Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab meet Jared Kushner to discuss Israel-UAE deal

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab met Donald Trump’s senior advisor Jared Kushner on Thursday to discuss recent developments in the Middle East.

The trio said they welcomed “the historic normalisation deal” between Israel and the United Arab Emirates which Kushner, who is just back from the region, helped to facilitate.

They also discussed “wider US efforts to facilitate the normalisation of ties between Israel and Arab states”.

Raab updated Kushner on his recent visit to Israel and the West Bank, with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office noting “his encouragement of a return to cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, as a first step on the road to a renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace process”.

The government said that Johnson and Raab had been “clear about their commitment to a negotiated two-state solution”.

Meanwhile, Middle East Minister James Cleverly was asked by Conservative colleague Matthew Offord MP about reports that Flick Drummond MP, the Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for International Development (DFID), attended an event organised by Yachad on 21 July.

The briefing with Ami Ayalon, the former head of Israel’s internal security agency Shin Bet, was for Conservative MPs who had missed an earlier Chatham House briefing from senior Israeli politician Dan Meridor.

Offord asked whether Raab had been consulted on Drummond’s attendance. Cleverly said Drummond’s engagement with the event “was in a personal capacity” and that “she was not representing DFID” while there.