Trump Admin Touts 'Peace' With Billionaire Middlemen, Not Diplomats
Axios details President Trump's meeting with his 'top national security team'—primarily Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—ahead of 'crucial Gaza talks.' The report frames these figures, known for real estate empires and presidential family ties, as vital negotiators for a deal to 'free the remaining hostages and end a war' now two years old. Buried in the fanfare is the fact that these 'envoys' are
dispatched to Sharm el-Sheikh with a vague mandate, not a diplomatic track record. One might wonder when 'successful businessman' became synonymous with 'skilled international negotiator.' While Trump thanks Israeli hostage families for Nobel Peace Prize nominations, his chosen intermediaries—Witkoff and Kushner—have no public history of complex geopolitical mediation. (Kushner did, famously,
author the 'Deal of the Century,' which utterly failed to address Palestinian self-determination.) The media's unquestioning acceptance of these appointments raises serious questions about the professionalization of diplomacy, or lack thereof. How many 'urgent' peace deals will cycle through the news before we demand actual diplomats?