This Pro-Israel Group Loves Trump’s Mar-a-Lago — Even As Others Scrap Events
Mar-a-Lago golf club Image by Getty Images
By Nathan Guttman August 25, 2017
Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club is going through a rough patch. In past years it hosted more than 40 charity events each season. This year there are so far only 6 events booked. In part, due to President Trump’s comments following the Charlottesville protests that led several groups, including American Friends of Magen David Adom, to cancel fundraisers they had planned at the beachfront estate.
But one pro-Israel activist sees these cancellations as an opportunity, both to book the club on short notice, and to show his support for Trump. The Palm Beach Post reports that Steven Alembik, organizer of the Truth About Israel event, decided to move his February 25 dinner to Mar-a-Lago after hearing about the wave of cancellations. “I’m reading about these groups pulling out of Mar-a-Lago and I’m thinking, ‘This is ridiculous,’” Alembik told the Palm Beach Post. “Somebody needs to take a stand here and do something. My president is my president. I like what he stands for. With him as president, I don’t have to worry. He’s got Israel’s back.”
Alembik’s event will commemorate the 1972 attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich olympic games and will honor former Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Ayalon.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
