A top US official said that the Trump administration has offered Indonesia up to $2 billion in US development aid if it establishes ties with Israel.

“We’re talking to them about it,” Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corp (DFC), told Bloomberg in an interview published on Tuesday. “If they’re ready, they’re ready, and if they are then we’ll be happy to even support more financially than what we do.”

According to the report, the DFC already invests over $1 billion in Indonesia but is willing to more than double that sum if the Muslim-majority country, the most populous such country in the world, establishes ties to Israel.

Boehler was interviewed from Jerusalem, where he landed on Monday as part of the US delegation heading to Rabat on Tuesday for Israel-Morocco talks.

The US also hopes that Saudi Arabia and Oman agree to normalize ties with Israel but according to Boehler, the DFC can’t be involved with funding the two Persian Gulf states since the organization is restricted from direct investments in higher-income countries.

The effort to convince Indonesia to establish ties with Israel is being led by the indefatigable White House Adviser Jared Kushner, who is a longtime friend of Boehler, according to a JTA report.

A congressional aide close to Democratic leaders told JTA that Indonesia should weigh the US proposal carefully before accepting it due to the imminent change in US leadership.

“If I were the Indonesians, I wouldn’t bank on any promises the administration is making now,” the aide said. “The Development Finance Corp. was designed as a development tool, not an incentive for political developments.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)