President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is once more under intense scrutiny after new reporting revealed that his lucrative financial relationship with Israel has deepened even as his influence over U.S. Middle East policyfrom his leading role in Trump's effort to "derail" a U.N. vote against Israel to his sway over the president's Jerusalem movehas continued to grow.
According to a report published Sunday by the New York Times, Kushner's real estate firm received a $30 million investment from Menora Mivtachimone of Israel's largest financial institutionsjust before he accompanied Trump on his first diplomatic trip to Israel last year.
"The deal, which was not made public, pumped significant new equity into 10 Maryland apartment complexes controlled by Mr. Kushner's firm," the Times notes. "While Mr. Kushner has sold parts of his business since taking a White House job last year, he still has stakes in most of the family empireincluding the apartment buildings in and around Baltimore."
While Menora executive Ran Markman insisted that Kushner's role in directing America's Middle East policy "didn't make us do the deal," critics raised pointed questions about the ethics of the transaction.
Describing Kushner as "the worst and most oppressive kind of slum lord," The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald asked, "Are you comfortable with having Jared Kushner be the beneficiary of huge amounts of Israeli financing at the same time he's overseeing U.S. foreign policy on Israel?"