US President Donald Trump’s representative for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, landed in Israel two weeks ago, on March 12. The religious and ultra-Orthodox sectors were surprised to see that Greenblatt, a yarmulke-wearing Orthodox Jew for all intents and purposes, attended public meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other leaders without a yarmulke. The religious media in Israel wondered where it had gone.
Yonatan Dov Greenblatt, his Israeli name, has been a close associate of Trump’s for nearly two decades, working as a legal adviser for the Trump Group, and has his trust and confidence. Trump was once quoted as saying that the only kind of people he wanted counting his money were “little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” Greenblatt appeared to be among them.
