The settlement is a mixture of neat residential homes with a scruffy look to its shopping strip and administrative offices housed in prefab trailers. The main study hall, which is also a synagogue, is an immense space lined with books and filled with young men, many of them swaying as they learn Jewish texts. The site has a resonance for many of its Jewish supporters as it’s identified in the Bible with Jacob’s dream, in which angels waft up and down a ladder that rises to the heavens. At the edge of the settlement is an upright stone said to be the place where the biblical forefather laid his head and fell asleep.
Inside the settlement, Friedman’s name is everywhere, starting in the study hall where a brass plaque identifies his father, Rabbi Morris Friedman, as one of the founding trustees. Then there is the Rabbi Morris Friedman Center for Computer Sciences, the Friedman Faculty House and the Friedman fitness center at the settlement’s pre-army academy.
In addition to their support for Beit El, Schottenstein and Falic were among the biggest contributors to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign in the 2015 Likud party primaries, each together with other family members donating $40,000 or more. Rennert, chief executive of Renco Metals Inc. with a fortune estimated by Bloomberg at $5.7 billion, is one of the biggest contributors to yeshivas in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem. Nakash, who was born in Tel Aviv, emigrated to the U.S. and with his brothers co-founded Jordache, which set off a craze for designer jeans in the 1970s. He now invests in real estate, hotels and shipping.
Falic, Nakash and Rennert didn’t respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment. Charles Kushner, Jared’s billionaire father, and Schottenstein declined through spokesmen to comment.
‘Worse Than Kapos’
Friedman angered many liberals with some of the remarks he made before his nomination, including calling J-Street, the left-leaning Washington organization that lobbies for Israel, “smug advocates of Israel’s destruction” and “far worse then kapos,” a reference to Jews in Nazi concentration camps who were forced to work for the guards. Among Beit El’s supporters, Friedman is admired for his bluntness. “He says what we all think but we don’t say it out loud,” said Zvi Sand, a donor to the yeshiva and president of the Orthodox Union in Israel whose wife is Friedman’s first cousin.
But Friedman later apologized at his Senate confirmation hearing, saying “the inflammatory language that accompanied the presidential campaign is entirely over.”
That may not be the only thing that is over.
Ultimately, said Gilead Sher, a former Israeli peace negotiator, the settlers in Beit El are likely be disappointed in Trump who will “bow to reality” and work toward a two-state solution that keeps Israel and the Palestinians from hurting each other. “We’re looking for a divorce, not a real estate deal,” he said.
Still, Beit El isn’t close to giving up. Mayor Shai Alon has plans drawn up to build as many as 500 new homes that would push the population to 10,000, while other settlements have even more ambitious expansion plans. “For years, we’ve gotten pressure from all over the world to just go away,” he said. “But we just keep getting bigger.”