Donald Trump ’s family business tried to open a luxury hotel in Jerusalem, Israel , according to a report. The Trump Organization sought a deal last year to open a Trump-branded hotel on the former site of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The New York Times reported. The former president’s company also looked into transforming a developing skyscraper — near the Israel Defense Forces headquarters — in Tel Aviv into another hotel.
Once completed, that building will house the most hotel rooms in the country, the outlet noted. Trump courted controversy in 2018 by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, a move which was heavily criticized by Arab nations and praised by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Eric Trump, one of the former president’ s two adult sons who runs the Trump Organization, reportedly led the negotiations long after Trump launched his re-election bid in November 2022.
Neither deal has been finalized and talks have been halted since war broke out in the region following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 — but the company still has interest in operating a hotel in Israel, the Times noted. “The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for October 7,” Eric said in an interview. Building a hotel after that “would have seemed trivial and tone-deaf in light of the horrific things that the country and region were experiencing” but the company will “definitely” sign off on a deal “when the current situation that we’re a.