Jared Kushner ‘annoyed’ with Kuwait’s Palestine resolution at UN

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump‘s son-in-law and White House senior adviser, met Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington and expressed his frustration with the Gulf nation’s position on Palestine at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), according to Kuwait-based daily Al Rai.

Citing an unnamed US diplomatic source, the newspaper said on Wednesday that Kushner conveyed the Trump administration’s “annoyance” over a recently drafted Kuwaiti resolution that called for the protection of Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Kuwait drafted the resolution after Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinian demonstrators last month in Gaza.

Kushner reportedly told ambassador Salem Abdullah al-Jaber Al Sabah that Kuwait’s position had personally embarrassed him in front of US officials and “friends of America who support [US] efforts to solve the crisis”.

The president’s son-in-law said in the five-minute meeting that he had been working alongside Egypt and Saudi Arabia on a joint Arab-US statement regarding the situation in Gaza before the Kuwaiti initiative.

According to the report, Kushner said he wanted Kuwait to maintain its role as mediator in the ongoing Gulf crisis, despite some parties’ objections to its diplomatic efforts.

The 37-year-old, who is also the president’s Middle East peace envoy, insisted that Hamas be considered a “terrorist” organisation, adding that the Palestinian group worked to advance Iran’s agenda in the region and did not have Palestinian people’s best interests at heart.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, a White House spokesperson denied Al Rai’s report, saying Kushner and al-Sabah “have a strong relationship based on mutual respect and shared strategic goals”.

“They met recently to discuss the peace process and actions at the United Nations and had an honest and constructive discussion,” said Raj Shah, White House deputy press secretary.

“The reports by an unnamed US official characterising their recent meeting as strained are false.”

An official source at Kuwait’s foreign ministry also dismissed the report, saying ties between Kuwait and the United States are “deep-rooted”.

Last week, the US was alone in voting down the Kuwait-drafted UNSC resolution on protecting Palestinians from Israeli live fire. Ten countries, including Russia and France, voted in favour of the resolution.