Miriam Adelson: Who is the Israeli billionaire backing Trump?

For the past decade, Miriam Adelson has ascended in Republican circles in the US and in the political scene in Israel, where she grew up.

The Israeli-American billionaire and casino owner has become a kingmaker in conservative American politics, following in the footsteps of her late husband, Sheldon Adelson, who died in 2021.

Her $100m donation to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign was a watershed moment. With Trump’s victory, many eyes are on Miriam and her possible influence on his future policy decisions, most notably on Israel.

Trump is on record vowing to end Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

At the same time, he began changing his critical rhetoric of the war after receiving the whopping campaign boost from Miriam, and several of Trump’s nominees have links to the Adelson family.

Miriam has maintained a low profile throughout her life, often operating outside of the spotlight as her husband rose to national prominence. However, many reports have said that she played a pivotal and influential role in developing the couple’s political trajectory over the past several decades.

To better understand how Miriam’s campaign contributions could shape the next four years of American foreign policy in Israel, Middle East Eye takes a deeper look at her life and politics.

Who is Miriam Adelson?

Miriam, her maiden name is Farbstein, was born in British Mandatory Palestine after her parents fled Poland in the 1930s. Israel was created in 1948 in what is known as the Nakba – or catastrophe to Palestinians.

She served as a medical research officer in the Israeli military and later earned a medical degree and took an interest in treating drug addiction.

Miriam married billionaire Sheldon, a casino magnate, in 1991. Decades later, he would become one of Trump’s most prominent financial backers.

The couple emerged in the 2010s among the top Republican megadonors, spending a half billion dollars on Republican candidates in congressional, senate, and presidential elections.

Their massive political spending sprees turned the couple into kingmakers.

In 2015, Republican candidates travelled to Las Vegas to participate in the “Adelson primaries”, where candidates would make their case for receiving a piece of the donation pie.

After her husband died in 2021, Miriam took over his business interests and political outlook, looking to shape her vision of US politics and the state of Israel.

As of this year, Miriam’s net worth is upwards of $30bn.

Did she support Trump in 2016?

The Adelsons were among Trump’s biggest supporters in his 2016 presidential bid, though they were not the first donors to back Trump’s cause. They did not support Trump during the Republican primary. Sheldon leaned towards Marco Rubio, who was a Florida senator at the time, and Miriam favoured Senator Ted Cruz.

Trump even hit out at the Adelsons, accusing them of trying to buy Rubio.

However, the Adelsons met with Trump in December 2015, and the core of the conversation was Israel. Miriam said she found Trump to be “very charming”.

After that, the relationship solidified, and the Adelsons eventually became Trump’s top supporters.

The couple gave $20m to Trump’s 2016 campaign and, two years later, $113m to Republican and conservative groups and candidates during the 2018 midterm election cycle.

They also donated $5m to Trump for his inauguration festivities and gave $500,000 to Trump’s legal defence while he was being investigated regarding alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

That support yielded significant results, as Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which the Adelsons had been pushing American presidents to do for over a decade.

Trump also awarded Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honour, putting her outside of her husband’s shadow.

In 2020, the Adelsons gave $75m to the Preserve America PAC, a Super PAC supporting Trump.

Will she have any influence on Trump’s Israel policy?

Miriam and her husband were influential on Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and reports emerged in May that she was conditioning her support for the former president on allowing Israel to annex the occupied West Bank officially.

Such a move would categorically end any prospects for a two-state solution and a future Palestinian state.

A spokesperson for Miriam rejected these reports, but Adelson supports annexation, according to a longtime friend.

Miriam is a megadonor to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and her husband faced a $34bn lawsuit in 2016 for their support of Israeli settlement expansion. Settler expansion has led to increased settler attacks against Palestinians and the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes.

And the $100m in support from Miriam did seem to lead to a change in rhetoric from Trump on Israel’s war on Gaza.

In March, Trump gave an interview with Israel Hayom, where Miriam is the publisher.

In that interview, Trump said Israel should “finish up” its war on Gaza, saying that it is losing international credibility.

“You have to finish up your war, you have to finish it up. You got to get it done,” Trump said.

“You can’t have this going on. And I will say Israel has to be very careful because you’re losing a lot of the world, you’re losing a lot of support.”

Trump’s words came in direct contrast to Miriam, who wrote in a column for Israel Hayom that if “you thunder at the tactics of Israel’s counter-offensive … you’re dead to us”.

After the donation, Trump began attacking the Biden administration and Democrats, saying that they were working to hinder Israel’s war efforts. During the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September, Trump said Harris “hates Israel”.

Many of Trump’s nominees for key administration roles have also been nods to Miriam. Trump’s choice for US ambassador to Israel is Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is vehemently pro-Israel and has previously said there is “no such thing” as a Palestinian. In 2013, Huckabee was given the Adelson Defender of Israel Award at a dinner hosted by the Zionist Organisation of America.

Trump’s pick for UN ambassador to the UN, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, also received this same award from Miriam in March of this year.

Trump also tapped former Senator Rubio as his secretary of state, the same man that, in 2015, he referred to as a “puppet of Sheldon Adelson”.

What other ventures is she involved in?

Aside from her extensive interventions in Republican politics, Miriam is also extensively involved in Israeli politics and society.

Israel Hayom, Israel’s most widely distributed newspaper and published by Miriam, has a rightward lean. For years, it has been supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

According to The New York Times, she has recently been spending more time in Israel than in the United States.

She and her late husband donated around half a billion dollars to the Birthright Foundation, an organisation that takes young Jews from across the world to Israel for free in an attempt to strengthen their connection to the country.

The organisation has been criticised by progressive Jewish groups for pushing Israeli propaganda and whitewashing the occupation of Palestinian territories.

In addition to supporting Israeli settlements, the Adelsons gave $25m to Ariel Univesity, an Israeli school located on an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.

Miriam is also an honorary trustee at the University of Southern California.

After her husband’s death, she also took over ownership of his casino empire, becoming the owner of Las Vegas Sands, the world’s third-largest casino company in terms of revenue.

Earlier this year, Miriam made a surprise move and purchased a majority stake in the NBA franchise, the Dallas Mavericks.