International vintner John Goelet, who owns one of California’s most celebrated wineries, has been promoting anti-Israel causes for years, according to an investigative report by Algemeiner.
According to the online Jewish news outlet, Goelet owns four wineries: Clos Du Val in California, Clover Hill and Taltarni in Australia and Domaine de Nizas in France.
Geoelet is also allegedly a major contributor to the Saudi-supported, U.S. non-profit Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU) which has an entire section of its website devoted to anti-Israel publications.
Over the course of 10 years, Algemeiner reports, Goelet’s contributions amounted to nearly 12% of AMEU’s $2.75 million in funding; he was reportedly second only to Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, which gave $700,000 and accounted for 25% of the organization’s income during that period.
Additionally, Goelet’s wife, Henrietta, has reportedly served on the board of the American Educational Trust (AET), which Algemeiner notes publishes an anti-Israel periodical known as the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (WRMEA).
In 2006, Goelet wrote a letter to the editor of the WRMEA, addressed from France, in which he stated, “If the Hebrew population of the Holy Land wishes to remain resident, it must abandon all notion of a Zionist state. It can live in peace with other faiths, but it must change behavior.”
A more in-depth look at Goelet’s Israel views is presented in the Algemeiner article, which can be found its entirety here.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.
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