ADL to honor Jared Kushner for Israel work, calling it ‘pivotal’ for hostage negotiations
The organization said Kushner’s diplomatic work laid the groundwork for current talks related to the Gaza war
Jared Kushner, then an advisor to President Donald Trump, speaks at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the normalization of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates in Aug. 2020. Photo by Getty Images
By Arno Rosenfeld February 26, 2024
The Anti-Defamation League will deliver an award to Jared Kushner for his diplomatic work related to Israel at its annual conference next month in New York City.
Kushner, the son-in-law of former president Donald Trump — the presumptive Republican nominee for president — served as a senior adviser in Trump’s White House where he was charged to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The ADL is honoring Kushner for his “vital and deeply impactful work on the Abraham Accords,” which normalized relations between Israel and several Middle Eastern countries including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
He also championed the decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
A spokesperson for the ADL said that Kushner’s previous diplomatic work was “pivotal for hostage release and an end to the conflict post October 7th terrorist attack.”
Kushner, who the ADL previously defended from antisemitic right-wing attacks, has said he will not participate in a second Trump administration.
The award ceremony will take place at the ADL’s annual Never Is Now conference early next month. The organization declined to share more details about the award, and who else would be honored at the conference.
“This is about Jared Kushner and his record of policy work,” the organization said in a statement to the Forward.
The ADL gives out an International Leadership Award, which in past years has gone to figures including technology executive Eric Schmidt, actor and producer Sacha Baron Cohen and chessmaster and activist Garry Kasparov. It is not clear if this is the award it will bestow upon Kushner.
The accolade comes at a tense moment for the organization. The ADL has been dealing with staff unrest over its positions on Israel amid a spike in antisemitism following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel and subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward A Jewish nonprofit may have accidentally caused Michigan to drop charges against pro-Palestinian activists
-
Fast Forward Zohran Mamdani gets photo-ops — and attacks — after meeting with Orthodox voters
-
Fast Forward Israel adopts plan to conquer and occupy Gaza, in a shift for war’s goals
-
Fast Forward Netanyahu disputes report that Mike Waltz was fired for coordinating with him on Iran
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Jewish nonprofit may have accidentally caused Michigan to drop charges against pro-Palestinian activists
-
Culture For Christian nationalists, Trump’s pope picture isn’t a joke
-
Opinion Is Israel really going to reoccupy Gaza? Ask Trump
-
Yiddish World A photo of my bubbe when Jewish stores still had Yiddish signs
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.