On the menu today: The report that Donald Trump and his team absent-mindedly kept a set of antique ceramic oil lamps which are part of Israel’s national-treasures collection — and that the lamps are still sitting somewhere in Mar-a-Lago, probably next to a stack of boxes full of White House papers — is yet another demonstration that A) no, Trump does not hire “the best people” to work for him; B) no, Trump and his team do not respect others; and C) Trump and the team around him are perpetual scofflaws, disregarding the rules and ignoring all kinds of warnings that they will get in trouble for it later.
Treasure Hunt at Mar-a-Lago
Forget the Dial of Destiny; Indiana Jones should have gone hunting for the Israeli lamps in Mar-a-Lago. Or maybe this is more of a job for Nicholas Cage, after stealing the Declaration of Independence.
This morning, the Israeli publication Haaretz reports that somewhere among all those boxes at Trump’s estate in Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., is a set of ancient ceramic oil lamps which are part of Israel’s national-treasures collection. They were sent to the U.S. in 2019 to be part of a White House Hanukah candle-lighting ceremony:
Among the antiquities are ancient ceramic oil lamps which are part of Israel’s national treasures collection. They were sent to the U.S. in 2019 with the approval of then-Director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, Israel Hasson, on the condition that they be returned within weeks, yet almost four years later, they have yet to be returned.
Current Director of the Antiquities Authority Eli Eskozido has contacted the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, asking them to aid in returning the items, thus far without success. It is unclear whether Trump himself is aware that the items are on the premises of his estate.
If you go back and watch the video of the ceremony, you won’t see the lamps or any mention of them. According to Haartez, the lamps arrived in the U.S., but American government officials worried that the lamps may have originated in the West Bank, and that displaying them at the White House would have violated international antiquities law. (The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has an investigative arm that looks into reports of importation and distribution of stolen or looted cultural property.)
After the ceremony, the Israeli Antiquities Authority reportedly did not want the lamps sent back to Israel on a regular flight or with an international shipping company, fearing they would be damaged. A few months later, the Covid pandemic shut down life around the world and delayed the return of the lamps further. The IAA asked Saul Fox, a major Jewish-American donor to the organization, to keep the items until they could be brought back to Israel. But, Haaretz reports, Israeli authorities discovered several months ago that the antiquities instead ended up at Mar-a-Lago, “where they still remain.”
>>>>Heck, maybe the Ark of the Covenant is among those boxes somewhere, too.<<<<
As the article mentions, Trump may not be aware that he’s got several items from Israel’s national-treasures collection in boxes of stuff from his presidency. If you want to blame the White House staff, that’s fine, but recall that Trump regularly boasts that he only hires “the best people.” No, he doesn’t. He hires sycophants of dubious competence, gets rid of anyone who tells him things he doesn’t want to hear, and then later complains about how poorly served he is.