Trump donor's private jet is now being used for deportations
A new investigation from The Guardian published Thursday has revealed that a friend and donor of President Donald Trump has been using his private jet for deportations.
Gil Dezer, a Florida property tycoon and longtime friend of the Trump family, has now twice flown Palestinian men from Arizona to Tel Aviv, according to the report. Dezer has been a Trump donor and member of the Miami branch of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.
Just Monday, the luxury jet was used to transport "another group of Palestinian deportees. They landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and also appear to have been taken to the West Bank." In January 24-year-old Maher Awad was taken from Arizona to the West Bank. Awad has lived in the United States for for nearly a decade.
Dezer's plane has apparently been contracted by U.S. agencies to charter flights.
"His sleek Gulfstream jet – which he has called 'my little rocket ship' – was used to transport the men from an airport near a notorious removal centre in Arizona to Tel Aviv," The Guardian reported. "The jet made three refuelling stops en route: in New Jersey, Ireland and Bulgaria."
The plane was seen landing at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport and reportedly has the logo for Dezer Development, a real estate firm created by Israeli-American developer Michael Dezer and now run by his son, Gil Dezer. Since the early 2000s, the Dezer family has worked with the Trump to build six Miami residential towers. Filings show that the father and son have donated more than $1.3 million to the Trump campaigns.
"A Guardian investigation has established the flight was part of a secretive and politically sensitive US government operation to deport Palestinians arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the Israeli-occupied West Bank," according to the outlet.
It's unclear if several countries where the plane landed were aware of the deportations underway as the plane made fuel stops.
"Aircraft tracking data shows that both the 21 January and 1 February flights to Israel made refuelling stops at Shannon airport in Ireland and at Sofia airport in Bulgaria," The Guardian reported. "Those stops may raise questions for the authorities in those countries about the legal status of the passengers transited through their territory."
"The eight Palestinians had their ankles shackled on the 21 January flight, according to Awad and another man onboard, Sameer Isam Aziz Zeidan, a 47-year-old grocery worker. Awad said he was forced to wear a body restraint, with his wrists handcuffed to his stomach. Both men said the restraints made it difficult to eat, requiring them to bend their heads forward to put food in their mouths."