Presidential advisor and son-in-law Jared Trump landed in Israel on Wednesday morning and headed straight from the airport to the home of Sgt. Hadas Malka, the 23-year-old policewoman who was murdered by terrorists in Jerusalem’s Old City last Friday, to pay respects to her bereaved family.
Kushner, who is in Israel for a brief 20-hour trip aimed at restarting the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, told Malka’s family that President Donald Trump had asked him to personally express condolences on behalf of the United States.
He said that the president had called Kushner on his way to Israel to request he be kept updated about the visit.
Kushner was joined by David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, for the half-hour visit. Traditionally, Jewish families observe a seven-day mourning period, known as sitting shiva, after a death. During that period, friends and relatives pay “shiva calls” to mourn with the family.
In Israel, a tiny state known for its close-knit sense of community, it is a common practice for statesmen and officials to pay shiva calls to families who have lost loved ones to terror. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara visited the Malka home on Sunday evening, and Trump official Jason Greenblatt, also in Israel in hopes of jump-starting the peace process, paid his own shiva call on Tuesday.
