HOST:
00:02:58
OK. Me also ask you, Mr. Ambassador, about US efforts to advance a stalled Gaza peace deal. The president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Hamas yesterday and is meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu today. What potentially could come from that? Do you see a resolution on the horizon?
JAMES JEFFREY:
00:03:17
I do, but not until the Israeli elections in October. But to get back to the point I made, this Trump effort, first to get a ceasefire in Gaza, get the remaining hostages back, and now a disarmament and essentially surrender of Hamas as a military force in return for Israeli withdrawal, is all part of this same conflict that we see in the straits that's been going on for three years. And by and large, Iran and its allies-- in this case, Hamas-- are not in a good position. So what Jared Kushner is trying to do with Tony Blair and with Ambassador Mladenov, the board of peace people who are trying to make this Trump plan, which has been endorsed by UN Security Council resolution 2803, work, is to get the Israelis to agree to a step by step withdrawal as Hamas disarms. We'll see if they do. All right. James Jeffrey, thank you so much.
