Top donor to Trump campaign ‘enraged’ US embassy not yet moved

Sheldon Adelson, a top donor to Trump’s presidential campaign, is reportedly “furious” that the US administration has yet to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. 

Sheldon Adelson, a top donor to the US Republican Party in the 2016 presidential elections, is reportedly “furious” that the Trump administration continues to deliberate about whether to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to Israel’s Channel 2, Adelson took issue with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s remarks on NBC’s Meet the Press program on Sunday.

Trump “is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact a peace process,” Tillerson told the interviewer.

The Channel 2 report, which cited two anonymous officials, said Adelson “does not buy” Tillerson’s contention that moving the embassy could have an adverse effect on the peace process.

Adelson, who donated some $80 million to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, had already told the president that the Palestinians are “impossible partners for negotiations.”

The New York Times reported that Adelson is battling Ronald Lauder, head of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), with regards to influencing Trump’s positions on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Lauder, who has enjoyed a close relationship with Trump for decades, apparently convinced the US leader to pursue a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. The WJC president also voluntarily helped prep Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas before his recent meeting with the president in Washington, D.C.

Lauder’s influence on the Trump administration has also enraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Netanyahu, according to a recent report in The Jerusalem Post.

“You don’t understand how much influence he has over Trump,” Netanyahu reportedly said. “Out of the people around Trump, he is my biggest challenge to overcome.”

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News