Mar-a-Lago
Israel lent artifacts to the White House in 2019 – now they are apparently in Trump’s villa
Once again Donald Trump is in the headlines with his luxury estate in Mar-a-Lago. But this time it’s not about secret documents.
© Andrew Harnik / DPA
Objects that don’t belong there have apparently been found again in Donald Trump’s Florida estate. According to a media report, artifacts from the Israeli state treasury that were loaned to the White House in 2019 are stored there.
Former US President Donald Trump is currently accused of storing numerous secret government documents in his luxury estate Mar-a-Lago. However, these papers are apparently not the only valuable objects that are mistakenly kept there.
According to reports in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, there are artefacts that belong to the Israeli state treasury. These are said to have been loaned to the White House as part of a Hanukkah celebration in December 2019, when Trump was still in office. However, it was planned that the objects, including ceramic oil lamps, would be returned to Israel by a special courier service after a brief exhibition in Washington.
However, the said exhibition never took place, according to media reports due to bureaucratic difficulties. According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the US side was concerned that the antiques could come from the occupied West Bank and therefore decided not to exhibit them. One way or another: the loans have probably not come back to Israel to this day. The corona pandemic made safe repatriation impossible. After all, such valuable artefacts should not simply be brought back to Israel by plane or shipping company.
How the items got to Mar-a-Lago is unclear
At that time Israel Hasson was responsible for the state treasury as director of the antiquities authority. He stated on Haaretz that he had commissioned the Jewish-American major donor, Saul Fox, to look after the antiques. But here the trail of the artefacts is lost.
According to the report, Israeli authorities have now been informed about the discovery of the pieces in Palm Beach. There is no mention of who the information came from. How the antiques ended up with ex-President Trump remains a mystery. Likewise, whether Trump knows about the whereabouts of the artifacts in his property.
The Israel Antiquities Authority told Haaretz that any attempts to get hold of the pieces and bring them back have so far been unsuccessful. The antiquities agency’s new director has already asked senior politicians and American diplomats for help, including David Friedman, former US ambassador to Israel. But the artifacts are still in Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s luxury property was the focus of attention this year after authorities there seized secret documents during a search. A court case has been initiated against Trump for improper storage of classified documents
Source: “Haaretz”