Jared Kushner profits from war while acting as a volunteer envoy
By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit ·
Jared Kushner defended his private equity firm's ties to Israeli military-supplying companies, exposing how elite negotiators profit from the very war economies they claim to mediate.
The boardroom diplomacy of private equity war profiteering
Jared Kushner wants you to know that his investments are just like your retirement account. He serves as a volunteer envoy in the war in Gaza. He has been busy negotiating with leaders like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CNN published a report on Thursday. The report revealed that Kushner negotiated during the war in Gaza. Meanwhile, his company, Affinity Partners, held the largest stake in an Israeli firm backing military campaigns. His investment group doubled its stake in Phoenix Financial last year. Phoenix Financial has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer. Phoenix also holds stakes in other companies supplying the Israeli military. All identified companies saw their stock values climb last year. The Financial Crisis of 2008 wrecked my block and took our neighbors' houses. We learned then who gets protected when the ledger balances. Financial elites exploit regulatory loopholes to profit from crises. They shift the risk and devastation onto the vulnerable.
Burying the facts behind a subscriber paywall
Jared Kushner rushed to X to write that CNN published a "deeply misleading story and headline." Fox News reported that Kushner complained about a paywall burying key facts. The report acknowledges that CNN found no indication Kushner's actions directly affected the investments. Kushner described Phoenix Financial as a highly regulated institution managing billions. He compared Phoenix to Vanguard or Fidelity. He wrote that it manages the retirement savings of millions of Israelis. But this feigned innocence ignores the scale and mechanics of private equity control. A regulatory filing by Affinity Partners GP LP on EDGAR shows his control. Kushner controls a majority of the ownership of Affinity GP and Co-Invest GP. He has shared voting power over the common stock. This is not a passive mutual fund for schoolteachers scraping by on a pension. Affinity Partners holds a 7.4% stake in Phoenix Financial. That stake is worth more than $1 billion. That is not diplomacy. That is a dividend. The Trump-Israel Abraham Accords showed how statecraft and private capital travel hand in hand across the region. When elite operators blend foreign policy with personal portfolios, ordinary people pay with their lives. The architects simply count their returns.
A tired narrative protecting the war economy
A White House spokesperson told CNN that Kushner’s personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements. They called the conflict of interest a tired narrative pushed by Democrats for a decade. An attorney for Kushner told CNN that Kushner has "never participated in or directed Phoenix’s decisions" on where to invest. They stated that any suggestion his diplomatic work influenced Phoenix’s investments is incorrect. Representative Jamie Raskin launched an inquiry into Kushner’s dual role as a private equity titan and volunteer envoy. The Adani Group stock manipulation case showed how complex corporate structures hide the true beneficiaries of asset accumulation. Jared Kushner sits at the intersection of state violence and private enrichment. He treats destruction as an emerging market opportunity.
Jared Kushner owes the public a full accounting of every dollar his firm extracted from a wartime economy. He posed as a neutral peacemaker. Justice requires stripping his diplomatic credentials. He must completely divest any portfolio fattened by the slaughter in Gaza.