Jason Greenblatt
US lawyer and former Trump Organization executive; White House Special Representative for International Negotiations 2017–2019; board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition
| Jason Greenblatt
| |
|---|---|
| Image |  Greenblatt in August 2017 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Lawyer; founder, Abraham Venture LLC; senior director for Arab-Israel diplomacy, Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs; former White House Middle East envoy |
| Known for | Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations (2017–2019); work on the Trump administration's Israeli–Palestinian peace plan; Republican Jewish Coalition board member |
| Education | New York University School of Law (J.D., 1992) |
| Website | jasongreenblatt.com |
Jason D. Greenblatt is an American lawyer who was an executive of the Trump Organization for about two decades and, from 2017 to 2019, an Assistant to the President and the White House's Special Representative for International Negotiations, the post commonly described as Middle East envoy.[1][2] He worked on the administration's Israeli–Palestinian peace plan alongside Jared Kushner and left the White House in September 2019. Since then he has worked for the investment platform OurCrowd, founded a consulting firm, Abraham Venture LLC, joined the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition and become a senior director at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.[3][4][5]
Career
Trump Organization, to 2016
Greenblatt's website dates his time at the Trump Organization as 1997 to 2017.[6] The December 2016 announcement of his White House appointment described him as executive vice president and chief legal officer of the company, where "for the past two decades" he had represented Donald Trump and his family "in diverse legal and business affairs", including worldwide real estate development. It said he had also been "one of the President-elect's principal advisors on the U.S.-Israel relationship during the campaign".[1]
The same announcement said he took his law degree at New York University School of Law in 1992, worked at the New York firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, and had taught a real-estate course as an adjunct professor of management at Yeshiva University.[1]
Special Representative for International Negotiations, 2017–2019
On 27 December 2016 Trump announced Greenblatt's appointment as Special Representative for International Negotiations, calling him "one of my closest and most trusted advisors" with "a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf".[1]
According to the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, he played "a key role in developing the Abraham Accords", signed in 2020, in which Israel normalised relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, and helped formulate Trump's Middle East peace plan.[2] In 2026 the magazine Mishpacha described him as one of three key figures, with Kushner and David Friedman, then the US ambassador to Israel, who "helped overturn decades of conventional thinking about the region", on the premise that Israel did not have to wait for a settlement of the Palestinian conflict before building open relations with Arab states.[7]
NBC News described him as a real-estate lawyer who had worked for Trump's business for roughly two decades and "did not have any formal diplomatic experience" before being chosen as envoy. It published a photograph of him with Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on 30 May 2019.[8]
Departure, September 2019
On 5 September 2019 Trump announced that Greenblatt would leave "after almost 3 years in my Administration" to "pursue work in the private sector", calling him "a loyal and great friend and fantastic lawyer". Greenblatt said he was "grateful to have been part of the team that drafted a realistic vision for peace".[9] NBC News reported that Avi Berkowitz, a longtime aide to Kushner, would replace him as special adviser for international negotiations.[8] CNN reported that officials attributed his departure to family reasons and that the peace plan, then unreleased, had been repeatedly delayed by Israeli political uncertainty.[10]
After the White House
OurCrowd, 2020
On 26 February 2020 CTech reported that the Jerusalem-based equity crowdfunding company OurCrowd had appointed Greenblatt as a partner, to focus on "bridging ties between OurCrowd and the Middle East".[3]
Jewish Voices for Trump, 2020
In September 2020 Jewish Insider reported that Greenblatt sat on the advisory board of Jewish Voices for Trump, a Trump campaign outreach coalition co-chaired by Sheldon Adelson and Miriam Adelson, alongside the donors and executives it named, including Fred Zeidman and Saul Fox.[11]
Book, board and commentary
The Republican Jewish Coalition lists him on its board of directors. Its biography says he is the author of In the Path of Abraham: How Donald Trump Made Peace in the Middle East and How to Stop Joe Biden from Unmaking It and has written opinion pieces for newspapers and broadcasters including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.[4] Newsweek describes him as the founder of Abraham Venture LLC and the publisher of the Substack newsletter "How to Watch".[5] The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs lists him as senior director for Arab-Israel diplomacy.[7][4]
Views on Kushner and Saudi normalisation, 2026
In a Newsweek opinion piece of 20 August 2026 Greenblatt wrote that Kushner, serving "as an unpaid volunteer for the Trump administration", had travelled to Egypt and Israel with Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's high representative for Gaza, and former British prime minister Tony Blair. He wrote that he had "worked closely with Jared for nearly three years in the White House" and that Kushner "understands how the president thinks".[5]
In an interview published by Mishpacha on 14 October 2026 he said he still believed normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel was possible but that "we are no closer today to another agreement", citing the 7 October 2023 attack, the war in Gaza and the war against Iran. He expressed "tremendous confidence in President Trump and his strong team, including Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff".[7]
Positions and affiliations
| Dates | Organisation | Role | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–2017 | Trump Organization | Executive; executive vice president and chief legal officer at the time of his appointment | [6][1] |
| 2016 | Trump presidential campaign | One of the candidate's principal advisers on the US–Israel relationship | [1] |
| 2017–September 2019 | White House | Assistant to the President; Special Representative for International Negotiations | [1][9] |
| From February 2020 | OurCrowd | Partner | [3] |
| 2020 | Jewish Voices for Trump | Advisory board member | [11] |
| Current | Abraham Venture LLC | Founder; consulting firm | [5][7] |
| Current | Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs | Senior director, Arab-Israel diplomacy | [7][4] |
| Current | Republican Jewish Coalition | Board of directors | [4] |
See also
External links
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 President-elect Donald J. Trump, Press Release - President-Elect Donald J. Trump Appoints Jason D. Greenblatt as Special Representative for International Negotiations, 27 December 2016, The American Presidency Project, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, Jason Greenblatt, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Jason Greenblatt | OurCrowd, Partner, CTech (Calcalist), 26 February 2020, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Republican Jewish Coalition, About, board of directors listing, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Jason D. Greenblatt, Jared Kushner Has What Middle East Diplomacy Requires, Newsweek, 20 August 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jason D. Greenblatt, About, personal website, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 The Peace That Survived October 7, Mishpacha, 14 October 2026, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Trump's Mideast envoy leaving administration ahead of peace plan release, NBC News, 5 September 2019, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jason Greenblatt, Mideast envoy, to leave the White House, Trump says, CNBC, 5 September 2019, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ Top Trump Mideast peace envoy to step down, CNN, 5 September 2019, accessed 11 November 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Trump campaign launches Jewish outreach coalition, Jewish Insider, 16 September 2020, accessed 11 November 2026.