Among the 26 executive orders that US President Donald Trump issued during his first few days in the White House is the removal of Joe Biden-era sanctions on violent, expansionist Zi*nist-settler groups in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs).
Trump’s pro-Zi*nist views are already public knowledge. However, another factor could be behind giving free rein to settler gangs to expand the illegal settlements.
Just days before Trump was sworn in for his second stint in the White House, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a real estate investor who served as a senior adviser during the first Trump presidency, doubled his stake in Phoenix Financial, the biggest Israeli insurance and financial firm with business interests in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Israeli regulators approved the deal to increase Kushner’s Affinity Fund’s holding in Phoenix Financial from 4.95 per cent to 9.9 per cent, making it the biggest shareholder.
Phoenix Financial’s tentacles in the OPTs include financing and insuring construction projects and providing financial services to the settlements’ local governance bodies. It also owns an 80 per cent stake in the Ramot neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem.
The firm’s subsidiary has participated in the bidding process for constructing and operating a light rail line connecting settlements in East Jerusalem with the city’s western areas.
The Zi*nist settlements are in contravention of international law. According to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is illegal for an occupying power to ‘deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.’
With Israel now accusing the East African country of Eritrea of aiding Iran, it would serve our people well to pay attention to the Zi*nist expansionist project.
Sources:
https://jacobin.com/2025/01/kushner-cease-fire-israel-settlements
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kushner-affinity-gets-nod-double-135411193.html?guccounter=1
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155861
https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7348?the-phoenix-holdings
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/17/west-bank-israel-responsible-rising-settler-violence
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.33_GC-IV-EN.pdf