Shelley Greenspan joins Trump's Board of Peace to court Democratic support

Shelley Greenspan, who served as President Joe Biden’s liaison to the Jewish community, has accepted a senior role at the Board of Peace. Her appointment marks a direct effort by the Trump administration to secure bipartisan backing for its Gaza peace initiative.

Greenspan will oversee congressional outreach with a specific focus on Democratic lawmakers. She is set to begin work next week under the supervision of Josh Gruenbaum and Aryeh Lightstone, both senior advisers to the board.

The move aligns with a wider strategy by the administration to prevent the 20-point Gaza plan and the Board of Peace from becoming short-lived projects tied solely to the current Republican leadership. Officials aim to build enough cross-party support to ensure a future Democratic president, potentially elected in 2028, would continue the work.

Greenspan brings a varied background to the role. She is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and previously worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign research team. Her career also includes positions at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and management roles at technology firms such as Amazon.

At the federal level, Greenspan served at the State Department and on the National Security Council, where she focused on global partnerships. In 2022, she was formally appointed as Biden’s point of contact for the Jewish community.

In a statement to The Jerusalem Post, Greenspan expressed enthusiasm for the new position. She cited her time at the State Department, where she worked to advance the administration’s vision for Middle East stability. "At the State Department, I worked to advance the President’s vision for peace and prosperity in the Middle East and saw how the President’s 20-Point Plan can tangibly deliver for the peoples of Gaza and Israel," Greenspan said.

The administration’s approach draws on historical precedents, specifically the Abraham Accords. In 2020, Trump announced normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. However, the Biden administration largely paused efforts to expand these deals after taking office in January 2021. Critics noted that the new leadership was hesitant to use the name "Abraham Accords" to avoid crediting Trump.

It was not until June 2023 that the Biden administration appointed Dan Shapiro as a senior adviser for regional integration. Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, was designated as the special envoy for expanding the Abraham Accords.

Support for the current Gaza plan among Democrats has been growing. Prominent figures including former ambassador Jack Lew, former adviser Brett McGurk, and Hillary Clinton have voiced approval. Clinton, in a recent article for the Financial Times, acknowledged that while the 20-point plan was not her preferred draft, it possesses the necessary leverage and resources to move the parties toward implementation.

The Board of Peace praised Greenspan’s ability to work across the political divide. "Shelley brings deep experience working across the aisle, having earned the trust of Democrats and Republicans alike through her service at the White House, National Security Council, and State Department in Democratic and Republican administrations," the board said in a release. The board added that her leadership is essential for sustaining the required congressional support.