The president announced via tweet the departure of Jason D. Greenblatt, his former real estate lawyer and Special Representative for International Negotiations since December 2016. Together with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, Greenblatt is credited as co-author of the Trump Middle East peace plan. According to Reuters, Greenblatt is one of only four senior officials with access to Trump’s plan for Middle East peace, alongside Jared Kushner, Ambassador David Friedman and Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz.
Politico reports that with Greenblatt’s departure, Kushner aide, Avi Berkowitz, a 30-year old, 2016 Harvard graduate will take on an expanded role in the talks (as will as the State Department’s special representative to Iran, Brian Hook). Berkowitz previously worked for Kushner Companies and later as Assistant Director of Data Analytics in early 2016 for the Trump campaign. This is really going very well don’t you think?
— Avi Berkowitz (@aviberkow45) June 26, 2019
If Avi Berkowitz is @jdgreenblatt45 ‘s replacement it’s a considerable downgrade in the position. He’s Kushner’s 29-year-old assistant. Nice guy but does not have the weight or experience of Trump’s former real estate lawyer. https://t.co/LYMcNzuncd
— Martin Indyk (@Martin_Indyk) September 5, 2019
Avi Berkowitz was a White House administrative aide 2 years ago. Now he's taking on the Middle East peace process https://t.co/gFaMyawIt7
— Politics Insider (@Politicsinsider) September 5, 2019
Harvard Law School Graduation 2016!! #harvard2016 pic.twitter.com/peEAPkVAsA
— Avi Berkowitz (@AviBerkow) June 9, 2016
I'm sure Avi Berkowitz is a lovely person, but I agree with @jonathanchait's assessment that he has no business being in this position. https://t.co/3AbtN69e7s
— Rabbi Josh Yuter (@JYuter) September 5, 2019
“Trump picked loyalists who knew little about the conflict to help resolve one of the most intractable conflicts in the world,” @ZivgGuy told me. https://t.co/meKwlMI3n3
— Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox) September 5, 2019
Trump's Mideast envoy Greenblatt resigns https://t.co/BAFeHGd6zo
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) September 5, 2019