Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their work related to the Abraham Accords.
Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Avi Berkowitz, the former Middle East envoy, played key roles in the administration’s normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, according to Reuters. They were nominated for the award by Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who has ties to the former president.
“The Nobel Peace Prize is not for popularity,” Dershowitz wrote in a letter sent to the Nobel committee. “Nor is it an assessment of what the international community may think of those who helped bring about peace. It is an award for fulfilling the daunting criteria set out by Alfred Nobel in his will.”
Kushner, the former president’s point-man for Middle East issues, told Reuters he was honored by the nomination.
Dershowitz, who represented the president during his first impeachment trial in the Senate, which resulted in a near party-line acquittal, also referenced the work of former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer in his submission. He was eligible to submit the nomination in his capacity as a professor emeritus.
The United Arab Emirates, followed by Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, made history and signed normalization treaties with Israel last fall and into the new year. They were the first Arab countries to do so in more than a quarter of a century, after Jordan (1994) and Egypt (1979).
“We encourage efforts to promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity,” the State Department’s website explains of the accords. “We believe that the best way to address challenges is through cooperation and dialogue and that developing friendly relations among States advances the interests of lasting peace in the Middle East and around the world.”
The recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prizes will be announced in October.
