Ancient Israeli oil lamps missing for three years believed to be in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Israel Antiques Authority has made several unsuccessful efforts to have the national treasure returned, according to Israeli newspaper
Ancient oil lamps loaned to the White House for Chanukah in 2019 and missing ever since could be at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) believes.
The former US president, who has been charged under the Espionage Act for taking reams of top secret classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, hosted the event attended by top Republican donor Saul Fox, who is also a major donor to the IAA.
The set of ceramic oil lamps, regarded by Israel as “national treasure”, were due to have been returned weeks after the event, but the Covid pandemic struck in early 2020 and they have not been seen since.
Fox was due to have kept hold of them for a limited time, but they were never displayed at the Chanukah party, and the IAA now believes that they ended up at Mar-a-Lago, according to Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.
Trump was indicted after the highly sensitive intelligence documents, some of which related to America’s nuclear secrets, were uncovered in storage spaces, a bedroom and a bathroom by FBI officers who raided the property in 2022.
The IAA is believed to have sought help retrieving the items from senior figures close to Trump, including former US ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, but that their efforts were unsuccessful.
It is not known whether Trump knows about the lamps or their whereabouts.
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