Updated: Now 17 Palm Beach Charity Events Cancelled At Mar-a-Lago Over Trump's Charlottesville Comments

Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club -- or the Winter White House, as he prefers to call it -- may not be the Palm Beach social-calendar hot spot this winter. The president can haul down all the foreign heads of state that he wishes -- as long as Congress agrees to increase the Secret Service budget currently busted by the extravagant lifestyle of America's self-appointed royal family.  Charity fundraiser event cancellations are fast and furious after the president's sensational, intemperate comments about Charlottesville at a Trump Tower infrastructure news conference gone rogue last Tuesday. 

"The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and celebrating the unique architectural and cultural heritage of Palm Beach," the group explained in a Facebook post on Saturday, announcing its decision to withdraw from Mar-a-Lago as the venue for the event. "Given the current environment surrounding Mar-a-Lago, we have made the decision to move our annual dinner dance."

On Sunday the Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society announced it too would be moving its upcoming event away from the Trump property.

"We have an unyielding commitment to inspire people to act on behalf of wildlife and the natural world," said Zoo CEO & President Andrew Aiken in a statement Sunday. "After thoughtful consideration by Zoo leadership, we have decided it is important that we not allow distractions to deter us from our mission and culture.”

As of Sunday, 14 of the scheduled 16 major fundraising events at Mar-a-Lago have been cancelled. The Palm Beach Police Foundation's annual Policeman Ball and the Palm Beach County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Other cancellations include the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the American Cancer Society, American Friends of Magen David Adom, and the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity.

Laurel Baker, executive director of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, of which Mar-a-Lago is a member, went public last Thursday asking charities to do a moral gut check before doing business at the club. 

"Look at your mission statement, and [evaluate] if you still defend Trump...see if this is really the direction you want to go," Baker, who's been on the executive committee of the chamber of commerce for 17 years, advised.

A chamber of commerce works to promote its members' interests, but Baker says that it's her duty to take a stand when she feels the values of her community are under attack.

She added: ”Personally, I do not feel that supporting him, directly or indirectly, speaks well of any organization. We're looking for integrity, we're looking for honesty."

Since our Monday post, Gateway for Cancer Research decided to withdraw from Mar-a-Lago as the venue for its St. Patrick Day event in March 2018. The Unicorn Children's Foundation, based in Boca Raton, cancelled plans to hold a fundraiser luncheon at the club. The group anticipated that its event would have raised $160,000. “At this time, we are exploring options to address this $160,000 shortfall or we will need to cut funding support from several critical programs and services,” Sharon Alexander, the group's chief executive said.

Ivanka's NYC Rabbi Condemns Trump's Lack of Moral Clarity On Charlottesville As Richard Spencer Tells Israelis To Trust Him

Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein of New York, Ivanka Trump's rabbi

Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein and his successors Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz and Rabbi Elie Weinstock, sent a letter Wednesday night to members of New York's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun In New York. Rabbi Lookstein oversaw Ivanka's conversion to Judaism in 2010. 

The rabbis said: "We are appalled by this resurgence of bigotry and antisemitism, and the renewed vigor of the neo-Nazis, KKK, and alt-right." The letter continued: "While we avoid politics, we are deeply troubled by the moral equivalency and equivocation President Trump has offered in his response to this act of violence."

Other Jewish leaders spoke out on Wednesday. the Republican Jewish Coalition is calling on the president to “provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and anti-Semitism.”

In a statement issued by the group’s national chairman Norm Coleman and executive director Matt Brooks, the RJC made clear it does not agree with Trump’s assertion that there were some “fine people” among the crowd of alt-Right and white supremacists who descended on Charlottesville.

“The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are dangerous anti-Semites. There are no good Nazis and no good members of the Klan,” RJC said, adding that in modern America these groups are marginal and “have never been welcome in the GOP.”

Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is the largest donor to the Jewish Republican organization, which initially condemned the terror in Charlottesville did not mention Trump by name.  

Related: A Model of Contemporary Jewish Leadership: Haskel Lookstein

Richard Spencer Chides Jews For Not Supporting Him

Richard Spencer, a key figure in the alt-right movement, said in an interview this week on Israeli TV, that Jews should ignore the anti-Semitism of the alt-right and respect with empathy his desire to create a whites-only ethno state. 

“You could say that I am a white Zionist in the sense that I care about my people,” Spencer told Dany Kushmaro, the host on Israel’s Channel 2 News. “I want us to have a secure homeland that is for us and ourselves, just like you want a secure homeland in Israel.”

Kushmaro pressed Spencer on the anti-Semitic chants heard at the white nationalist held in Virginia over the weekend, such as “Jews will not replace us.” White nationalists also brandished swastika flags and held their arms in the Nazi salute at the rally, which later devolved into open brawling and violence.

“Let’s be honest, Jews have been vastly overrepresented in the historical left,” Spencer said. “They’re vastly overrepresented in what you can call the establishment.”

Kushmaro reminded Spencer that he was speaking with a Jew and that the majority of the audience was Jewish. “How should we, how should I, feel?”