Classified documents may not be the only prized items squirreled away at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Ancient ceramic oil lamps belonging to the Israeli government have been stashed at the Palm Beach property for years — despite the Jewish state’s efforts to get them back.
The lamps were sent to America in late 2019 on the condition that they be returned within weeks, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
They were meant to be briefly put on display in the White House for a Hanukkah candle-lighting event, but that never happened due to “a bureaucratic difficulty raised by the Americans,” the outlet said.
Instead of getting put on a plane back to Israel, the lamps were taken to South Florida, possibly along with sensitive papers removed as Trump, now 77, left office in January 2021.
Ancient ceramic oil lamps belonging to the Israeli government have been stashed at the Palm Beach property for years ZUMAPRESS.com
Israel has made efforts to get them back. ZUMAPRESS.comThen-Israeli Antiquities Authority director Israel Hasson claimed that global events intervened in the snafu.
“We wanted our man to go and bring it back, but then COVID broke out, and everything got stuck,” he told Haaretz, adding that the authority did not want to risk damaging the antiques by having them sent back on a regular passenger flight or by overseas courier.
In the interim, Hasson said, he asked Saul Fox, a prominent Jewish American donor to the Antiquities Authority, to keep the lamps in his possession until they could be returned.
The ancient oil lamps have been stashed at Mar-a-Lago. AFP via Getty ImagesFox attended the 2019 Hanukkah event at the White House along with Trump, whose daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner.
It’s unclear whether Trump or anyone in his immediate orbit was aware that the lamps were on his property.
A representative of the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is where a vast trove of presidential records and classified material was recovered last year. AP
Donald Trump has vehemently denied wrongdoing in the classified documents case. APEli Eskozido, current director of the Antiquities Authority, has contacted the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman to enlist them in returning the lamps — so far, without success, according to Haaretz.
Trump’s lavish Mar-a-Lago resort was the subject of a raid Aug. 8, 2022, in which FBI officials confiscated hundreds of pages of classified documents.
The former president was slapped with a 37-count indictment over the alleged document hoarding last month.
