Billionaire left-wing megadonor and Hollywood mogul Haim Saban said Tuesday that he and his wife will be spending heavily to elect Democrats in 2020 — even though President Donald Trump brought about peace deals in the Middle East.
The Egypt-born Saban, who grew up in Israel, is a major Democratic Party donor, but has also been known as a pro-Israel advocate. He sponsors the annual Saban Forum with the Brookings Institute, which encourages American-Israel dialogue.
CNBC reported Tuesday:
Film and television producer Haim Saban said in an exclusive interview with CNBC that he and his wife, Cheryl, plan to ramp up their campaign spending up and down the ballot to back Joe Biden and Democrats with just six weeks until Election Day.
The Sabans were relatively quiet with their contributions during the Democratic primary for president. They decided they would not get involved with the race for president until after Super Tuesday, as Haim Saban publicly opposed Sen. Bernie Sanders last year.
They also acknowledged that they are planning to move ahead with large investments into organizations looking to inform and educate voters on how best to vote by mail during the coronavirus pandemic. They made that commitment after CNBC pressed them on whether they’re looking to contribute to such groups.
As Breitbart News reported last week, Saban was among the guests at last week’s peace ceremony at the White House, where President Trump signed the Abraham Accords together with Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain. Saban was responsible for raising $4.5 million for Biden’s presidential campaign in a fundraiser he had hosted the day before.
In 2017, Saban said that he was “deeply disturbed” by President Barack Obama’s actions toward Israel on his way out of office — actions to which then-Vice President Joe Biden did not object. Obama abstained from a United Nations Security Council resolution declaring Israel’s presence across the 1949 armistice lines — including in Jerusalem — to be illegal.
Saban also called then-Secretary of State John Kerry’s subsequent speech criticizing Israel “one-sided.” As Breitbart News reported, Saban said: “As a longstanding Democrat who has supported and defended President Obama on his treatment of Israel throughout his presidency, I am deeply disturbed by the Administration’s decision not to veto UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and Secretary Kerry’s subsequent one sided speech.”
Still, despite President Trump’s decision to reverse Obama’s policies, and to forge peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors, Saban is backing Biden in 2020.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His new book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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