Jason Dov Greenblatt was born on March 30, 1967, in in Teaneck, New Jersey. He is the son of Hungarian Jewish refugees, and grew up in Queens, New York City. During World War II, his father fled Szatmárcseke, Hungary in 1941 as a child, while his mother hid in Budapest with her family during the Nazi occupation, and fled to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

Greenblatt was educated at the Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, followed by Yeshiva University. In 1992, Greenblatt received a JD degree from the New York University School of Law. Following law school, Jason worked as a real estate lawyer for Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and started a coffee vending machine company before joining the Trump Organization.

Greenblatt has worked for Trump since 1997, rising to executive vice president and chief legal officer to Trump and the Trump Organization, and his advisor on Israel. “Jason is one of my closest and most trusted advisers,” Trump has said. “He has a history of negotiating substantial, complex transactions on my behalf, as well as the expertise to bring parties together and build consensus on difficult and sensitive topics.”

Greenblatt has been an Adjunct Professor of Management at Yeshiva University where he taught a course entitled Real Estate 101: The Anatomy of a Real Estate Deal. Jason also founded a website whose purpose is to promote bonding between parents and their teens and which is designed to teach teens the importance of giving back to society and other life lessons.

Greenblatt favors a two-state solution, reached by the parties concerned and not imposed from outside by a body such as the United Nations. Greenblatt has stated that West Bank settlements are not an obstacle to peace.

“My philosophy, in both business and in life,” Greenblatt explained, “is that bringing people together and working to unite, rather than to divide, is the strongest path to success.” He added. “I truly believe that this approach is one that can yield results for the United States in matters all over the world.”

In late December 2016, Trump named Greenblatt as his Representative for International Negotiations for his incoming administration. In 2017, Greenblatt led a listening tour during which he visited representatives from Israel, the Yesha Council, and the Palestinian Authority. He subsequently was involved in drafting the administration’s peace plan with Jared Kushner and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. He announced his resignation from the administration in September 2019.

Greenblatt is an Orthodox Jew, and lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with his wife and six children.

Sources: Wikipedia;
State Dept: Trump adviser Jason Greenblatt is on ‘listening’ tour of Israel, West Bank, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (March 13, 2017);
David Bixenspan, “Donald Trump Names His Lawyer as Administration’s Special Negotiator,” Law and Crime, (December 27, 2016).

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