New
Book on Trump Reveals Plan to Cede Control
of West Bank and Gaza to Jordan and Egypt
'Fire and Fury' also sheds light on rivalry
between Kushner and Bannon on Israel policy
By Amir Tibon
January 07, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - A new book chronicling U.S. President Donald Trump's rise to power and first year in office presents Israel as a major point of contention between two of the president's closest advisors – Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon. Details regarding the Trump administration's internal debate in Israel are revealed in Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." The book, which is currently at the center of a political storm, also details casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson's behind-the-scenes involvement on this issue.
Adelson is the owner of the Israeli daily
Israel Hayom, widely considered a mouthpiece
for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is
known for his strong right-wing positions on
Israel. During the 2016 U.S. election, he
was one of the most significant donors to
Trump's presidential campaign. Wolff's new
book states that Steve Bannon, Trump's
former chief political adviser, was "the
only person" in the White House that Adelson
"trusted on Israel."
According to the book, Bannon was pushing to
move the American Embassy in Israel from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem on Trump's first day in
office. He also wanted to finally kill the
two-state solution by announcing that Jordan
will take back the West Bank and Egypt will
assume control over the Gaza Strip. In the
book's first chapter, he is quoted telling
Roger Ailes, former head of Fox News, this
plan, adding that Adelson, Trump and
Netanyahu were all "on board" with the idea.
The
U.S. Embassy was not moved on Trump's first
day in office. In fact, almost a year later,
the president has yet to move it, and has
signed two presidential waivers, each
delaying the move by half a year. With
regard to Bannon's plan on the West Bank and
Gaza, it is highly unlikely that Jordan and
Egypt would agree, since both countries are
already dealing with many other internal
problems and would not benefit from taking
millions of Palestinian under their control.
Later in the book, Wolff details how Trump
decided to give Kushner, his son-in-law,
responsibility over the Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations portfolio, and how this
immediately created tension between Kushner
and Bannon over competing over who is
"better" for Israel – from a right-wing
policy point of view. This competition was
part of a larger feud between the two senior
aides over the direction of the Trump
presidency, with Bannon pushing the agenda
of the far-right and Kushner pushing for a
more "normal" Republican way of governing.
"One of Bannon’s accusations against
Kushner, the administration’s point person
on the Middle East, was that he was not
nearly tough enough in his defense of
Israel," Wolff writes, adding that the
accusations were a "complicated and
frustrating business" for Kushner. Wolff
also writes that "Bannon did not hesitate to
ding Kushner on Israel, that peculiar
right-wing litmus test. Bannon could bait
Jews – globalist, cosmopolitan, liberal Jews
like Kushner – because the farther right you
were, the more correct you were on Israel."
According to Wolff, "Bannon’s effort to grab
the stronger-on-Israel label was deeply
confounding to Kushner, who was raised as an
Orthodox Jew. For Kushner, Bannon’s
right-wing defense of Israel, embraced by
Trump, somehow became a jujitsu piece of
anti-Semitism aimed directly at him. Bannon
seemed determined to make Kushner appear
weak and inadequate – a cuck, in alt-right
speak."
Wolff adds: "on Israel, Bannon had partnered
with Sheldon Adelson, titan of Las Vegas,
big-check right-wing contributor, and, in
the president’s mind, quite the toughest
tough-guy Jew (that is, the richest)."
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According to the book, Adelson came out in
Bannon's defense when Trump considered
firing him last summer, at one point telling
the president that the far-right adviser was
"the only person he trusted on Israel" in
the Trump White House. Later, the book also
touches on Adelson's decision to support a
campaign orchestrated by Bannon against
Trump's National Security Adviser, H.R.
McMaster, claiming that he was hostile to
Israel.
Eventually, Bannon was fired from the White
House and lost the president's faith, while
McMaster is still a senior member of the
administration – perhaps proving some
possible limits to Adelson's influence.
Michael Wolff is a total loser who made up
stories in order to sell this really boring
and untruthful book. He used Sloppy Steve
Bannon, who cried when he got fired and
begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has
been dumped like a dog by almost everyone.
Too bad! https://t.co/mEeUhk5ZV9
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January
6, 2018
In the book, Wolff describes a conversation
between Bannon and one of his own closest
advisers, in which Bannon is quoted saying
that Kushner's father, billionaire Charles
Kushner, is worried that the FBI
investigation into the Trump-Russia
connection will somehow lead the
investigators to his family's finances.
....to President of the United States (on my
first try). I think that would qualify as
not smart, but genius....and a very stable
genius at that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January
6, 2018
The full paragraph reads: "'Charlie
Kushner,' said Bannon, smacking his head
again in additional disbelief. 'He’s going
crazy because they’re going to get down deep
in his shit about how he’s financed
everything. The rabbis with the diamonds and
all the shit coming out of Israel and all
these guys coming out of Eastern Europe all
these Russian guys and guys in Kazakhstan.
And he’s frozen on 666 [Fifth Avenue], when
it goes under next year, the whole thing’s
cross-collateralized he’s wiped, he’s gone,
he’s done, it’s over. Toast.'"
The book, released on Friday, became an
instant bestseller upon its release. Trump
has dismissed the book on Saturday, calling
it a "really boring and untruthful book" in
a Tweet. He added that Wolff "used Sloppy
Steve Bannon, who cried when he got fired
and begged for his job. Now Sloppy Steve has
been dumped like a dog by almost everyone.
Too bad!"
Later on Saturday, Trump said in a tweet
that his "two greatest assets have been
mental stability and being, like, really
smart," further calling himself "a very
stable genius."
This article was originally published by Haaretz -
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Rami Khouri interview with Aljazeera tv on the Middle East portions of Michael Wolff's book on the Trump White House
- See Also -
Tapes Reveal Egyptian Leaders’ Tacit Acceptance of Jerusalem Move
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