Former US President Donald Trump joked that his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, was more loyal to Israel than his own country, according to a new book.
Written by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, the book Peril alleges that Trump made the joke on several occasions.
During a meeting at the White House once, Trump reportedly targeted Kushner with racist remarks and used an anti-Semitic expression when indicating his loyalty to Israel.
In another meeting, Trump joked: “You know, Jared Kushner, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family, is more loyal to Israel than to the United States.”
The book quotes US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as saying that "Trump repeatedly used the idea of dual loyalty to say, albeit jokingly, that American Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States, a charge that has been used for centuries to harass, marginalize and persecute the Jewish people," says Peril.
Among the multiple occasions Trump allegedly made the comments, the book mentions a time in April 2019 when he addressed an audience of American Jews and said they showed “either a complete lack of knowledge or great disloyalty” if they vote for Democrats.
In 2019, Kushner designed and presented to Palestinian and Arab leaders what he called ‘Deal of the Century’, a proposal by the Trump administration they said aimed at resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict by creating a two-state solution.
It was, however, heavily biased towards Israel and was met with fierce rejection by Palestinian factions.