Jared Kushner Brokered Gaza Peace While His Firm Cashed In On Arms Makers

Jared Kushner spent the past two years brokering ceasefires and nuclear talks across the Middle East as Donald Trump's son-in-law and self-described volunteer. The whole time, his private equity firm sat as the largest shareholder in an Israeli financial group that poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the companies arming the war he was supposedly helping to end [S1].

The Case Against Jared Kushner

Kushner never took a title that would have forced him to disclose his finances until this February, when Trump named him special peace envoy, "triggering ethics requirements necessary for the public trust" [S4]. Before that, and largely alongside it, he operated as an unpaid adviser, a status that let him skip the financial disclosure regular officials file [S1].

Affinity Partners, which Kushner owns alone, was incorporated on January 21, 2021, a day after Trump's first term ended [S1]. Six months later it secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman [S1]. In 2024, Affinity bought a 4.95% stake in Phoenix Financial, a Tel Aviv financial group, for $128.5 million, then roughly doubled that stake five days before Trump was sworn back into office, becoming Phoenix's largest shareholder [S1].

Using Israeli financial transparency laws, CNN traced Phoenix's holdings and found at least $265 million sitting in Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms manufacturer, plus stakes in eight more companies supplying drones, warships and demolition equipment to the Israeli military [S1]. By July, Affinity's 7.4% stake in Phoenix was worth more than $1 billion, and Affinity had already cashed out a quarter of it for more than $340 million, a return of five times its initial purchase [S1]. Kushner called Phoenix Affinity's "best investment" [S1].

On the diplomacy side, Kushner was a key architect of the Gaza ceasefire, and sits as an executive member of Trump's "Board of Peace" overseeing Gaza's reconstruction [S1]. He told Forbes he kept "a very active dialogue" with Phoenix's leadership, meeting every few weeks [S1]. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, sent Kushner a formal inquiry demanding he disclose every Affinity investment tied to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, and the firm's financial links to Israeli military suppliers [S2].

PUBLIC OPINION

Virginia Canter, a former White House counsel, told the New Yorker, “Kushner is plagued with conflicts of interest. He is supposed to be working for the American people, but in fact he has tremendous financial incentives to further the interests of his investors.” [S3] Cynthia Brown, chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said “the people profiting should not be the people making the decisions to make that policy. And that is what is happening here.” [S1] Rep. Jamie Raskin called Kushner's dual roles “completely irreconcilable and unethical” [S1]. Rep. Robert Garcia wrote to Kushner that his “dual role as your father-in-law's Middle East and Gaza negotiator while investing in a company that makes profits investing in arms manufacturing presents significant conflicts of interest” [S2]. CREW President Donald K. Sherman said, “At this moment, the public has no reason to trust Jared Kushner's integrity as a government official to put their interests above his financial benefit.” [S4]

BULLSHIT DEFENSE

Kushner's attorney told CNN he has “never participated in or directed Phoenix's decisions” on where to invest and had “no involvement in the decision to purchase, hold or sell any of the nine companies” CNN identified, adding that “any suggestion that Jared's diplomatic work influenced Phoenix's investments in the companies you identify, or vice versa, is incorrect” [S1]. White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said Kushner's “personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements, which he conducts on a volunteer basis at the President's request” [S1]. Kushner himself posted on X that CNN's reporting was “misleading” [S2].

Here's the problem. Nobody's disputing the money. Affinity owns the stake, Phoenix owns the arms-maker shares, and the numbers match. The defense isn't that the investment doesn't exist, it's that Kushner personally didn't pick the stocks. That's a fine distinction for a compliance memo and a useless one for a guy who meets with Phoenix's leadership every few weeks while brokering the war that's driving Phoenix's returns [S1]. You don't need to personally wire the money to profit from the policy you're shaping. You just need to own the firm that does, and he does, solely [S1].

Calling an investigation "misleading" on X isn't a rebuttal. It's a press release.

Kushner built a system where he never has to explain the overlap, because for most of this, no law required him to. That's not an accident, it's the design. The House Oversight letter is the first real attempt to make him answer for it.

P.S. Watch what happens to the "volunteer" title the next time Congress asks for paperwork. If the special envoy ever formally files a disclosure, see how much of Affinity's $1 billion Phoenix stake actually shows up on it.

~ Rob