Jared Kushner will take first commercial flight between Israel and UAE

Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law, will travel next week on the first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates after the White House announced a historic peace deal between the two countries.

A senior administration official confirmed that the U.S. delegation on the symbolic trip will consist of Kushner, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz and Iran envoy Brian Hook. Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat will lead Israel’s delegation to advance normalization between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said officials would enter talks “to advance the peace and normalization” with the UAE after President Trump earlier this month announced the U.S. is helping to support the full normalization of ties between Israel and the Gulf nation. A deal would mark the first peace accord between Israel and an Arab nation since 1994 and the first time a deal is struck with a country in the Gulf. 

The talks will center around aviation and tourism, trade and finance, health, energy, and security, Netanyahu said in his statement.

“This historic event is a significant step forward in the Abraham Accords – the breakthrough agreement President Trump brokered to normalize relations between Israel and the UAE, announced on August 13,” the senior administration official said. 

“This is a historic agreement. It will bring engines of growth. It can help bring about an economic flourishing in general and during the corona era in particular. I hope that other countries in our region will join the cycle of peace,” Netanyahu added in his statement.

Kushner has worked to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians as well as Jerusalem and Arab capitals across the Middle East as part of his broad portfolio within the White House.

The Trump administration has touted the Israel-UAE deal as a crucial win and suggested that other Arab nations could soon look to normalize ties with Jerusalem.

“Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead … and normalize relations with Israel,” Trump said on Fox News the day the deal was announced. “We are already discussing this with other nations, with very powerful, very good nations and people that want to see peace in the Middle East. So you will probably see others of these.”

Morgan Chalfant contributed to this report.