Trump says the mega-donor, who spent more than $100m to help him win the 2024 US presidential election, \u2018loves Israel\u2019.<\/p>\n
As United States President Donald Trump addressed the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, to celebrate the Gaza ceasefire deal<\/a>, he saluted American diplomats, generals and regional states involved in the agreement.<\/p>\n Miriam Adelson, a pro-Israel mega-donor, also received a shout-out from the US president on Monday. Trump noted that she has \u201c$60bn in her account\u201d and that \u201cshe loves Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cLook at her sitting there so innocently,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to get her in trouble with this \u2014 but I actually asked her once, \u2018So Miriam: I know you love Israel. What do you love more, the United States or Israel?\u2019 She refused to answer. That means that might be an issue, I must say,\u201d he added, to dimmed laughter in the chamber.<\/p>\n Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate, poured $106m into Preserve America, her pro-Trump super PAC, an election group that helped elect Trump last year.<\/p>\n On Monday, she sat in the gallery at the Knesset and received a standing ovation as Trump praised her support for Israel, noting she had taken \u201cmore trips to the White House than anybody else\u201d.<\/p>\n From doctor to kingmaker<\/p>\n Born in Tel Aviv in 1945 after her parents immigrated from Poland, Adelson trained as a physician specialising in addiction treatment.<\/p>\n In 1991, she married Sheldon Adelson, a self-made casino billionaire who had built the Las Vegas Sands into a gambling empire with resorts across Asia and the US.<\/p>\n When they married, Miriam already controlled the larger share of the casino company\u2019s stock, but after Sheldon\u2019s death in 2021, she took majority control of Las Vegas Sands, which operates major casinos in Singapore and Macao.<\/p>\n Sheldon Adelson was one of the top Republican Party donors, giving millions to pro-Israel candidates.<\/p>\n The family sold their iconic Las Vegas Strip properties, including the Venetian resort, for $6.25bn in 2022.<\/p>\n In 2023, Miriam Adelson also acquired majority ownership in the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> basketball team.<\/p>\n Shaping Trump\u2019s Israel policy<\/p>\n Trump often describes how the Adelsons would visit him at the White House during his first term, demanding pro-Israel policies.<\/p>\n He repeated that assertion on Monday. \u201cMiriam and Sheldon would come into the [Oval] Office. They\u2019d call me. I think they had more trips to the White House than anybody else,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n The Adelsons have long had significant influence among US conservatives.<\/p>\n As committed Zionists and with links to right-wing figures and issues in the US, the Adelsons became Republican mega-donors in the 2010s, giving more than $600m<\/a> to support<\/a> Trump\u2019s three presidential campaigns and to back other Republican candidates since 2015.<\/p>\n Miriam\u2019s position hardened after the October 7 attacks. She wrote a column in Israel Hayom \u2013 one of Israel\u2019s most widely read newspapers, which she owns \u2013 calling for dismissing Israel\u2019s critics across the world.<\/p>\n \u201cForeign fans of Hamas are our enemies, the ideological enablers in the West of those who would go to any length to eradicate us from the Middle East. And, as such, they should be dead to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her backing for Trump and the GOP has won her strong connections with the White House.<\/p>\n The couple pushed Trump to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2016 and to recognise Israeli control over Syria\u2019s occupied Golan Heights<\/a> during his first term. Trump awarded Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.<\/p>\n At a September campaign event, Adelson told Jewish voters they have a \u201csacred duty\u201d to support Trump, \u201cin gratitude for everything he has done and trust in everything he will yet do\u201d.<\/p>\n