Oct. 9, 2024
In the heart of Jerusalem, a short walk from the Israeli Supreme Court and prime minister’s office, Donald J. Trump’s family business spotted a moneymaking opportunity.
The Trump Organization pursued a deal last year to open a luxury hotel on a former site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to people involved in the previously unreported talks, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The property’s proximity to the nexus of governmental power evoked Mr. Trump’s erstwhile hotel near the White House, abuzz with dignitaries and supporters during his presidency.
Mr. Trump’s company also considered turning a rising skyscraper in Tel Aviv into another Trump-branded hotel, the documents show. That tower, which will twist with glass and steel, is near the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces and will have the most hotel rooms in the country when construction is completed.
Eric Trump, who runs the family business, embarked on the negotiations well after his father kicked off his latest presidential bid in November 2022, the interviews and documents show. And while he has not finalized either prospective deal — talks have not resumed since Hamas’s attack on Israel a year ago — the Trump Organization continues to express interest in opening an Israeli hotel.
The company’s efforts in Israel highlight longstanding ethical concerns about the mingling of the former president’s financial and political fortunes — this time in a warring country at the contentious center of U.S. and global politics.
The former president has made no secret where his sympathies lie in Israel’s conflicts with its neighbors. This summer, he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, and he has dismissed those calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war as “pro-Hamas thugs” and “jihad sympathizers.”
As president, Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ordered the U.S. Embassy moved there, upsetting Arab and European leaders because of fears it would stoke violence. Even before his political career began, he reportedly called Israel “one of my favorite places in the world” as he pursued a real estate deal there.
“The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for Oct. 7,” he said, adding that after the attack, building a hotel “would have seemed trivial and tone-deaf in light of the horrific things that the country and region were experiencing.”
But the Trump Organization, he said, would “definitely” finalize an Israeli deal “when the current situation that we’re all witnessing on TV every day is resolved.”
For nearly two decades, the Trumps have sought to raise a banner in Israel. This time, they planned to team up with two Florida businessmen — both past political supporters of the former president — who would lease the hotels in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Both properties are owned by Nitsba Group, an Israeli real estate company.
If the deals moved forward, Eric Trump said, Nitsba would continue to own the properties while the Trump Organization would license the Trump name and manage the hotels, as it has often done elsewhere. It is unclear how the Florida men and their company, Lockwood Development Partners, planned to finance the projects.
Gil Eshel, a Tel Aviv-based commercial real estate broker who connected Nitsba and Lockwood and helped steer the negotiations, said the Trumps planned to start with Jerusalem before possibly expanding to Tel Aviv.
Before the talks were suspended, the two sides had “agreed about the price and almost everything” on the Jerusalem property, said Haim Tsuff, chairman of the controlling shareholder of Nitsba Group. The Trump Organization, he said, was even discussing the interior finishes, including the furniture.
What happened next is murky.
Although Eric Trump attributed the stalled negotiations to the war, Israelis involved in the talks said they were told something different. The discussions, they said, came to an abrupt end a few weeks before the Hamas attack — when Lockwood claimed on a video call with Nitsba that Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign prevented it from proceeding.
Eric Trump was not on that call and did not respond to a question about it. But in an email to The Times, a Lockwood representative confirmed that the firm “referred to the cancellation of negotiations as an ethical issue that had to do with Donald J. Trump as he was getting closer to being considered the Republican nominee,” and that “the Trump Organization didn’t want politics” to play a role in their private business affairs.
Yet that explanation belies the Trump Organization’s other recent deal-making. The company’s testing of the waters in Israel reflected a broader push to cultivate foreign business after Donald Trump left office in 2021, and is reminiscent of its expansive business activity during his run for president in 2016.
www.nytimes.com
In the heart of Jerusalem, a short walk from the Israeli Supreme Court and prime minister’s office, Donald J. Trump’s family business spotted a moneymaking opportunity.
The Trump Organization pursued a deal last year to open a luxury hotel on a former site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to people involved in the previously unreported talks, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The property’s proximity to the nexus of governmental power evoked Mr. Trump’s erstwhile hotel near the White House, abuzz with dignitaries and supporters during his presidency.
Mr. Trump’s company also considered turning a rising skyscraper in Tel Aviv into another Trump-branded hotel, the documents show. That tower, which will twist with glass and steel, is near the headquarters of the Israel Defense Forces and will have the most hotel rooms in the country when construction is completed.
Eric Trump, who runs the family business, embarked on the negotiations well after his father kicked off his latest presidential bid in November 2022, the interviews and documents show. And while he has not finalized either prospective deal — talks have not resumed since Hamas’s attack on Israel a year ago — the Trump Organization continues to express interest in opening an Israeli hotel.
The company’s efforts in Israel highlight longstanding ethical concerns about the mingling of the former president’s financial and political fortunes — this time in a warring country at the contentious center of U.S. and global politics.
The former president has made no secret where his sympathies lie in Israel’s conflicts with its neighbors. This summer, he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, and he has dismissed those calling for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war as “pro-Hamas thugs” and “jihad sympathizers.”
As president, Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and ordered the U.S. Embassy moved there, upsetting Arab and European leaders because of fears it would stoke violence. Even before his political career began, he reportedly called Israel “one of my favorite places in the world” as he pursued a real estate deal there.
“The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for Oct. 7,” he said, adding that after the attack, building a hotel “would have seemed trivial and tone-deaf in light of the horrific things that the country and region were experiencing.”
But the Trump Organization, he said, would “definitely” finalize an Israeli deal “when the current situation that we’re all witnessing on TV every day is resolved.”
For nearly two decades, the Trumps have sought to raise a banner in Israel. This time, they planned to team up with two Florida businessmen — both past political supporters of the former president — who would lease the hotels in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Both properties are owned by Nitsba Group, an Israeli real estate company.
If the deals moved forward, Eric Trump said, Nitsba would continue to own the properties while the Trump Organization would license the Trump name and manage the hotels, as it has often done elsewhere. It is unclear how the Florida men and their company, Lockwood Development Partners, planned to finance the projects.
Gil Eshel, a Tel Aviv-based commercial real estate broker who connected Nitsba and Lockwood and helped steer the negotiations, said the Trumps planned to start with Jerusalem before possibly expanding to Tel Aviv.
Before the talks were suspended, the two sides had “agreed about the price and almost everything” on the Jerusalem property, said Haim Tsuff, chairman of the controlling shareholder of Nitsba Group. The Trump Organization, he said, was even discussing the interior finishes, including the furniture.
What happened next is murky.
Although Eric Trump attributed the stalled negotiations to the war, Israelis involved in the talks said they were told something different. The discussions, they said, came to an abrupt end a few weeks before the Hamas attack — when Lockwood claimed on a video call with Nitsba that Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign prevented it from proceeding.
Eric Trump was not on that call and did not respond to a question about it. But in an email to The Times, a Lockwood representative confirmed that the firm “referred to the cancellation of negotiations as an ethical issue that had to do with Donald J. Trump as he was getting closer to being considered the Republican nominee,” and that “the Trump Organization didn’t want politics” to play a role in their private business affairs.
Yet that explanation belies the Trump Organization’s other recent deal-making. The company’s testing of the waters in Israel reflected a broader push to cultivate foreign business after Donald Trump left office in 2021, and is reminiscent of its expansive business activity during his run for president in 2016.
Trump Family Business Eyes Hotel Deals in Israel
The Trump Organization was in talks about Israeli hotels before the Hamas attack last year. It says it wants to resume them in the future, raising questions about the mingling of politics and money in the event of a second Trump term.
