WASHINGTON (US) – Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations known as the “Abraham Accords.”
Nominating the pair of former deputies to then-President Donald Trump was American attorney Alan Dershowitz, who was eligible to do so in his capacity as a professor emeritus of Harvard Law School.
In his letter to the Nobel committee, Dershowitz also cited the work of former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer in the normalization deals. He seemed to suggest his nomination could be controversial.
“The Nobel Peace Prize is not for popularity. Nor is it an assessment of what the international community may think of those who helped bring about peace. It is an award for fulfilling the daunting criteria set out by Alfred Nobel in his will,” he wrote.
Kushner, who is former US president Trump’s son-in-law, and Berkowitz, who was the Middle East envoy, were key figures in negotiating deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
The deals were announced in a four-month span between mid-August and mid-December. It was considered as the most important diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East in 25 years as the region girds for a prolonged confrontation with Iran.