A CNN investigation examines Affinity Partners’ stake in Phoenix Financial and its investments in companies supplying equipment to the Israeli occupation forces.
As Jared Kushner has emerged as a key negotiator in the war on Gaza, his private equity firm, Affinity Partners, has become the largest shareholder in an Israeli financial company that has backed businesses involved in Israeli military campaigns, a CNN investigation revealed.
Kushner has avoided the greater scrutiny that could accompany such a potential conflict of interest by serving as a volunteer envoy rather than taking a government position that would require him to disclose his financial holdings.
The arrangement has given Kushner an unusual dual role in the Trump administration, combining private-sector investment with high-level diplomacy during a devastating war.
CNN used Israeli financial transparency laws to track some of the military-related investments held by Phoenix Financial, a Tel Aviv-based company in which Kushner’s investment group doubled its stake last year, shortly before Donald Trump returned to the White House. Kushner subsequently called Phoenix Affinity’s “best investment".
Kushner’s diplomacy and private investments converge amid the war on Gaza
Records reviewed by CNN, which represent only part of Phoenix’s holdings, show that the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Elbit Systems, "Israel's" largest arms manufacturer. Phoenix also has stakes in at least eight other companies that supply equipment to the Israeli military, including drones, warships, and demolition machinery.
All nine companies identified by CNN saw their stock prices rise last year, with several saying the war on Gaza had increased demand for their products.
Affinity does not directly own stakes in the nine companies identified by CNN. However, it stands to benefit when Phoenix generates profits.
Trump's voice in West Asia
Since spring 2025, Kushner has become one of the administration’s voices on Middle East affairs, advising Trump and traveling internationally to negotiate with leaders including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also presented plans to rebuild and transform Gaza into a "global tourist destination."
Kushner played a central role in negotiating the Gaza ceasefire last October. Despite that agreement, "Israel" has continued carrying out near-daily aggression on the enclave.
CNN found no evidence that Kushner’s diplomatic activities directly influenced the investments under review. His firm, however, has generated substantial gains from its Phoenix investment. In July, Affinity sold a quarter of its stake for more than $340 million, representing a return of more than five times its original stock purchase. Affinity, which is wholly owned by Kushner, remained Phoenix’s largest shareholder, holding a 7.4% stake worth more than $1 billion as of July.
Phoenix stakes link Kushner’s firm to companies serving IOF
Kushner has spoken openly about both his investment in Phoenix and his diplomatic role, arguing that financial interests can help create the conditions for lasting peace.
“When you get an Arab and Israeli together and they start talking about a business opportunity, they forget about everything else and then they realize that there’s a lot of similarities,” Kushner told the No Priors podcast in September last year.
“My investors from the Middle East are now looking at Israel, and they’re saying, ‘Wait a minute, maybe there’s a benefit to having these wars done,’” he added.
Affinity gains from Phoenix as Kushner expands his role in Gaza diplomacy
Critics, however, argue that Kushner’s financial interests, combined with his unofficial position as a powerful White House representative in a region at war, raise questions about whether his actions serve taxpayers or his own financial interests.
“There are always people who profit from war or government policies. The difference is that the people profiting should not be the people making the decisions to make that policy. And that is what is happening here,” said Cynthia Brown, chief ethics counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
An attorney representing Kushner told CNN that he has “never participated in or directed Phoenix’s decisions” about where to invest. The attorney said Kushner had “no involvement in the decision to purchase, hold or sell any of the nine companies” identified by CNN and had never served on Phoenix’s board.
They added, "Any suggestion that Jared’s diplomatic work influenced Phoenix’s investments in the companies you identify, or vice versa, is incorrect.”
What happened next?
Kushner nevertheless told Forbes last September that he maintained “a very active dialogue” with the financial group and met with its leadership every few weeks.
His attorney confirmed that statement was accurate at the time, saying Kushner “regularly spoke with Phoenix management about the company, broader market trends and potential strategic opportunities.”
The attorney said Kushner’s interaction with Phoenix management had declined significantly after he became “substantially more engaged in volunteer public-service and diplomatic efforts.”
Phoenix investments include military suppliers
Some of Phoenix’s holdings in companies connected to the Israeli military predate Affinity becoming the company’s largest shareholder. Others were acquired later, including stakes in a manufacturer of electronic fuzes for artillery shells used in Gaza and a company producing components for Israeli tanks.
Phoenix declined to respond to what appeared to be inconsistencies in the way some of its public reports were labeled. Two forensic accountants in "Israel" independently reviewed the documents and determined that, despite those inconsistencies, the filings examined by CNN accurately represented Phoenix’s holdings. The records included investments by Phoenix in the military-linked companies identified by CNN.
The documents cover only part of Phoenix’s portfolio. They exclude assets held in retirement accounts, as well as investments made through mutual funds, corporate bonds, and other securities, according to the accountants.
Phoenix did not comment on CNN’s findings. A company spokesperson said the firm is “regulated” and that “shareholder value is derived primarily from operating performance rather than investment returns.”
