Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy Avi Berkowitz have been nominated for the Nobel peace prize on Sunday, 30 January for their role in negotiating four normalisation deals called the “Abraham Accords” between Israel and Arab countries.
The historic Abraham Accords, signed in September 2020, led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the two gulf countries, UAE and Bahrain, breaking a logjam of 41 years and causing quite a stir globally.
US attorney Alan Dershowitz -- who had defended Trump in his first impeachment trial last year -- nominated Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law along with Berkowitz, the former West Asian envoy in his capacity as a professor emeritus of Harvard Law School.
Climate change activist Great Thunberg, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organization, former US President Donald Trump, NATO and UNHCR are among the candidates nominated for Nobel Peace Prize this year.
In a statement, Kushner announced he was honoured to be nominated for the prize. The results will be out in October.
The Trump Administration has pushed hard for normalisation of relations between Israel and Arab countries, announcing the deals in a four-month span between mid-August and mid-December. Kushner and Berkowitz, Trump former’s deputies, were key negotiating figures in the deals between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, reported Reuters.
The Biden administration is expected to review all the deals, especially all national security deals passed during the Trump administration.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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