Jarvanka Stands To Make Money Off Hamas/Israeli War, Incredibly

Time to play Connect The Dots, a game where the most improbable players end up with the most incredible spoils. First the cast of characters and then we’ll get into the details. Jared Kushner and wife Ivanka Trump were at a chic members-only club, Coco’s, having an exclusive luncheon last Wednesday with the Prime Minister of Qatar, who was in town to address the United Nations Security Council. Axios:

The big picture: Qatar has been under increasing pressure and scrutiny by members of Congress and Jewish organizations over the nation’s relationship with Hamas.

• While expressing appreciation for Qatar’s role in mediating the deal to secure the release of more than 100 hostages so far, the Biden administration and the Israeli government are signaling they’ll press Qatar on the issue after the war ends.
• Qatar, meanwhile, is increasing its lobbying efforts in Washington, concerned that Hamas’ attack on Israel from Gaza — an enclave Qatar has helped to support— could damage Qatar’s standing with the U.S. and particularly with Congress.

Behind the scenes: Kushner organized Wednesday’s lunch at Coco’s, a members-only restaurant in the General Motors Building in Manhattan. Among the participants:

• Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund
• Mark Rowan, founder of Apollo Global Management
• Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots
• Marc Lasry, CEO of Avenue Capital Group and former co-owner of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks
• Daniel Och, founder of Och-Ziff Capital Management hedge fund
• Barry Sternlicht, chairperson of Starwood Capital Group
• Dan Senor, author and former adviser to Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign
• Josh Kopelman, founder of First Round Capital
• Gary Ginsberg, lawyer, political operative, Netanyahu confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former VP at Softbank
• Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp
• Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner’s brother, founder of Thrive Capital

Prime Minister Al Thani addressed the group and described “Qatar’s close relationship with Hamas over the years, saying that the relationship was, in fact, supported by the US who’d wanted an open channel to Gaza. He added that the billions sent to Gaza in the last five years were coordinated with Israel,” according to independent journalist Vicki Ward.

I phoned some of my well-placed Middle East sources to ask what was really going on here seeing as the Qataris and Jared Kushner have a relationship that is – to put it mildly – controversial.

Remember, in Kushner, Inc. I reported how throughout the first two and a half years of Trump’s presidency the clock was ticking for Jared Kushner’s dad, Charles. Charles Kushner had a $1.4 billion loan due on a problematic trophy building in New York, the aptly named 666 Fifth Avenue. No American buyers would touch it.

None of them would, but you well recall who did. Suddenly, out of the blue, Kushner had a buyer in Qatar. “Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian firm whose second largest outside investor was the Qatari Investment Authority suddenly leased the building for 99 years, paying all the rent upfront. Around the same time the US withdrew its support of the Saudi and Emirati-led blockade of Qatar.” Ain’t that the darnedest thing? And the article continues:

The timing and the appearance of a possible quid pro quo by Kushner, who was directing much of US foreign policy then, especially in the Middle East, is the subject of a congressional investigation. (Kushner has denied any wrong doing.)

But there’s no getting around the “interesting” history here. So what was the driving motivation behind the lunch last Wednesday? Why did Jared and Ivanka put it together at Coco’s? (Which, by the way, I’m told is a splendid oasis of elitism in Midtown. It’s fascinating in itself that the “exiled” couple should hold court there. A sign perhaps of their reborn global influence?)

The answer I’m told – by both a source close to Qatar’s leadership and another well-placed source in the Middle East – is money worries. Not traditional money worries. High-end money worries. Some of the billionaire businessmen gathered had expressed “reluctance to take Qatar’s money” in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel given Qatar’s close relationship to Hamas.

Whether or not they bought the storyline about the US and Israeli coordination remains to be seen. But one thing I’m fairly sure of is that if the “reluctance” my source talks about dissipates, we will probably see yet more investment rolling into Kushner’s private equity fund, which already, controversially, has $2 billion of Saudi money. But there’s still room for more from Qatar….

The ironies of ironies is that this scandal, or potential scandal involving Kushner and Middle East money, is like the purloined letter, it’s been sitting out in plain view for years now, but nobody is looking at it. Or at least not seriously investigating it. Hunter Biden’s used car loans and laptop computer are all the rage, but la famille Kushner seems to be wheeling and dealing away with foreign dignitaries while a war is raging against one of our allies and Kushner’s father-in-law is headed for another trip to the top of the GOP ticket, if he doesn’t wind up getting sent to prison first.

Certainly strikes me as odd that the Qatari Prime Minister first spoke to the UN Security Council, then he swung by Coco’s for a bash hosted by Kushner. There’s only one thing I’m dead certain of: let’s connect the dots between all the participants at the chic luncheon and then play Follow The Money. I feel certain that herein lies a tale. It always works out that way.

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