Exclusive: Kushner-Katende Face off: Behind The Scenes at the Heated New York Diplomats’ Meeting

In early February, 2020, Uganda’s long-serving diplomat, Amb Mull Katende received an invitation to attend a briefing on the U.S.-led Palestinian Peace Plan.

The peace proposal was drafted by a team of U.S. officials led by Jared Kushner, 39, a Senior Advisor to his father-in-law President Donald Trump, to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

The plan would legalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and allow annexation of parts of the West Bank, while Jerusalem would remain the “undivided” capital of Israel, among other proposals.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process earlier reported that the peace plan has been rejected by the Palestinian Government, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and some members of the African Union.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the Council that the US plan will not bring peace or stability to the region as it annuls the legitimacy of Palestinians’ rights, including the right to self-determination.

Meeting

On the day of the meeting, Ugandan Ambassador Katende was chauffeured to the U.S. Mission at the United Nations in New York.

Katende and two other senior staff at Ugandan Mission quietly sat alongside dozens of African Union Ambassadors for the briefing.

In his introductory remarks, Kushner appeared determined to secure unconditional support from the African ambassadors considering that Africa receives 32 percent of all U.S. aid in military, security, humanitarian and health assistance.

According to an official who attended the meeting, Kushner said Israel is strong and rich with a staggering Gross Domestic Product of $400 billion yet Palestine is poor with a miserable economy of $15bn.

The president’s son-in-law gave the impression that given this disparity, there was nothing to discuss but simply give a green light to his peace plan.

He also told African diplomats that the continent must choose between Palestine and Israel or else they would be considered terrorist sympathizers who don’t deserve American money.

To Kushner, Africa was either with America on the peace plan or against them.

At this time, diplomats started boiling.

The South Africans, who in 2019 cut off their relations with Israel over Jerusalem’s policies towards Palestine, were visibly rattled by Kushner’s arrogance.

Anger

Kushner felt offended by the lukewarm response from the AU Ambassadors and started a diatribe that saw him toss around phrases like “stupid” and “foolish.”

Kushner, a son of Jewish immigrants, investor, real-estate developer, and newspaper publisher, spoke for almost half an hour as Katende, who was taking notes, looked on in shock.

Contrary to media reports, officials say Katende never interjected as Kushner spoke.

The presentation from Kushner had ended and the floor was opened for comments.

Amb Katende, who previously served as Uganda’s senior diplomat to Sudan and Ethiopia, could not hide his frustration.

Katende started his speech by saying he intended to “correct” Kushner for labeling Africa terrorists, saying terrorism is not an African thing.

Kushner, who was visibly irritated and surprised by Katende’s response, quickly took to the microphone, interrupting the Ugandan diplomat’s submission.

“I get it, it’s easier to go with the flow and not pick a fight. But that’s not the message we’re getting from you. The message we are getting is that you don’t care about our efforts,” charged Kushner.

“That’s your right of course. But then don’t be surprised if we react very negatively to your condoning of negative behaviour,” Kushner added, a veiled threat to cut American money to Uganda.

“The Palestinians do what they always do. They go crazy, scream, burn down their own businesses.”

Katende knew the stakes were so high.

For example, the United States provides significant development and security assistance to Uganda, with a total assistance budget exceeding $970 million per year.

The U.S. supports the Ugandan military; provides anti-retroviral treatment for more than 990,000 HIV-positive Ugandans; and invests millions of dollars to boost economic growth and agricultural productivity, improve educational and health outcomes, and support democratic governance.

A diplomat who attended the meeting said it wasn’t a “toe to toe between Katende and Kushner. Several other African Ambassadors also expressed their views.”

Katende explained to Kushner, who admitted to not even knowing how the AU works, that Palestine is an AU Observer, Israel is not.

This means while Palestine is able to take its case directly to the AU, Israel has not.

“In that case, therefore, what is the surprise about Africa’s support for Palestine if Israel has not engaged at that level?” a diplomat wondered.

On his part, Katende encouraged “greater engagement” instead of “ultimatums.”

This angered Kushner, a lawyer, who responded: “They get people like some of you to say foolish things. Choosing the Palestinians over America is not a smart bet. This is the second time you’ve taken something I said and spurn it in a cynical way. Does anyone else see it? What country do you represent?”

“I don’t know if it’s my not expressing things well enough or your not wanting to hear what I say. But it seems you are the only one having a problem.”

Observers say an Ambassador who keeps quiet in the face of such blatant disrespect is not worth being one.

Katende was applauded by fellow diplomats.

Ambassadors from other African countries including DRC, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone also opposed the peace plan.

Katende informed Kushner that Israel Premier Benjamin Netanyahu had been in Uganda and therefore Kampala was far from being enemies of Israel.

It remains unclear if the incident will have any consequences on the Uganda-U.S. relations.

Officials say Katende knows President Museveni’s mind on the Palestine question.

In Uganda, Museveni told Netanyahu that the idea of opening an embassy in Jerusalem, a contested area, would be “discussed.”

Blindly embracing Israel’s controversial foreign policies could see Uganda isolated internationally.

But anything is possible with the Trump administration.

The State Department which runs U.S. foreign policy has been in disarray – with no senior management running it. Western analysts say it’s mainly about Trump and Mike Pompeo on one-man shows.

Diplomats from several countries have since described the administration as unscripted and haphazard.

Britain’s former Ambassador to Washington Sir Kim Darroch described Donald Trump as ‘inept’, ‘insecure’ and ‘incompetent’ in a series of explosive memos to London.

90 percent of the technical advisers at the State Department have resigned from State Department because they don’t agree with how things are being done.

This has left Kushner, Trump and Pompeo, who are inexperienced, to run the country’s foreign policy.