Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, has pledged to return a collection of ancient oil lamps to the Israel Antiquities Authority. An unidentified spokesman for Trump stated to the Wall Street Journal that these historical artifacts were initially presented to Trump by a representative of the Israeli antiquities authority, and now they will be promptly returned as intended.
“These historic items were presented by a representative of the Israeli antiquities authority with the full support of the organization,” the Wall Street Journal quoted an unidentified Trump spokesman as saying. “As the items were displayed as originally intended, the office will be expediting their return to the organization’s representative.”
The decision to return the lamps came after Haaretz reported that the Israel Antiquities Authority had been requesting their return for several months, but without success.
Saul Fox, a Jewish Republican donor who gifted the priceless items to Trump, expressed his belief that the artifacts were meant to remain in Trump’s possession permanently. Fox, who is a significant donor to both Trump and the Israel Antiquities Authority, originally intended to present the lamps to Trump at the White House Hanukkah party in 2019, as a gesture of gratitude for his Israel policies. However, due to State Department procedures, the lamps couldn’t be ready in time for the event. Three months later, Fox arranged for a courier to deliver the lamps to him, and he stored them at his home, unintentionally forgetting about them.
In 2021, Trump invited Fox to a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, during which Fox’s girlfriend had designed a presentation case for the lamps. While at Mar-a-Lago, Fox received an urgent message from the director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, requesting the return of the lamps due to a “miscommunication.” However, Fox chose to present the lamps to Trump, believing that they would serve as a “permanent exhibition of Israel’s national treasures” under Trump’s care, although they still belonged to the authority. Despite subsequent requests from the authority to return the lamps, Fox resisted, finding the request offensive.
The former director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who was responsible for sending the lamps to Trump, confirmed that Saul Fox had operated transparently and openly with the authority throughout the process.
{Matzav.com}
Clearly from the story as posted, there was absolutely no wrongful action or intent; just simple misunderstanding/miscommunication! The likelihood of this story being presented as a news item especially now, is to further erode Trump’s reputation.
Trump is a good guy. Contrast with Putin who takes and keeps.
This should be a nice exchange.
I smell a rat! The rat is a leftist! These trinkets, these lamps, are fairly common. BH when we see them, we can understand the Mishna in Maseches Shabbos much easier!
It’s clear from the rag name, that this was just a snow job and an attempt to get President Trump. The slime in Israel has joined with the slime in the United States. We must eradicate the slime!