You read the headline correctly. Back in 2019 Israel loaned some antiquities to the Trump administration (in 2019) for display at the White House.
For whatever reason the antiquities never went on display.
The time came for them to be returned, but bureaucratic glitches (?) got in the way (again – ?) and then COVID hit and things like this got put on the back burner. Except…
Somehow, at some point those antiquities got transported to Mar A Lago down in Florida without Israel’s knowledge or permission.
Eventually the antiquities folks in Israel realized they’d never gotten their stuff back so they came a looking. Eventually they learned WHERE their stuff was and asked Trump to give it back. At least several months ago.
I’ll give you three guesses on what Trump told them but you only need one. He said NO!
I haven’t read a thing about this, and only learned about it because I happened to channel surf to MSNBC at just the right time – Chris Jansing was near the end of her daily stint and devoted several minutes to the story including a revealing interview with someone from the Israeli side who, as I noted above said they started talking with the not so good people in Trump World several months ago about getting THEIR antiquities returned to Israel and have gotten nowhere.
So we have Trump taking stuff from the WH that wasn’t his to take, and refusing to give it back. Sound familiar?
Let’s take a general look at this matter. Like other countries Israel has a ministry/commission that handles such things as historical items, ancient artifacts and such, and sometimes they make arrangements to loan them out. To universities or reputable private research groups for study. To universities and museums for display. Or to governments to display in secure public places. This type of thing happens regularly. Items, including irreplaceable and priceless artifacts get loaned out (under strict agreements). Then returned at the agreed upon time. If not common, it happens often enough that the protocols are fairly routine.
Except as we all know nothing was routine in the Trump WH.
Some of these antiquities (which apparently is the case here) require special care and handling. You don’t just pack them into a piece of luggage and get on a plane with them. The guy Jansing interviewed put it almost that way. Here’s some other stuff you should know. In this case the items in question were for display in the White House. From what I gather details on actually showing them hadn’t quite gotten worked out so they never went on display.
Yet somehow they wound up down at Trump’s joint in Florida! Am I crazy to think he might not even have known about the whole thing at first, but once he did and that they hadn’t been put on display for whatever reason thought “I want those! It would be really cool to have them to show off to VIP’s down at Mar A Lago.” Especially if he found out because someone mentioned during COVID that Israel hadn’t come asking about getting them back. In other words Trump figured he could get away with stealing them! At worst he had to figure if someday Israel figured out he’d taken them to FL he could plead ignorance, that he thought he could take what he wanted from the WH. Hell, he did so with plenty of OUR stuff! You know, play the “oops, sorry guys” routine. However this is Trump we’re talking about and that’s never been how he rolls. Nope, Trump’s attitude is:
“Those things are MINE now. Possession is nine-tenths of the law and I’m NOT giving them back. Sue me. I’ll drag it out in court forever. SUCKERS. LOSERS!.”
I know, we have all the criminal court stuff going on and that’s a huge deal. As it should be. However, this issue of Israel finally tracking down their antiquities and spending several months trying to convince Trump to give them back is months old. I can’t believe this hasn’t become a decent sized and multi-news cycle story. Maybe it will be. If nothing else, it’s something the governments lawyers can use in the National Security/Classified Documents case – reinforcing Trump’s sense of entitlement. That he believes having been President he can take whatever the hell he wants and keep it. Even priceless stuff that belongs to other countries!
Well, since it hasn’t been the story I think it should be I’m doing my part to make people aware. Spread the word folks!
I saw this over on DK. Someone made the comment that maybe it’s time to send the Mossad.
I also saw on the news that the President of Israel was meeting with Biden in the White House.
I hope this issue would come up in their discussions. My comment about TFG is, what a dirtbag!
apparently there was some concern at the time that some of the antiquities had been taken from the occupied territories, which is odd because His Lowness wouldn’t have given a rip, but that was what interfered with the display, then Covid made returning them by spencial courier problematic.
They were given to a reasonably qualified person to store safely, but he was a Trump supporter….
Not just a grifter, a rapist, and a traitor; a thief as well.
The republican candidate for President of The United States.
Not just a domestic thief, but world class!
I’m sure that the Presidential Records Act allows him to take anything from the WH when he leaves. Total white-trash move. Didn’t Billy Jeff Clinton try to take some items when he left?
The only thing that Don the Con could legally remove from the White House was his sorry self and his OWN possessions – he couldn’t even take a roll of government issue toilet paper
Are we certain they’re still in Don-Con’s possession? Are we sure he hasn’t already sold them off?
Why hasn’t the FBI gotten an arrest warrant for grand theft and recovered the goods and locked up the thief?
hello Massad!!