Trump salutes mega donor Miriam Adelson for help shaping US decisions on Israel
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Mrs Miriam Adelson and her late husband Sheldon Adelson are known for their philanthropy and business ventures in Israel and donations to Jewish causes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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President Donald Trump, in a speech to Israel’s Parliament, spotlighted mega-donor Miriam Adelson’s outsized influence on US policy toward Israel, recalling her frequent White House visits with her late husband, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.
Mr Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021, assembled the world’s largest casino empire as head of Las Vegas Sands Corp and put much of his fortune into nurturing conservative politicians and policies in the United States and Israel.
Both Adelsons have been known for their philanthropy and business ventures in Israel and donations to Jewish causes.
“She loves Israel,” Mr Trump told the Knesset on Oct 13, crediting the couple with shaping decisions like his 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, his 2018 move of the US embassy to the holy city, and his 2019 endorsement of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.
Gesturing to Ms Adelson, an Israeli-born physician and a major donor to his presidential campaigns, Mr Trump said, “Stand up, Miriam,” before recounting how the Adelsons would regularly call and visit him in the Oval Office.
He joked that her husband was so persistent he’d “come in through the window”, underscoring the couple’s extraordinary access and impact on his administration.
With a grin, Mr Trump said, “She’s got $60 billion in the bank,” then added, “I think she is saying, ‘No, more,’” drawing laughter. He praised her as a wonderful woman whose devotion was so deep, she once refused to say which she loved more – Israel or the United States.
A senior US official said Mrs Miriam Adelson had played a behind-the-scenes role in urging the president to keep striving for the return of hostages that Hamas abducted from Israel to Gaza in 2023. The last of the survivors returned on Oct 13
In 2018, Mr Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mrs Miriam Adelson, citing her as having championed addiction research, founded medical centres with her late husband and helped launch the Adelson Medical Research Foundation. REUTERS
