Kushner’s Affinity invests in top Israeli financial firm: Report

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Bloomberg
16 Jul 2024 15:33
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The deal represents Affinity Partners' second significant investment in "Israel" within a year.

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Jared Kushner with his wife Ivanka Trump during a visit to an Israeli settlement on December 21, 2023, amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza (X)

Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners has acquired a $128.5 million stake in Phoenix Holdings Ltd., marking its second investment in an Israeli company within the past year, Bloomberg reported. The Miami-based private equity firm will purchase a 4.95% share in Phoenix from Centerbridge Partners and Gallatin Point Capital, as announced on Tuesday. Additionally, Affinity plans to acquire another 4.95% stake pending approval from Israeli regulators.

Centerbridge and Gallatin Point, which control Phoenix’s largest shareholder, Belenus Lux (holding just over 31%), are divesting part of their stake to other investors, including Israeli gas producer Delek Group. Should the second portion of the Affinity deal proceed, their stake will be reduced to around 10%.

Belenus Lux is selling its shares at 37.5 shekels each, a 4% discount from Phoenix’s most recent closing price. On Tuesday, the stock fell by approximately 3%.

The sale occurred less than a year after a consortium of Abu Dhabi funds, led by ADQ, abandoned a plan to acquire a controlling stake in Phoenix. Affinity Partners has previously invested in "Israel", including a purchase of a stake in S Shlomo Holdings’ car and credit division in September.

Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of former President and potential Republican nominee Donald Trump, served as a senior White House advisor. He is most known for leading normalization talks between several Arab states, on the one hand, and "Israel", on the other. During his time at the White House, the United States also transferred the headquarters of its Embassy to "Israel" from "Tel Aviv" to occupied al-Quds, marking an unprecedented disregard for the Palestinian right to statehood.

Why it matters

As the world watches the ongoing Israeli genocide, Jared Kushner blatantly advocated last March for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the eradication of Gaza City as "reasonable" plans for occupied Palestine.

These comments on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza have generated significant controversy. As Trump’s former Middle East advisor, Kushner's statements suggest that a second Trump term might lead to increased unwavering US support for Netanyahu's government, which according to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "wants a war in the North to advance its great dream – a war of everyone against everyone, mutual destruction, the expulsion of Palestinians and annexing the territories to Israel."

In an interview at Harvard University on March 8 with Professor Tarek Masoud, Kushner advocated for the "cleaning up" of Palestinian citizens from the Gaza Strip while "Israel" carries on its genocidal war.

"Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods," Kushner told Masoud, Harvard University's Middle East Initiative faculty chair.

"It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up," Kushner said with ease, as he suggested the ethnic cleansing of more than two million Palestinians.

This viewpoint aligns closely with Netanyahu’s coalition, which is vocally advocating for the resettlement of Gaza by Israelis.

Meanwhile, the Israeli genocide continues live and unabated for 284 days with US complicity and unwavering support. However, Kushner's remarks and actions offer a glimpse into the potential direction of a second Trump administration's foreign policy toward Palestine. In short, they could signal a future where US policy continues to align closely with the interests of Israeli hardliners, potentially resulting in further Palestinian casualties and worsening the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Palestine.