President-elect Donald Trump in 2003 made a $10,000 donation to institutions in one of Israel’s West Bank settlements in the name of good friend David Friedman, his contentious pick as the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
"I'll let you in on a little secret: When (David) Friedman was our guest of honor at a fundraiser years ago, incoming president Trump sent us a donation of $10,000," Yaakov Katz, one of the original settlers of Beit El, told the Galey Israel radio station.
"If I would have known he would be elected president, I would have saved the check."
Katz said the donation was made to the American Friends of Beit El Institutions, a group which raises about $2 million a year for projects and organizations in the settlement. Friedman serves as its president.
The parents of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, are also donors to the organization – the family gave $20,000 to American Friends in 2013 according to Haaretz.
Trump has been slammed for picking Friedman, a lawyer who supports Israeli settlement building and who, in the past, has questioned a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
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