Kushner claims business ties could help bridge divides, advance peace
As a private company, Affinity and Kushner are not required under US law to disclose the firm’s investments. Kushner said in March that Affinity had made 28 investments, although it is unclear how Phoenix compares in size with the firm’s other holdings.
A White House spokesperson rejected concerns about a possible conflict between Kushner’s role as a volunteer and his business activities, describing them as a “tired narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade.”
“Jared Kushner’s personal business activities have nothing to do with his diplomatic engagements, which he conducts on a volunteer basis at the President’s request,” said White House principal deputy press secretary Anna Kelly.
Kushner’s 'record of success'
She pointed to Kushner’s “record of success” in previous diplomatic initiatives, including his role in helping negotiate the normalization agreements between "Israel" and several Arab states during Trump’s first term.
Democrats have sought new investigations into Kushner’s activities in the region. Those inquiries could intensify if they regain control of the House in the midterms.
In an April letter to Kushner announcing an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin described the combination of Kushner’s roles as a “completely irreconcilable and unethical” decision that he said “has been haunting American foreign policy since President Trump returned to Washington in 2025.”
From private equity to Gaza diplomacy
Kushner established the company that would later become Miami-based Affinity Partners on January 21, 2021, one day after Trump’s first term ended.
Six months later, the firm secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the country’s sovereign wealth fund led by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, with whom Kushner had developed a close relationship during Trump’s first administration.
The fund’s board approved the investment despite objections from PIF advisors, who raised concerns that included “the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management,” according to The New York Times.
Investments from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates followed. Affinity also invested in Abu Dhabi-backed Zamp, which operates fast-food restaurants across Brazil, and Germany-based smart fitness company EGYM.
In 2023, Affinity entered "Israel’s" market for the first time, purchasing a 15% stake in the Shlomo Group’s car rental and credit business for $150 million.
Kushner and the Israeli economy
The following year, Affinity acquired a 4.95% stake in Phoenix Financial for $128.5 million. Phoenix is one of "Israel’s" largest financial groups, providing insurance, pension, and asset-management services.
Five days before Trump returned to office, Affinity approximately doubled its Phoenix stake, making it the company’s largest shareholder.
Kushner has portrayed the investment as a bet on the strength of the Israeli economy.
“Investing in Phoenix in July 2024 was a decision rooted in my belief in Israel’s resiliency and the fundamentals of Phoenix’s business,” Kushner told Bloomberg after receiving regulatory approval to increase his stake.
Affinity’s expanded investment in Phoenix came as the Israeli war on Gaza intensified.
"Israel" killed more than 74,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
An independent United Nations inquiry concluded that Israeli military actions in Gaza amounted to genocide.
Kushner takes on an unofficial diplomatic role
Kushner subsequently assumed a central role in efforts to mediate the war. Unlike during Trump’s first term, when he served as a senior White House advisor and helped develop agreements, including the normalization ties, he did not take a formal government position this time.
Instead, he began serving as an unofficial advisor to his father-in-law in May 2025, as the war intensified.
Regional officials told CNN they welcomed Kushner’s involvement. He had known Netanyahu since his teenage years and had developed relationships with other influential regional figures during Trump’s first administration.
Those officials said they considered him more effective than Trump’s Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, at handling complicated negotiations.
“It really got started with Gaza. … I spent a lot of time helping Steve, just quietly. And then when things got very intense with Gaza, Steve and the president asked me to get more involved operationally,” Kushner later said.
In September 2025, Kushner was in the Oval Office when Netanyahu called Qatar’s prime minister after an Israeli strike targeting Hamas leaders in Doha. Later that day, Kushner met with Netanyahu and his delegation to discuss a framework for a Gaza ceasefire.
The following month, Trump sent his son-in-law to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, to finalize the agreement.
“I have Jared,” Trump said at the time. “Find anybody more capable.”
Days later, Kushner appeared in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to celebrate the ceasefire he had helped negotiate.
Gaza 'redevelopment plans and business opportunities'
While engaged in the diplomatic effort, Kushner also spoke publicly about his commercial interests in the region.
In January, he presented a “masterplan” for Gaza’s reconstruction at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The proposal included a “coastal tourism” zone large enough for 180 skyscrapers and an airport to replace one destroyed by Israeli strikes more than two decades ago.
“New Gaza” would become an industrial center, Kushner said, calling on private-sector businesses to participate and promising “amazing investment opportunities” in Gaza.
Several weeks later, in February, Kushner attended the inaugural meeting of Trump’s “Board of Peace,” created to oversee Gaza’s redevelopment and security. Kushner is an executive member of the board.
“A lot of these people are volunteers. They’re doing this not for any personal gain. People are not personally profiting from this,” he said.
Kushner and Witkoff have both described their diplomatic approach as that of businessmen, identifying the interests of each side, overcoming obstacles, and negotiating agreements.
Kushner has rejected concerns about the overlap between those roles. In an October 2025 interview with “60 Minutes Overtime,” he said, “What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships.”
