In the case of Kushner, The New York Times reported on Friday that he has bought into a strategy for negotiating an Israel-Palestine peace agreement that relies on the good offices of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Sunni Arab states.
It then follows that since Saudi Arabia and Israel are enthusiastic backers of the Iran-is-the-principal-sponsor-of-terrorism line, Kushner may see it as a prerequisite for securing their cooperation.
However, whether President Trump and his team keep telling this lie or not, the chances for the novice Kushner negotiating a genuine Israel-Palestine peace deal are slim to none. A powerful and arrogant Israel is not likely to make any meaningful concessions to the weak and divided Palestinians.
What might be possible is for Saudi Arabia, other Sunni-led states and Israel to gang up on the vulnerable Palestinians and subjugate them onto some undesirable land inside "Greater Israel," what might be called the "give-them-three-rocks-and-a-potty-john plan."
But such an unjust resolution of the longstanding Palestinian issue is not likely to be a long-term solution. Israel's continued treatment of the Palestinians as an oppressed indigenous population will remain before the world's conscience, much as South African apartheid did.
Son-in-Law's Failure
So, Ivanka Trump's husband will face near-certain failure in his "peace" initiative, but -- before that becomes fully apparent -- he could lead the young administration off in some harmful directions, bringing it back into line with Official Washington neoconservative orthodoxy on the Mideast.
That was apparent in The New York Times' front-page article outlining Kushner's plan. According to Times' correspondents Peter Baker and Mark Landler, the plan "mirrors the thinking of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who will visit the United States next week, and would build on his de facto alignment with Sunni Muslim countries in trying to counter the rise of Shiite-led Iran."
It's interesting that the Times is finally acknowledging the reality of an Israeli-Saudi alliance, something that we have been describing at Consortiumnews.com since 2013.
The Times rationalizes this "de facto alignment" as necessary to counter "Iranian hegemony in the region," another wild exaggeration. "Hegemony" refers to dominance or control and Iran exercises no such power over the Mideast where its influence is limited to alliances with the embattled governments in Syria and Iraq and with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon and to a very small degree the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
How that measures up to Iran's "hegemony" -- especially coming from U.S. mainstream journalists who would scream if the word were applied to the United States -- is something only a neocon could understand. The Times article also relies on neocon think tanks and neocon thinkers for encouraging words about Kushner's plan.
"There are some quite interesting ideas circulating on the potential for U.S.-Israeli-Arab discussions on regional security in which Israeli-Palestinian issues would play a significant role," said Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "I don't know if this is going to ripen by next week, but this stuff is out there."
Kushner's approach is called the "outside-in" strategy aiming to reach agreement with the surrounding Sunni Arab states and then using that leverage to force the Palestinians to go along.
"The logic of outside-in is that because the Palestinians are so weak and divided -- and because there's a new, tacit relationship between the Sunni Arabs and Israel -- there's the hope the Arabs would be prepared to do more," said Dennis B. Ross, a neocon operative who has served as a Middle East negotiator for several presidents. Ross is a well-known anti-Iran hawk who co-founded United Against Nuclear Iran.
Ready for Netanyahu
The Times also reported that Trump and Kushner had a White House dinner with casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who has mused about the possibility of dropping a nuclear bomb on Iran. Adelson also is a major backer of Netanyahu.
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