Adelson-Supported Groups Increase Pressure On Trump Over Embassy Issue

Sheldon Adelson Image by getty images

By Nathan Guttman May 17, 2017

Sheldon Adelson is angry at President Trump.

At least that’s what sources close to the Las Vegas casino billionaire and Republican party megadonor are saying after it became clear that Trump is not planning to move the U.S. embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in the near future.

Now pro-Israel groups and individuals that enjoy Adelson’s generous financial backing are speaking out against the president’s refusal to go ahead with relocating the embassy.

On Monday it was Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which is partly funded by Adelson. Klein told the Forward that he may have spoken “too soon” when praising Trump as the most pro-Israel president ever.

Tuesday found another Adelson-backed group speaking out: Christians United for Israel called on its members to sign a petition urging President Trump to “keep a pledge that motivated millions” and move the embassy to Jerusalem.

And Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, whose organization is also supported by Adelson, made his own plea in Breitbart. “We Jews do not forget,” Boteach wrote. “It is an opportunity he must not decline.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman.

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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