Phoenix’s military-linked holdings
In the case of Affinity’s investment in Phoenix, Kushner’s diplomatic activities and private financial interests intersect.
Kushner is not required to disclose his investments because of his volunteer status. Israeli financial regulations, however, provide insight into a company in which Affinity has invested.
Phoenix, as a publicly traded company, must submit certain business information to Israeli regulators every quarter. Those filings show that the company has invested substantial sums in businesses that have supplied the Israeli military as it has waged wars on Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
The largest holding identified by CNN, worth at least $265 million, is Elbit Systems.
Over the past year, Elbit has received hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts from the Israeli Security Ministry, including roughly $200 million for advanced airborne munitions, $48 million for thousands of 155mm artillery shells, and $210 million to upgrade military battle tanks.
"Israel" was Elbit’s largest market in 2025, accounting for 32% of its total revenue. Israeli stock exchange records show Phoenix owns at least 0.6% of Elbit, in an investment that dates back more than a decade.
Elbit and the Israeli genocide in Gaza
Elbit has reported a “material increase” in demand for its products from "Israel’s" Security Ministry compared with the period before the genocide in Gaza. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange figures show that Elbit’s share price has risen more than 165% since the war began.
CNN and rights groups have identified Elbit products, including high-explosive tank shells and 500-pound bombs, at sites of multiple Israeli strikes that killed civilians.
Phoenix also holds a stake worth more than $68 million in Next Vision, which manufactures cameras for military drones and supplies contractors, including Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries.
Next Vision reported increased orders from Israeli customers after the war on Gaza began, although "Israel" accounted for 12% of its sales in 2025.
Phoenix has invested at least $40 million in Reshef Technologies, which manufactures electronic fuzes for artillery shells. The company reported $165 million in orders from the Israeli Security Ministry since the beginning of the war on Gaza.
Phoenix also owns a much smaller, $524,524 stake in Israel Shipyards, which builds fast attack boats for the Israeli Navy.
According to the Israeli forces, Israel Shipyards vessels have been used during the war on Gaza to fire missiles at the enclave. In a 2026 report, the company said the war had produced “positive effects on the business,” reflected in orders for military vessels, including orders from the Israeli Security Ministry.
In 2024, the Ministry signed a $780 million contract with Israel Shipyards for five vessels, with the first scheduled for delivery around 2031.
Another company that reported increased wartime demand is Ashot Ashkelon, which supplies components including gearboxes and transmissions to the IOF for tanks and armored vehicles used in combat. Phoenix owns more than 10% of the company.
Stakes in Boeing and Caterpillar
Phoenix has also invested smaller amounts in two major US corporations, Boeing and Caterpillar Inc., both of which sell products used by the Israeli army.
Phoenix has invested $4 million in Boeing, whose products include fighter jets, helicopters, small-diameter bombs, and kits that convert 2,000-pound bombs into precision-guided munitions.
Boeing supplies "Israel" both directly and through the US Foreign Military Sales program, under which the US government purchases equipment from the company for sale to "Israel".
Although Boeing’s business with "Israel" represents a small portion of its overall portfolio, its role has attracted international condemnation after its munitions were repeatedly identified at sites where Israeli strikes killed civilians.
Phoenix’s Caterpillar holding is smaller, at $2.5 million.
Through the Foreign Military Sales program, the tractor manufacturer has supplied the Israeli military with bulldozers that have been used to demolish neighborhoods in Lebanon and Gaza, according to the United Nations.
The UN has urged Caterpillar to stop doing business with "Israel", warning that the company could be complicit in human rights violations.
Kushner rejects direct involvement
Affinity told CNN that Kushner had no direct role in Phoenix’s decisions concerning the companies it supports.
In interviews, however, Kushner has described taking a close interest in the companies backed by his firm.
“In my business, I try to work with founders I love, on companies I’m excited about, and on missions that I think could be productive,” he said on the No Priors podcast last September.
Kushner has also spoken openly about using Affinity and its Phoenix investment to connect commercial interests with broader political and economic goals in West Asia.
From Affinity to Phoenix
On the same podcast, he recalled facing questions from Gulf investors when Affinity initially decided to invest in Phoenix.
“At the time we made the decision, we had very intense discussions in our investment committee because they said, ‘Look there’s about to be a war in the country,’ which is what we kind of thought was going to happen, and said, ‘How do we explain this to the investors if it goes wrong?’ And I said, ‘Well number one, it’s not a bad thing to have them more vested in the economy of Israel now.’”
Kushner said the relationship could operate in both directions, with Phoenix potentially investing in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“The next phase of that is Phoenix, which is a monster company, is now looking at investments in Saudi Arabia, investments in UAE, and basically thinking how do they start deploying their huge amounts of capital into infrastructure projects in the region next to it. Which again is just further going to bring people together,” he said.
Ultimately, Kushner said Affinity’s investments center on “the big trends that we think are changing the world,” adding, “I think a lot of it is about partnership and standing behind the right companies.”
Source: CNN + The Hill
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