International

Trump once donated to a West Bank settlement: report

Getty

President-elect Donald Trump donated $10,000 to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank in 2003, according to a report in The Washington Post.

Yaakov “Katzele” Katz, founder of the Beit El settlement, reportedly told an Israeli radio station that Trump made the donation at an event in New York honoring David Friedman.

Friedman, an adviser to Trump, is the president of American Friends of Bet El Institutions.

He is also now the president-elect’s choice to serve as the United States ambassador to Israel.

“If I would have known he would be elected president, I would have saved the check,” Katz told the radio station regarding Trump.

Katz is a former member of the Israeli parliament and told the Post the money was used for the settlement’s Jewish learning institutions. Trump has donated money to many yeshivas in Israel and the United States, the paper notes. 

The family of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, has also donated money to the settlement.

Beit El runs a yeshiva and a pre-military academy, and the settlement also houses one of Israel’s most right-wing media outlets, Arutz Sheva, the Post notes. 

Trump announced last week that Friedman is his choice to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Friedman supports settlements, which the Obama administration cites as a key stumbling block to getting a peace deal between Israel and Palestine. 

Friedman is also on board with Trump’s promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The U.S. has long joined other countries in not recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, locating its diplomatic presence in Tel Aviv instead.

Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, and U.S. policy has long been that the two sides should resolve that issue. 

Tags Cabinet Donald Trump Israel

Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See all Hill.TV See all Video

Most Popular

Load more

Video

See all Video