Mort Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America, is calling reports about Sheldon Adelson disavowing his campaign against H. R. McMaster “fake news” and “rubbish.”
[This story originally appeared on jewishinsider.com]
Klein, who is on a speaking tour in Europe, insisted in a phone conversation with Jewish Insider on Wednesday that he did not consult with Adelson before launching his aggressive campaign against McMaster and that the Vegas casino mogul has never said he supported the National Security Advisor.
“Sheldon never said he endorsed McMaster. He’s made it clear that he does not take a position about McMaster. Sheldon simply said that he did not ask ZOA to do a campaign against him, that this had nothing to do with him,” said Klein. “He did not ask us to do this campaign. I haven’t even spoken to Sheldon about this. We do many projects without asking our donors.”
Klein said that U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman asked him to publicize a letter he sent to ZOA asking them to listen to his arguments in defense of McMaster, but has so far not followed up. He also insisted that he did not coordinate his attacks against McMaster with White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Klein also said that he “knows for a fact that Adelson did not ask that Bannon be fired.”
Asked if he would stop his campaign against McMaster if Bannon called him to do so, Klein said he would only oblige if he’s provided with “new information that showed that he is a friend of Israel and wants to fight Iran.”
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