It sure looks like Trump and
Adelson have cut a deal on annexation
By Philip Weiss and James North
Mondoweiss,
June 12, 2020
Miriam and Sheldon Adelson present Trump with a menorah,
Dec. 7, 2019. Israeli American Council national summit.
Screenshot.
Sheldon Adelson, the Israel-loving, Iran-war-craving casino
baron, talks to Donald Trump all the time, and for good
reason, he and wife Miriam are the biggest
Republican donors, poised to give as much as $200
million this year. Now that the White House appears
to be lying down for the Israeli government
as it moves to annex portions of the West Bank despite a
growing chorus of international condemnation, the focus
should be on Adelson. He has always been a strong supporter
of Israeli expansion, a
man who says, “There’s no such thing as a
Palestinian.”
So far, the Adelsons have gotten everything they’ve
wanted from our transactional president: tearing up the Iran
deal, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, defunding
Palestinians, recognizing the Golan annexation, treating
settlement expansion as legitimate, even a presidential
medal of freedom for Miriam, etc. Right up to yesterday — a
Trump attack on
the ICC in the name of Israel. As Trump
once said
when a Republican rival was getting
Adelson’s money, Adelson wanted a “perfect little puppet.”
Most important, the Adelsons got the Trump “peace plan,”
which paves the way for annexation of the West Bank. When
Trump announced his “vision,” there they were in the front
row.
Especially if Trump loses in November, as appears more and
more likely — this is the Adelsons’ last chance to get
annexation. “They speak to Trump all the time,” Dan
Raviv reported on i24 News.
Look at it from Trump’s point of view. He doesn’t care about
peace in the Middle East or Palestinian human rights. He wants
one thing, to win in November, and he needs money.
Why would the Adelsons risk $200 million on a loser? Well,
because it’s not a losing cause; they get their payback now.
They figure that Israeli annexation is permanent no matter what
happens to Trump. “Facts on the ground” is the Israeli way of
expansion. The embassy move will never be reversed by a Joe
Biden. So let’s annex.
Today, Sheldon’s Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom is promoting
annexation. “[A]nnexation is Israel’s right, and. . . it
poses no threat to the interests of either the United States or
the Jewish state.” That paper is an important rightwing voice in
Israel, and the Adelsons have been big supporters of Benjamin
Netanyahu. So they may also play a role in Netanyahu’s zeal
to annex, when he had a lot of opportunities to
dismiss that policy.
The Guardian said
in February that insiders expect the Adelsons
to donate between $100 and $200 million to Trump’s reelection
hopes this year. If that seems like a big lift, look at their
track record: The Adelsons gave more than $100
million to Republican causes in 2016 and
another $123 million during
the 2018 election cycle.
McClatchy reported last year that the Adelsons
were putting off their big donations in 2020
until as late as possible, so as not to excite negative
publicity.
And here’s another tell, as we say in poker. Sheldon Adelson
is a funder and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition;
the RJC calls
Trump the most pro-Israel president ever and,
big coincidence, the RJC “is launching a lobbying effort on
Capitol Hill to rally support for Israeli annexation,” according
to Jewish Insider. Says the Guardian:
The RJC is chaired by the ex-senator Norm Coleman. . .
who is said to have strong ties to Adelson that benefit the
RJC and other Super Pacs and dark money outfits where
Coleman is a big player.
Coleman helps lead fundraising for a Super Pac, the
Congressional Leadership Fund, and a dark money outfit, the
American Action Network, that respectively back Republican
House members and their policies and have received
seven-figure checks from the Adelsons in recent elections.
The Adelsons have seemed to have their way on annexation so
far. Annexation of large parts of the West Bank are greenlighted
in Trump’s deal of the century. Just look at this incredible map
in the plan:
Map of Israel alongside Palestinian
“future state” in green, in
the Trump administration plan. (Image: The
White House)
The Adelsons wanted the plan out well ahead of the election,
Dan Raviv of i24 said, so that Israel would be freed to set its
own border this year before November comes and possibly limits
its autonomy.
Which is to say, the Adelsons may be the most important
actors in this entire foreign policy discussion. Maybe the media
should be telling us more about them now. . .
