Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Getty Images

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The official White House delegation for the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will include President Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, as well as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Kushner heads up the team seeking to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks. Other members of his team — Jason Greenblatt, the lead negotiator, and David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel — will also be present for the ceremony on May 14, the 70th  anniversary of Israel’s founding according to the Gregorian calendar.

Those five members of the delegation are Jewish.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan completes the delegation and will lead the team, the White House said in a statement released Monday.

Trump had considered attending the embassy opening. The president has said he is proud of his Dec. 6 announcement on the relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv. The move has led the Palestinians to abandon Kushner’s efforts to revive talks, at least temporarily.

Israel’s embassy in Washington, D.C., is planning its annual Independence Day party for the same day. The embassy party usually takes place on or near the Hebrew calendar anniversary of Israel’s 1948 independence, which this year was on April 19.

The new embassy grounds, on land in western Jerusalem but bordering eastern Jerusalem, are temporary. There are plans to build a permanent embassy, but it might take up to 10 years.

Ahead of the move, the U.S. Embassy’s twitter handle changed Monday to @usembassyjlm from @usembassytlv.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount