Jared Kushner says Egypt's Sisi once cancelled UN resolution condemning Israeli violence

Jared Kushner has revealed in his memoir that Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cancelled a UN resolution condemning Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank around the time Donald Trump became president.

Kushner, who is the former US President's advisor and son-in-law, said in his book 'Breaking History' that several countries - including Egypt - were preparing to present a resolution at the United Nations several years ago denouncing Israel’s actions across the West Bank as flagrant violations of international law.

At the time, the outgoing Obama administration said it would abstain from the vote on the resolution, which would then be interpreted as "an abandonment" of Israel, of which the US is a major ally.

He said the US’ abstaining would also threaten Washington's future peace efforts by "tilting negotiations toward the Palestinians" and discouraging them from negotiating "directly with the Israelis".

Kushner elaborated at the time that his father-in-law, who at the time was the incoming president, made his opposition to the resolution clear, despite it being rare for a president-elect to comment on an outgoing administration's policy.

In a statement posted to social media, Trump wrote: "Peace between Israelis and Palestinians will only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties, not through the imposition of conditions by the United Nations. This puts Israel in a very bad negotiating position, and it is very unfair to all Israelis".

Following the former US president’s words, Kushner said that Sisi called them and said that Egypt would cancel the decision to take part in the resolution. Kushner, who was tasked in 2017 with handling affairs concerning the Middle East under Trump’s presidency, added in his memoir that at that moment "it looked like we succeeded and had an impact".

General Sisi, who took power in Egypt in 2014, once thanked Trump for his efforts in strengthening ties between the two countries.

In turn, Trump has previously described Sisi has a "great leader" of his nation, despite numerous calls from human rights organisations and activists for probes in the country’s human rights violations against critics of his regime- including individuals affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and leftists.

Meanwhile, Egypt and Israel have had established diplomatic ties for decades, when both countries signed a US-brokered treaty in 1979.

Relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv have also grown in recent years, with a number of security and economic deals signed, coinciding with an increase of normalised ties between Israel and several Arab states since the UAE signed the controversial Abraham Accords in 2020.