Sheldon Adelson: Donald Trump "will be good for Israel"
Republican megadonor and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is supporting Donald Trump in his presidential bid, saying that Trump's possible tenure in the White House would be "good for Israel."
"I'm a Republican, he's a Republican," Adelson said in an interview with the New York Times Thursday. "He's our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17 -- he was one of the 17. He won fair and square."
Trump, Adelson told another Times reporter, "will be good for Israel."
Adelson was attending a Manhattan gala dinner for the Jewish group the World Values Network when he made the comments. The casino magnate, with a net worth of more than $25 billion, has funneled millions into Republican campaigns in recent election cycles, and has funded groups like the politically active Republican Jewish Coalition.
The RJC threw its support to Trump earlier this week, congratulating the New Yorker on his status as the presumptive Republican nominee and announcing that it would focus its efforts on down-ballot races in the Senate and the House.
Adelson, before Trump's Indiana win Tuesday, supported rival Ted Cruz and donated to the Texas senator's White House campaign last year. But he declined to endorse any candidates during the Republican primaries.
In the past, Trump has had public disputes with his fellow billionaire, once charging Adelson with trying to "mold" Marco Rubio into a "perfect little puppet" when the Florida senator was still in the race. He has also said of Adelson: "I don't want his money. I don't need his money."
Trump has made attempts to court Jewish voters in the past, including his address last month to AIPAC, the nation's foremost pro-Israel lobby, where he promised that the U.S. would "send a clear signal" about America's friendship with the state of Israel.
At one Republican debate in February, however, Trump said he would attempt to stay neutral in any negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
"There's nothing that I would rather do to bring peace to Israel and its neighbors generally. And I think it serves no purpose to say that you have a good guy and a bad guy," Trump said.