The Hidden Ties Between Trump and Netanyahu – Is the "Son-in-Law" Israel's Inside Man Shaping Iran Policy?

Will the US and Iran make peace? As of this writing, no one knows. Trump sounded optimistic, saying he was "close to a deal." Then the mood shifted. Reports emerged that key issues remained unresolved and Iran was holding firm. Trump hardened his tone, warning that if no agreement was reached by Wednesday, he would resume bombing Iran.

How the situation unfolds hinges partly on Israel's stance. Trump had earlier pressured Netanyahu to pause airstrikes on Lebanon, clearing the path for a US-Iran deal. But Israel's desire to destroy Iran has not faded — and Tel Aviv continues in working to shape Trump's decisions from the inside.

American media investigations have uncovered a deep and complex relationship between Trump and Netanyahu. At the centre of it stands US negotiating representative and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner — along with his family. Bound together in a triangular alliance, they have long been steering Trump's Iran policy from the shadows.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu share a multi-generational family bond. Through his marriage to Trump's daughter, Kushner helped forge a "pro-Israel political alliance" between the two families — one that has shaped US decision-making on Iran.

Trump often points his finger at the Democrats and the left's so-called "deep state." The reality is, he has one of his own. It is a pro-Israel political bloc — a network of powerful figures in business and politics — that has quietly formed a "Jewish caucus" inside the White House. Kushner is one of its central members. Based on American media reporting, Wen Wei Po exposes how this caucus has been working hand-in-glove with Netanyahu to steer the war against Iran.

Kushner holds no official title, yet wields enormous influence over Middle Eastern affairs. Most striking is the multigenerational bond between his family and Netanyahu. A New York Times investigation revealed that the elder Kushner is a patriarch figure among Orthodox Jewish immigrant communities in America, having built his fortune through business. In the 1980s, when Netanyahu came to the United States to study, it was the elder Kushner who hosted him — in his New Jersey mansion, no less. Netanyahu occupied the bedroom of the young Jared Kushner, forcing the boy to relocate to the basement.

Netanyahu, grateful for the hospitality, came to regard the elder Kushner as a godfather figure. The two families became close across generations. Once Netanyahu rose to become Israel's Prime Minister, the ties grew even tighter.

In 2009, Kushner married Ivanka Trump. Chinese commentator Rabbit Chairman, citing American media reports, unearthed a telling anecdote: Kushner wanted his wife to renounce Christianity and convert to Judaism. Trump initially objected. After weighing the practical benefits, he came around — and reportedly joked, "Everyone thinks I'm Jewish anyway." From that point on, the two families formed a political and economic alliance through marriage, united by their shared conviction of "supporting Israel."

Through the Kushner family, Netanyahu has infiltrated the White House's inner circle of decision-makers, persistently pushing Trump to take a hardline approach toward Iran and resist any ceasefire.

Once Kushner became son-in-law, Trump treated him like his own son. He brought Kushner into the inner sanctum and entrusted him with political responsibility. As a Senior Adviser to the President, Kushner was involved in major Middle Eastern decisions — including handling the Gaza conflict. Given his longstanding ties with Netanyahu, he naturally became a vital conduit through which Netanyahu could influence US Iran policy, infiltrating the White House's decision-making circle.

This back channel was already at work during Trump's first term. In April 2018, Israeli intelligence agency Mossad completed a classified report on Iran's nuclear weapons development. Armed with it, Netanyahu lobbied Trump hard to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal signed by his predecessor Obama. Trump did exactly that. He reinstated sanctions against Iran, and tensions between the two countries ratcheted up once again.

Then in February this year, Netanyahu repeated the same playbook. He travelled to Washington in person to hard-sell Trump on a plan to "strike Iran in one decisive blow" — dragging the United States into a war against Iran. The pro-Israel alliance within the White House threw its full weight behind the plan. Through this coordinated inside-outside pressure, Trump was pushed into recklessly edging toward conflict.

Beyond Kushner, the White House's pro-Israel circle has another key player: Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. A Jewish-American real estate magnate from New York, Witkoff has deep ties with Jewish heavyweights in financial circles — including the leadership of private equity giant Blackstone. He became a major fundraiser for both of Trump's presidential campaigns.

Witkoff is also an old friend of Netanyahu's — yet another inside channel for influencing the president's decisions. Trump, having received his financial backing, returned the favour by appointing Witkoff as Middle East envoy. That role gives Witkoff more sway over Middle Eastern affairs than Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Witkoff is one of the US representatives in the current Iran negotiations and clearly leans toward Israel, pushing Iran to its limits.

In his eagerness to wrap things up, Trump has recently leaned on Netanyahu not to "stir the pot" and derail the talks. Even so, Netanyahu continues to pull every lever available. He urges Trump that a US-Iran ceasefire "would be a disaster for Israel." He warns again that Iran could have a nuclear bomb within six months. He insists America must not show weakness. Trump's wavering stance is, in no small part, tied to this unseen hand at work.

