Jared Kushner Hails Israel Strikes on Hezbollah amid Donald Trump's Silence - Newsweek
Jared Kushner, a former White House adviser and Donald Trump's son-in-law, has praised Israel's recent attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon and urged that they now "finish the job."
In a rare post on X, formerly Twitter, Kushner—who is married to Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka—rejected calls for a ceasefire, stating that Israel will "never get another chance" to eradicate Hezbollah.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in airstrikes on Friday. Trump, who often cites his strong support for Israel, has not yet publicly commented on the killing of Nasrallah.
Newsweek has contacted Trump's campaign team for comment via email.
The situation in Lebanon has escalated in recent days as Israel seeks to eliminate Iran-backed Hezbollah, a key ally of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. This has seen Israel launching massive airstrikes in residential areas of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
"I have spent countless hours studying Hezbollah and there is not an expert on earth who thought that what Israel has done to decapitate and degrade them was possible," Kushner said.
"This is significant because Iran is now fully exposed. The reason why their nuclear facilities have not been destroyed, despite weak air defense systems, is because Hezbollah has been a loaded gun pointed at Israel. Iran spent the last forty years building this capability as its deterrent."
Kushner added that Israel has "mostly neutralized" the threat from Hamas in Gaza and now has the opportunity to "neutralize" Hezbollah in the north.
"Anyone who has been calling for a ceasefire in the North is wrong. There is no going back for Israel," he said. "They cannot afford now to not finish the job and completely dismantle the arsenal that has been aimed at them. They will never get another chance."
Kushner described September 27—the date Israel killed Nasrallah—as "the most important day in the Middle East since the Abraham Accords breakthrough."
The Abraham Accords were diplomatic agreements between Israel and several Arab countries signed in September 2020.
These aimed to normalize their relations as part of an overall goal to tackle ongoing tensions in the Middle East. They was brokered by Trump and Kushner, who was serving as a White House Middle East adviser.
President Joe Biden has described the killing of Nasrallah by Israel as a "measure of justice."
"Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror," Biden said in a statement.
"The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas's massacre on October 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a 'northern front' against Israel."
Biden reiterated he wants to see ceasefires both in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah.
"It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability," Biden said.
Vice President Kamala Harris called Nasrallah a "terrorist with American blood on his hands."
"Across decades, his leadership of Hezbollah destabilized the Middle East and led to the killing of countless innocent people in Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and around the world. Today, Hezbollah's victims have a measure of justice," Harris said.