A photo in Israeli media June 28 showed a row of dignitaries at the cornerstone laying ceremony of a medical school in the West Bank settlement town of Ariel. The school is located at Ariel College, recently upgraded to the status of a university by the Council of Higher Education of the Occupied Territories, an institution under the jurisdiction of the commander of Israel’s military forces in the West Bank — separated from the Israeli Council for Higher Education — and not recognized by any state in the world.

The cameras focused on the beaming face of Education Minister Naftali Bennett, pro-settlement HaBayit HaYehudi party chairman, seated next to the school’s donor, American gambling tycoon Sheldon Adelson. Bennett’s glow was in marked contrast to the grim expression on the face of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seated away from his veteran American benefactor. The photo appeared to confirm reports that under recent police questioning Adelson had expressed his displeasure with Netanyahu over wheeling and dealing in which Netanyahu engaged behind his back with the publisher of daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Noni Mosez. Netanyahu is under police investigation for allegedly conspiring with Mosez to reduce the activity of the Adelson-owned freebie Yisrael Hayom newspaper in return for positive coverage of the prime minister by Yedioth Ahronoth. 

The growing closeness between Adelson and Bennett, as reflected in the seating arrangement at the Ariel ceremony and on the pages of the normally pro-Netanyahu Yisrael Hayom, edges Bennett closer to the premiership seat. The Jewish billionaire has often reached way down into his deep pockets to promote politicians on whom he wished to bestow his favors. The leaks from the police probe indicate that the prime minister’s seat is likely to be vacated within the coming year (if indicted). But despite his advanced age, Adelson does not favor short-term investments and does not place all his bets on one number. The seasoned businessman aspires to collect the entire pot and make sure it remains in his ideological territory for generations to come. That territory spans the area between the statement by Adelson that Palestinians are a made-up nation, and another statement by him in which he said, “I don’t think the Bible says anything about democracy … [God] didn’t talk about Israel remaining as a democratic state.”

Adelson has donated millions of dollars over the past decade to the Taglit (Birthright) organization, which has hosted tens of thousands of young Diaspora Jews, the vast majority of whom are neither right-wing nor religious, on study tours around Israel. These young people return home enthused by the beautiful country they saw, a peace-loving state surrounded by enemies. The occupation and its Palestinian victims are not part of their itinerary.