Turns Out, Don King Likes All Flags — Not Just Israeli Ones
![](https://images.forwardcdn.com/image/970x/center/images/cropped/gettyimages-578130540-1474988077.jpg)
Image by Getty
Why is boxing promoter Don King always toting around an Israeli flag?
King was spotted earlier this month brandishing an Israeli flag at a Donald Trump event — and at the first presidential debate last night he also had one by his side.
Don King on what Trump has to do to give Clinton the knock out punch: “Sit down, pray, get himself together.” pic.twitter.com/fwqoK3MWjx
— J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) September 27, 2016
King has praised Israel in the past. “I love Israel and I love the Jewish people. I think that their struggle has a great commonality with our struggle,” he told the Jerusalem Post in 2008. In that 2008 interview, he was also waving an Israeli flag.
But King’s penchant for flag-waving goes beyond support for Israel. His collection of flags includes colors from all over the world. It’s discussed, and lampooned, in boxing circles, where King is largely seen as a once-influential, now diminished celebrity. The site Bad Left Hook called King, “little more than an exuberant collector of miniature flags.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
![](https://forward.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Jodi-Headshot.jpg)
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief