Advice for Jared Kushner: ‘Stick to your principled positions and don’t haggle’

Last night I attended a Pensacola Jewish presentation at a Cafe Israel event by our beautiful and talented Schlicha Yael Teperman on Israel as a Start Up Nation,a send up on Dan Senor’s best selling book. Teperman’s were Russian immigrants. She revealed in a slide she flashed on the screen that her father was a 25-year veteran of Intel’s major chip fabrication operation in both Oregon in Israel. She had put in three years in intelligence in the fabled Unit 8200. She has aspirations, after her current Jewish Agency stint in Pensacola, FL to finally attend University and ultimately become a lawyer and maybe a politician. So, why do we raise this?

Because also attending the event was a young Jewish Naval officer his wife and cute daughter who are about to leave service after a decade to enter the family real estate business in central New Jersey. That brought up the discussion about the Kushner family, whom they had some acquaintance with Jared’s brother Josh, and knew about the father’s travails.

So that is why when I cracked open today’s Wall Street Journal, I found Bret Stephens’ column on suggested rules that Jared Kushner might consider following in approaching any possible negotiations for a peace deal between the Palestinians and Israelis, that appears infinitesimally unlikely.

Stephens suggests following four rubrics from accomplished former White House and State Department officials. There is Harry Truman’s aide, Clark Clifford’s rule: “do nothing”. Advice that Bill Clinton didn’t follow in 2000 at Camp David, Condoleeza Rice botched in 2006 and Kerry didn’t in 2014 that erupted in Operation Protective Edge.

There’s the Kissinger rule of don’t do small stuff, go big in this context boost Israel as the strong horse in the Middle East along with Sunni Kingdoms, emirates and states to block Iran, and forget about the recalcitrant Fakestinians.

There is  the Bush Rule reflected in his April 2004 letter to Ariel Sharon, that said the 1949 Armistice line adopted in the December 2016 UN Security Resolution 2334 was bogus and dangerous. Don’t give the Golan or sovereignty of the disputed territories of Judea and Samara.

Finally, there is the Schultz Rule of Reagan’s Secretary of State: “stick to your principled positions and don’t haggle.” Good advice for not only Jared, but also Ms. Yael Teperman Shlicha a future high tech Israeli lawyer and future politician of note.

Global View columnist Bret Stephens has peace-process advice for the Trump White House: Forget peace talks. Work on building an alliance of moderates and modernizers.
WSJ.COM|BY BRET STEPHENS
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