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Adelson set to buy US ambassador's residence in Tel Aviv

Washington is reportedly rushing the sale of the abandoned US ambassador's residence in Tel Aviv to US billionaire Sheldon Adelson, adding another layer of solidity to the embassy's transfer to Jerusalem before the November election.
Sheldon Adelson is seated prior to the inauguartion of President-elect Donald Trump at the US Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.  / AFP / Paul J. Richards        (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

In just about every election season for decades, US presidential candidates have promised to move the embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. President Donald Trump actually did it in May 2018. With the embassy came the ambassador. Even before his appointment, Ambassador David Friedman had an apartment in Jerusalem’s well-to-do Talbieh neighborhood and usually spent his holidays there. With the relocation of the embassy, it became his official residence.

The move left the ambassador's previous residence in the seaside town of Herzliya Pituach suddenly empty. The house, which is thought to be the most expensive home in Israel, was put on the market with a price tag of 300 million shekels ($100 million).

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