The interview given by US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner to Sky News Arabia on Feb. 25 did not please associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to a political source who spoke with Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, senior Cabinet members labeled it a “verbal terror attack.’’

Prior to the interview in which Kushner disclosed details from the “deal of the century” on which he has been laboring with US special envoy Jason Greenblatt over the last two years, most of Israel’s senior right-wing officials had been convinced that Netanyahu was fully coordinating with Trump on everything connected to the US peace proposal that was taking shape.

“But suddenly,” said a senior Cabinet member to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “along came Kushner at the worst possible time, with the worse possible details, thus forcing Netanyahu on the defensive.”

The day after the interview, Netanyahu instructed all the ministers in his government — no exceptions — to maintain their silence and not give interviews or even address the American initiative and/or Kushner’s details. Simultaneously, as could be expected, a multi-participant squabble broke out throughout the right-wing camp over Kushner's and Netanyahu’s words. Education Minister Naftali Bennett has been trying for a while now to stop the flow of right-wing votes from his party to Netanyahu’s — exactly as happened in the 2015 elections — so this was an opportunity he could not miss. Bennett immediately announced that “Netanyahu will divide Jerusalem.” In response, Netanyahu "advised" Bennett to calm down and denied any such possibility. Bennett did not calm down and on Feb. 27 called upon Trump to publish his Mideast plan before Israeli elections.