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Trump donated $10,000 to West Bank settlement of Beit El, founder says
Former MK Yaakov Katz says in 2003 a gift was made in honor of David Friedman, who had only been taped as an envoy to Israel.
In 2003, US President-elect Donald Trump made a donation of $10,000 to the West Bank settlement Beit El, an official of the community revealed on Sunday. Former MK and Beit El Founder Yaakov Katz told the Galey Israel radio station that Trump’s gift had been made in honor of his friend David Friedman, who was then his adviser, and who Trump last week was appointed as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.
“When Friedman was our guest of honor at a fundraiser years ago, President Trump sent us a $10,000 donation, “Katz said. According to a tax file, the Donald J. Trump Foundation donates to the American Friends of Bet El Institutions, of which Friedman is President, a group which raises funds for the seminary of the Beit El Settlement, a news organization affiliated with the settlers movement and other settlement activities.
“I had no idea he would become president one day, otherwise I would have saved that check,” Katz added. He clarified that Trump’s contribution was intended to build a yeshiva in Beit El, not to expand the community itself.