Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Turns Out, Don King Likes All Flags — Not Just Israeli Ones

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.

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 Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.