Jewish and Zionist figures overwhelmingly dominated the Founders Council of the so-called “Peace Council” announced by the White House to oversee the temporary administration of the Gaza Strip and implement the plan of US President Donald Trump, under which Israel’s war of extermination against the enclave was brought to an end.
The mandate of the Founders Council includes building administrative capacity and regional relations, reconstruction and investment attraction in Gaza, large-scale financing and capital mobilisation. Meanwhile, the Executive Council supervises the restoration of essential public services, the rebuilding of civil institutions, stabilising daily life, and laying the foundations for long-term sustainable governance.
Within the Gaza Executive Council, which operates under the Peace Council, the United States appointed Israeli businessman Yakir Gabay as a council member, while both the Founders and Executive councils were entirely devoid of any Palestinian representation.
Below is a review of the available information on the most prominent Jewish figures within Trump’s council, namely Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Marc Rowan, alongside Aryeh Lightstone and Josh Greenbaum in their capacity as senior advisers tasked with leading strategy and daily operations, and translating the council’s mandate and diplomatic priorities into disciplined execution.
Several of these figures have publicly expressed their Zionist positions in multiple forums, openly supporting the Israeli occupation army and its war of extermination against Palestinians, in addition to their involvement in activities backing Tel Aviv across various sectors.
Steve Witkoff
Witkoff is Jewish of Bulgarian origin, born in the Bronx in New York City and raised in Baldwin Harbour. He is the son of Martin and Lois Witkoff, and his father was a women’s coat manufacturer in New York City.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1980 from Hofstra University, then obtained a Juris Doctor degree in 1983 from Hofstra University School of Law.
Jared Kushner
Kushner is an American Orthodox Jewish businessman and investor. He is the principal owner of Kushner Properties and the New York Observer newspaper, which he purchased in 2005. He is the son of American real estate magnate Charles Kushner and is married to Ivanka Trump, the daughter of businessman and current US president Donald Trump.
Trump appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as an adviser and entrusted him with several key files, including the Middle East peace process. Kushner played a major role in the so-called Deal of the Century proposed by Trump during his first presidential term, as well as contributing to the normalisation agreements between the occupation state and several Arab countries.
Marc Rowan
Marc Rowan, chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management, is a prominent supporter of Israel and Jewish causes. He is known for his extensive efforts in Israeli education through Darca and the Youth Renewal Fund, and for his activism against what he describes as antisemitism on university campuses. He also led a fundraising campaign against the University of Pennsylvania following the events of 7 October. Rowan advocates Jewish communal engagement and recently joined the Trump-backed Gaza Peace Council.
He previously served as chairman of the board of UJA Federation of New York and continues to be active in Jewish communal affairs. Rowan has repeatedly expressed strong support for Israel and its army, encouraging American Jews to increase their involvement in supporting what he describes as the Jewish homeland.
Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone
Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, former regional director of the New York branch of NCSY, was appointed in April 2017 as an adviser to the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. After receiving rabbinical ordination from RIETS, Lightstone became fully engaged in various forms of communal work.
Lightstone was heavily involved in the establishment and development of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed aid distribution mechanism, at whose sites in Gaza more than two thousand people were killed and thousands more injured.
He personally participated in discussions surrounding the normalisation agreements and their implementation, through which Israel established official relations with several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier this year, the Jewish News Syndicate reported that the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing US think tank, had acquired the Abraham Accords Peace Institute, founded by Kushner and staffed by figures linked to the Kohelet Policy Forum, a right-wing effort to reshape Israel funded by American billionaires.
Lightstone is known for his sharp criticism of the United Nations, and according to documents obtained by the newspaper Haaretz, he participated in drafting post crisis scenarios for Gaza in cooperation with the White House.
According to those documents, when the issue of the two-state solution for Israel and Palestine was raised in discussions with the United Nations, Lightstone was quoted as saying that the timing was inappropriate for such a step, and that priority should instead be given to removing Hamas from the scene.
Josh Greenbaum
Josh Greenbaum is Jewish and was raised in an Orthodox Jewish community in New Jersey. He is an official in the current Trump administration and serves as Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service within the General Services Administration.
He has described himself as a proud Jew committed to Zionism, and his LinkedIn profile also indicates proficiency in Hebrew. He is a prominent member of the federal task force combating what is described as antisemitism.
Before entering government service, Greenbaum worked as an investor in private equity firms, including KKR & Co. and Moelis & Co.. He holds a Juris Doctor degree and a Master of Business Administration from New York University.
