Watch the video WeWork's Adam Neumann reportedly helped Jared Kushner create to promote his Middle East peace efforts
- Vanity Fair reported WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann had helped White House advisor and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner produce a video promoting his Israel-Palestine peace plan.
- Two sources said Neumann dispatched a WeWork executive to enlist an advertising firm to create "a slick video for Kushner that would showcase what an economically transformed West Bank and Gaza would look like."
- On Monday, BuzzFeed News technology reporter Ryan Mac tweeted out what he believes to be footage of Kushner presenting the video that Neumann reportedly helped him make at a conference in Bahrain.
- It opens with a shot of greenery and flowerings sprouting up and blooming in the poverty-stricken regions of Gaza and West Bank, which represents Kushner's plans to bring "prosperity" to the region.
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WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann reportedly helped White House advisor and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner cut a video promoting his Middle East peace plan, which a BuzzFeed News reporter has now apparently unearthed.
WeWork has seen a dramatic and highly-publicized crash-and-burn throughout 2019. The startup's valuation dropped by billions of dollars, its IPO was delayed, and the company's future is left uncertain amid massive layoffs and turnover in its executive team, with SoftBank now coming to its rescue.
But outside of the turmoil within the company itself, Neumann, a former Israeli soldier, also involved himself in global geopolitics and reportedly believed he could "solve the world's thorniest problems."
In an extensive deep-dive into the embattled co-working startup published last Thursday, Vanity Fair correspondent Gabe Sherman reported that executives "were shocked to discover Neumann was working on Jared Kushner's Mideast peace effort."
Even though Kushner lacks formal diplomatic experience, the Israel-Palestine conflict is one of many issues in his portfolio in his post as a senior White House advisor.
Business Insider has previously reported that Neumann and his wife Rebekah are "close friends" with Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump and even invited the couple to Rebekah's extravagant 40th birthday bash in Italy.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Vanity Fair that Neumann dispatched a WeWork development director Roni Bahar to enlist an advertising firm to create "a slick video for Kushner that would showcase what an economically transformed West Bank and Gaza would look like." Bahar later told Vanity Fair that he simply helped arrange the video's production, and WeWork did not at all fund the video.
On Monday, BuzzFeed News technology reporter Ryan Mac tweeted out what he believes to be footage of Kushner presenting the video that Neumann reportedly helped him make at the Peace to Prosperity Workshop hosted June 2019 in Bahrain.
"This is not a conference where people come to benefit themselves. You all have big responsibilities and a lot of places you could be and the fact that you're showing up to do this shows that you care about the region and you care about doing good in the world," Kushner says to the audience at the beginning of the clip.
Kushner then shows his promotional animated video, set to upbeat music, detailing his ambitious plan to bring peace to the Israel-Palestine region.
The video opens with a shot of greenery and flowerings sprouting up and blooming throughout the poverty-stricken regions of Gaza and West Bank. This is meant to represent Kushner's plans to bring "prosperity" to the region by"empowering" the Palestinian people through big investments in infrastructure, jobs, education, and "building a digital society."
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