The expected visit follows Netanyahu’s recent rejection of parts of the Board of Peace proposal.
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and U.S. special envoy Jared Kushner is planning to visit Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Washington seeks to bridge differences over Hamas disarmament and the timing of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza amid Trump’s push for a lasting regional peace.
Israeli diplomatic officials told Epoch Magazine Israel that Kushner is expected to travel with Nikolay Mladenov, CEO of the Trump-backed Board of Peace, and meet with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.
The talks are expected to focus on dismantling the Hamas terrorist group’s military capabilities, transferring civilian and security control in Gaza to a new Palestinian administration, and the prospect of an Israeli withdrawal, according to the officials.
They said the visit is intended, in part, to assess the gaps between the Israeli government and the Trump administration regarding a 15-point implementation plan advanced by the Board of Peace.
Dispute Over Withdrawal
The expected visit follows Netanyahu’s recent rejection of parts of the Board of Peace proposal, which Israeli officials say conflicts with elements of the 20-point Gaza peace plan initially presented by Trump and accepted by Israel last year.
Speaking at the start of a government meeting on Aug. 9, Netanyahu said Israel would not withdraw from its current positions in Gaza until Hamas had been fully disarmed.
He said disarmament must cover all of Hamas’s weapons and must be genuine rather than “fictitious.”
Netanyahu said Israel was discussing the issue with Washington and that some U.S. proposals were acceptable, while others were not.
“As long as I am prime minister, a Palestinian state will not be established, neither in Gaza nor in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
A central dispute concerns the sequence of disarmament, the transfer of authority in Gaza, and an Israeli withdrawal.
Israel says Hamas must surrender its weapons before Israeli forces withdraw beyond their current positions. Hamas and other Palestinian factions have agreed to a gradual process for dismantling and storing weapons but have sought to link that process to Israeli pullbacks.U.S. envoy Jared Kushner looks on during a press conference upon the signing of the declaration on deploying post-ceasefire force in Ukraine during the Coalition of the Willing summit on security guarantees for Ukraine, in Paris, France, on Jan. 6, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)
By Tom Ozimek
