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A28 u.s. news
Diabierna 11 September 2020

Congress questions sale of US residence in Israel to Adelson

and Israeli Prime Minister market rate, it would raise
Benjamin Netanyahu. It said concerns, the aide said. Sena-
the price was over $80 mil- tors from the Senate Foreign
lion, making it the most ex- Relations Committee have
pensive residential real-estate requested a briefing from the
transaction in Israeli history. State Department, according
Representatives for Adelson, to a Senate Democratic aide,
a billionaire casino magnate, who requested anonym-
did not respond to messages ity to discuss the situation.
seeking comment. The State Department has
said the buyer was selected
A congressional aide said the solely on the basis of having
State Department has con- submitted the highest and
firmed public reports of the best offer. The selected buyer
sale to Adelson. The aide and the unsuccessful bidders
said the “biggest question” have been notified, the de-
now is how much rent will partment said.
be paid by U.S. taxpayers However, the State Depart-
while Friedman remains at ment also said it is not at lib-
the property. The aide spoke erty to comment on the de-
on condition of anonymity to tails related to contracts un-
discuss private information. derway with private entities.
The House Foreign Affairs The Trump administration
Committee has submitted moved the embassy from Tel
(AP) — The State Depart- to Jerusalem. But the embas- tion’s decision to move the several requests for informa- Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018,
ment has informally con- sy refused to identify the buy- embassy “short-sighted and tion from the State Depart- shortly after recognizing Je-
firmed to Congress that Re- er or disclose the sale price frivolous,” but he has said ment about whether the sale rusalem as Israel’s capital.
publican super-donor Shel- of the sprawling beachfront he would not move it back followed regulations, the aide The move is one of several
don Adelson is the buyer of compound in the upscale Tel to Tel Aviv if elected presi- said. steps the administration has
the U.S. ambassador’s offi- Aviv suburb of Herzliya. The dent in November. The U.S. taken in favor of Israel, and
cial residence in Israel, a con- Trump administration ap- Embassy has only said the Among the questions: led the Palestinians to cut off
gressional aide told The As- pears to have been in a rush buyer submitted the “high- Whether a real-estate broker ties with the White House.
sociated Press on Wednesday. to sell the property ahead of est and best offer.” Under was used and an independent Nearly all foreign delegations
Lawmakers in the House and the November presidential the deal, Ambassador David appraisal of the property was have their embassies in Tel
Senate are now looking into election, both as a gesture Friedman, a driving force in conducted. The panel also Aviv because of Jerusalem’s
whether the deal complied to Trump’s pro-Israel evan- the move of the embassy, will wants to know whether the contested status. The Pales-
with regulations. gelical Christian base, and to continue living at the estate agent had any political ties. tinians seek east Jerusalem,
complicate any attempts to until the spring of 2021, with Federal regulations often pro- captured by Israel in the 1967
The U.S. Embassy in Is- move the embassy back to Tel the U.S. government leas- vide wide discretion for such Mideast war, as the capital of
rael announced the deal this Aviv if he is not re-elected. ing the property until then. arrangements and it’s un- a future state. Israel’s annexa-
week -- a sale that is meant The Israeli business newspa- clear if the rental agreement tion of east Jerusalem, home
to cement President Donald The Democratic presiden- per Globes has identified the violates any regulations, the to the city’s most sensitive
Trump's controversial move tial nominee, Joe Biden, has buyer as Adelson, a strong aide said. But if the rent be- religious sites, is not interna-
of the embassy from Tel Aviv called the Trump administra- supporter of both Trump ing charged is above or below tionally recognized.

Top Homeland Security official defends response to protests

(AP) — The head of the the Homeland" speech that response to the civil unrest in Washington, dismissed the sault the men and women of
U.S. Department of Home- spelled out the department's Portland and elsewhere but critics as “a vocal and ill-in- law enforcement,” he said.
land Security on Wednes- priorities. Trump last month it was notable that the sub- formed minority” for accus- He also tallied what he
day defended his response nominated Wolf to be the ject figured so prominently ing the agency of “mission viewed as other successes by
to protests in Portland, Or- secretary of the department in a speech on the activities drift" or politicizing its role. DHS, including efforts by
egon, amid criticism that the but it's not yet clear when the of an agency created after the He noted that 240 federal of- the Cybersecurity and In-
agency overstepped its au- Senate will take up the nomi- Sept. 11 attacks to respond ficers have been injured in frastructure Security Agency
thority with a heavy-handed nation. DHS is the third- to threats from outside the protests and disputed that the to protect the 2020 election
deployment that reflected the largest agency in the federal United States. demonstrations have been from interference by Russia
law-and-order re-election government. It includes U.S. largely peaceful.“There is no and other nations, and the
campaign of President Don- Customs and Border Protec- Former DHS officials and constitutional right to burn work of CBP to secure the
ald Trump. Acting Home- tion and the Federal Emer- other critics said the agency cities to the ground and as- border.
land Security Secretary Chad gency Management Agency, traditionally would support
Wolf ranked the civil unrest which has had a leading role law enforcement only with
in downtown Portland as in the COVID-19 response. the cooperation of local au-
among the top threats fac- thorities. The use of tear-gas
ing the United States, along Protests have been held in and batons against some pro-
with the COVID-19 pan- downtown Portland since testers and arrests in which
demic, election interference late May, when police of- agents swept suspects off the
and drug trafficking along the ficers in Minneapolis killed streets without identifying
southern border. George Floyd. Wolf deployed themselves also prompted
large numbers of DHS of- criticism.The deployment,
“Let me be clear. those who ficers and agents in tactical which included elite law
seek to undermine our demo- gear to protect the federal enforcement units, came
cratic institutions, indiscrim- courthouse complex over the shortly after Trump issued
inately destroy businesses, objections of state and local an executive order to protect
and attack law enforcement officials, who said their pres- federal buildings and monu-
officers and fellow citizens ence inflamed the situation. ments amid nationwide racial
are a threat to the Home- Wolf has been a vocal de- justice protests.Wolf, speak-
land," Wolf said in a “State of fender of the administration's ing at the DHS campus in