Protests in Albania target Kushner-linked resort plan
Al Jazeera says a $1.4bn luxury resort planned by Jared Kushner has triggered Albania’s largest protests in years.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
A planned luxury resort tied to Jared Kushner has become a flashpoint in Albania, where demonstrators have rallied against what they see as the sale of national land to foreign wealth. Al Jazeera reported that the $1.4bn project on a remote Albanian island has drawn the country’s biggest protests in years.
Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump and founder of the investment firm Affinity Partners, plans to build the resort on an island that Al Jazeera said has acquired the nickname “Kushner Island.” The report did not give the island’s official name or a construction timetable.
According to Al Jazeera, crowds opposing the project have chanted, “Albania is not for sale.” The slogan has become the clearest expression of the anger surrounding the development, which critics frame as a test of who benefits from the country’s coastline and islands.
Al Jazeera presented the dispute in a 22-minute episode of its program The Take, published June 15, 2026. The episode asks whether the resort represents the kind of future Albanians want or whether it amounts to a transfer of prized land to outside investors.
The program featured journalist Mitchell Prothero and was hosted by Malika Bilal, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet described the project as a luxury development backed by Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners.
The controversy comes with Albania’s coast already central to debates over tourism, development and foreign capital, according to Al Jazeera’s framing of the episode. The island project has turned those concerns into a national protest issue because of Kushner’s political ties and the reported scale of the investment.
Al Jazeera did not report a response from Kushner, Affinity Partners or Albanian authorities in the episode summary. It also did not cite protest turnout figures, details of government approvals or the legal status of the resort plan.
The available details point to a dispute driven by symbolism as much as construction plans: a high-profile American investor, an isolated island, a billion-dollar resort and public warnings that Albania’s land should not be treated as a commodity for foreign buyers. For protesters cited by Al Jazeera, the project has become a line in the sand over control of the country’s coastline.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.