On top of that, Jewish mega-donors have been stepping up their pressure. The wealthy Adelson family is said to have delivered an ultimatum to Trump: if the US makes peace with Iran, they will stop donating to him. Once the donors made their position known, a chorus of politicians and media figures quickly followed suit, attacking the Trump administration for being "soft on Iran."

US and Iranian representatives are set to return to the negotiating table soon. But whether a deal will be reached — or whether talks will collapse in fresh turmoil — remains full of uncertainty. Among the key variables: just how much influence Netanyahu and the White House's pro-Israel circle actually hold over Trump. On that front, the deep personal and family ties between the two men and their families will almost certainly be one of the factors that tips the balance.

Lai Ting-yiu

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The US–Iran war keeps everyone guessing. American forces made a show of force by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, with combat seemingly on the verge of breaking out — yet Trump suddenly shifted to a softer tone, suggesting both sides could return to the negotiating table within days and that extending the two-week ceasefire wasn't necessary. A deal may be within reach. But given his habit of reversing course, everyone would do well to wait and see before celebrating. While the Iranian situation churns with uncertainty, Ukraine's plight has quietly been forgotten — President Zelensky left to wither alone.

In an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, Zelensky made no effort to hide his distress. Since America launched its campaign against Iran, he said, Washington has completely lost interest in Ukraine. Not only have negotiations ground to a halt, but arms and military equipment deliveries have abruptly stopped — precisely as Russian forces are pressing their offensive hard, leaving Ukraine in a dangerously exposed position.

Iran stole America's attention — and Ukraine paid the price. Talks frozen, arms cut off, Zelensky vents to German TV.

For the first time, Zelensky has come to understand that America, for all its self-image as a superpower, simply cannot stretch across multiple fronts without showing its limits. When the "big boss" proves unreliable, the "junior partner" is left to fend for itself.

Washington's Attention Has Shifted

Zelensky has had his fill of being sidelined, and the bitterness has finally spilled over. He told ZDF that after the Iran war began, America's focus visibly shifted. Special Envoy Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Kushner — the two men who had been mediating between Washington and Moscow — are now "constantly in talks with Iran," leaving no bandwidth for Ukraine. As a result, peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been frozen since late February, with no timeline in sight for their resumption.

What makes matters worse is that Trump, already overwhelmed by the Iran campaign, has quietly shelved the Russia-Ukraine file and stopped pressing Putin. Zelensky warned that without pressure, Russia has nothing to fear and will act with impunity. Putin has clearly read the situation. After a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire, Russian forces resumed their offensive immediately, seizing the opportunity to push for an advantage.

The Air Defence Crisis

The bigger crisis isn't the stalled talks — it's the weapons shortage. Zelensky pointed out that US military aid deliveries have slowed to a crawl, with air defence systems the most acute problem. Supplies of PAC-3 and PAC-2 interceptor missiles have shown serious gaps, and Ukraine could soon be left effectively "undefended," forced to watch helplessly as Russian missiles and drones fly in unchallenged.

Ukraine's air defences are running on empty. Interceptor missiles are critically short, and Russian strikes keep coming.

The reason Washington cannot deliver comes down to the Iran campaign itself. Since the war began, Iran has fired multiple missiles and drones at US military bases in Gulf states and at Israel. American forces have burned through enormous quantities of interceptor missiles countering these attacks, stockpiles are nearly depleted, and replenishment has no quick fix. The only option has been to rob Peter to pay Paul — redirecting air defence equipment destined for other countries to the Middle East, with Ukraine inevitably caught in the fallout.

Watching this crisis unfold, Zelensky is in a panic. Unless a US–Iran ceasefire materialises, there is little hope of American arms deliveries resuming. Ukraine has been forced to rely on itself, rushing to produce its own "FP-5 Flamingo" air defence missiles as a stopgap — though even that amounts to a distant rainstorm that cannot quench today's fire.

Adding insult to injury, Trump — in a bid to boost global oil supply and hold down rising prices — granted a 30-day sanctions waiver on Russia, allowing countries worldwide to purchase Russian oil and natural gas. The result: Russia pocketed an effortless €6 billion, turning the war into a windfall that helps fund its military campaign against Ukraine.

America Stepping Back From Europe

The "big boss" cooling on Zelensky is not entirely a matter of bandwidth. It also reflects a deliberate intent to distance America from Europe and leave the continent to clean up the Ukrainian mess on its own.

A recent development makes this attitude plain. According to Politico, War Secretary Hegseth will skip Wednesday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — a forum that brings together defence ministers from over 50 pro-Ukraine nations — sending Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby in his place. Hegseth's snub signals clearly that the Trump administration no longer treats Ukraine as a priority.

Zelensky's predicament is a tragedy largely of his own making. He placed too much faith in the American "big boss," believing that with Washington firmly in his corner, he could go all-in against Russia. Today, he has finally learned the hard way: this "big boss" cannot manage multiple wars at once. Bogged down in Iran, America has no capacity left to care whether its "junior partner" sinks or swims.

Lai Ting-yiu