is almost pathetic that they are criticizing other people’s efforts to try and reach an agreement,” Kushner said, according to Channel 12 News. “It comes from a lot of jealousy that they couldn’t do it themselves.”

He attacked Abbas and Olmert, explaining that “if you really want to make peace then you need to encourage the efforts of other people to try and make peace instead of trying to make headlines when you are not relevant and intervening in the situation to get attention.”

He claimed that the event is because they did not manage to bring about peace when they had the chance.

According to Channel 12, he additionally spoke with the press before a United Nations Security Council meeting on the peace plan, stating that “people are publicly opposing the plan when they had the chance and failed, I see that as disrespectful.”

Kushner added that both sides must cooperate, but they will not succeed if they continue going down the path they had previously gone down.

He additionally blamed Abbas, who will address the Security Council on Tuesday, for the recent escalations, leading to multiple injuries on either side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “He rejected the plan before he even saw it,” he said.

During his visit to the UN, Abbas plans on pushing for a condemnation of Israel and of Trump’s peace plan, namely Israel’s intention to annex settlements. The US is expected to veto the vote, though it may very well pass in the General Assembly.

Abbas is scheduled to meet with Olmert throughout the trip. They will be taking questions from the press and will discuss their mutual opposition towards the “Deal of the Century.”

Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Kushner-Abbas-Olmert-jealous-they-couldnt-bring-about-peace-themselves-616811.