Jared Kushner speaks in front of an El Al aeroplane at the Abu Dhabi airport.  (Photo: Karim Shahib/AFP]

New York, February 2 (RHC)-- Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and former Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz were nominated on Sunday by lawyer Alan Dershowitz for their role in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

These pacts are known as the “Abraham Accords” and in some cases, such as with the UAE and Morocco, formalise existing relations, according to observers. They paved the way for a large arms deal with the UAE, which came under heavy criticism from legislators.

Trump himself is nominated for the peace prize.  President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to review all national security deals struck during the Trump administration, including arms packages for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Other candidates this year include the World Health Organization and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The U.S. Black Lives Matter movement, as well as Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the “Pentagon Papers” about the Vietnam War, and WikiLeaks, have also been nominated, as have pro-democracy and civil rights campaigners from Belarus to Poland and Hungary.