Kushner says Gaza has 'valuable waterfront property' in Harvard interview

Donald Trump's son-in-law and former Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Jared Kushner praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property” and suggested Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the Strip, during an interview with Harvard University. The details of the interview, which was held on Feb. 15, were published by The Guardian on Tuesday and prompted a severe backlash online.

Under Trump's presidency, Kushner was tasked with preparing a peace plan for the Middle East, and while Kushner has said he is not part of Trump's 2024 presidential bid, he is believed to be involved with the campaign as an informal advisor.

"Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable," Kushner told his interviewer, Harvard's Middle East Initiative faculty chair, Professor Tarek Masoud, "if people would focus on building up livelihoods."

"It's a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel's perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up," Kushner continued. "But I don't think that Israel has stated that they don't want the people to move back there afterward."

Some senior Israeli government officials, such as Israel's National Security Minister Itmar Ben-Gvir, have openly called for mass population transfer.

Kushner also said that it would be possible to evacuate civilians from Rafah into Egypt "with diplomacy," despite Egypt's insistence that it would not accept displaced Palestinians and that a Rafah operation would jeopardize its relations with Israel.

"But in addition to that, I would just bulldoze something in the Negev," a desert area of southern Israel, "I would try to move people in there," Kushner added. "I think that's a better option, so you can go in and finish the job."

His interviewer, Masoud, was surprised by this comment, and asked Kushner for clarification as to whether this is something he's heard from Israelis, saying: “I mean, that’s the first I’ve really heard of somebody, aside from [Egyptian] President Sisi, suggesting that Gazans trying to flee the fighting could take refuge in the Negev. Are people in Israel seriously talking about that possibility?”

Kushner replied that he didn't know. “I’m sitting in Miami Beach right now, and I’m looking at the situation and I’m thinking: what would I do if I was there?”

Backlash

Kushner's interview prompted a storm of backlash on social media.

Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian Munther Isaac posted on X: "They are not even trying to hide their colonialism and racism anymore! Nothing shocks me anymore."

Jared Kushner says Gaza’s "waterfront property could be very valuable... But from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up"
They are not even trying to hide their colonialism and racism anymore! Nothing shocks me anymore.…

— Munther Isaac منذر اسحق (@MuntherIsaac) March 20, 2024

The Economist Journalist Gregg Carlstrom also took to X, writing: "Kushner scores a hat trick [three goals in football] here with musings that would upset Palestinians (let's expel Gazans while we build some condos), Egyptians (maybe Sisi will take them), and Israelis (maybe we can stick them in the Negev) all at the same time."

Kushner scores a hat trick here with musings that would upset Palestinians (let's expel Gazans while we build some condos), Egyptians (maybe Sisi will take them) and Israelis (maybe we can stick them in the Negev) all at the same time https://t.co/cSDU31Dyw9

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) March 20, 2024

Andreas Krieg, an associate professor at King's College called out anyone who had collaborated with Kushner in the past, writing on X: "For everyone who struck a deal with Kushner in the past, this is who you have been dealing with."

For everyone who struck a deal with Kushner in the past, this is who you have been dealing with https://t.co/ejmrXsiBRW

— Dr Andreas Krieg (@andreas_krieg) March 19, 2024

Kushner responded to the backlash claiming that some have dishonestly selected parts of the discussion. 

"For those dishonestly using selected parts of my remarks from one month ago at Harvard, to sensationalize, here they are in full ... I expressed my dismay that the Palestinian people have watched their leaders squander decades of Western aid on tunnels and weapons rather than on improving their lives."

"I stand by this and believe the Palestinian people’s lives will improve ONLY when the international community and their citizenry start demanding accountability from their leadership," Kushner wrote on X, linking to the full video of the interview.

For those dishonestly using selected parts of my remarks from 1 month ago at Harvards @Kennedy_School to sensationalize, here they are in full….

I expressed my dismay that the Palestinian people have watched their leaders squander decades of Western aid on tunnels and weapons… https://t.co/Job4eKaaOn

— Jared Kushner (@jaredkushner) March 19, 2024

Since Kushner's remarks, Trump has criticized both Israel for seeking to maintain bipartisan support in America as well as American Jews who vote for Democrats, saying they hate their religion and should be ashamed of themselves.

Back in December, an Israeli real estate company caused a similar scandal after advertising on its social media networks for a settlement projects in Gaza. The Harey Zahav company later mentioned the ads were meant to be "satirical," according to an article published around that time by Haaretz. 

"We're not building and we have no intention of building," the company's CEO, Zeev Epshtein, told the Israeli newspaper. "We want it to happen, but it's the state's decision. We have no influence on it."