The Trump Organization pursued real estate deals to build new luxury hotels in both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv last year, according to a report.
The real estate firm owned by former President Donald Trump and primarily run by his sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., began talks with an Israeli firm to build a hotel at the former site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the New York Times reported citing documents and sources with knowledge of the deal.
The Jerusalem hotel would be close to the Israeli government center in the city. The Trump Organization previously operated a hotel out of the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C., but the company sold the building in a $375 million deal in 2022.
The Trump Organization also reportedly pursued a deal to develop a new high rise in Tel Aviv, close to the headquarters of the Israeli Defense Forces. However, the ongoing war in Gaza seems to have put these projects on the back burner.
“The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for Oct. 7,” Eric Trump, who reportedly lead the negotiations, told the Times. The real estate executive said that building a hotel seemed “trivial and tone-deaf” in the midst of the nation’s ongoing war in Gaza. About 1,200 Israeli citizens were killed during the Oct. 7 attacks last year and another 250 taken hostage, and a total of 42,000 Palestinians have since died, according to the Associated Press.
Eric said that the Trump Organization would still try to develop in Israel after the war ends.
As he campaigns for a second term in office, Trump has frequently touted his accomplishments in Israel as his pitch to Jewish voters.
In 2018, he moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, from its previous location in Tel Aviv—where most foreign embassies are located. Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
He also signed the Abraham Accords in 2020, which normalized relations between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, and Morocco.
The deals in Israel are only the latest reported ventures in the Middle East for the Trump Organization. The company announced deals to build Trump Towers in Dubai and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in July.
