by WorldTribune Staff, January 11, 2017
An exclusive, high-end golf club in Maryland may turn down private citizen Barack Obama over his policies toward Israel as president.
Obama is said to be looking to join the elite Woodmont Country Club, but members of the mostly Jewish club in Rockville are reportedly “at each other’s throats” over whether to accept the man who played more than 300 rounds of golf while president.
“In light of the votes at the UN and the Kerry speech and everything else, there’s this major uproar with having him part of the club, and a significant portion of the club has opposed offering him membership,” a source told the New York Post on Jan. 10.
Obama’s decision for the U.S. to abstain from a UN vote on Israeli settlements was followed by a speech by Secretary of State John Kerry that was seen by many in the Jewish community as hostile to Israel.
Woodmont was founded by the D.C.-area Jewish community in 1913 because Jews were banned at other clubs.
Obama’s complimentary membership in the club — which charges regular members an $80,000 initiation fee — would have begun after he leaves the White House on Jan. 20.
“Can you imagine how angry I would be if I had paid $80K to have to look at this guy who has done more to damage Israel than any president in American history?” an official in a Washington Jewish organization told the Post.
In addition to the initiation fee, Woodmont members must pay $9,673 in annual dues.
“Originally, this was supposed to be a back-door thing to get this done and give him the membership — free of charge — and circumvent the rules,” said a source. “But now, with the UN thing, they are not in position or likely to do it.”
Woodmont is facing threats of potential lawsuits and litigation for breaching the bylaws to let Obama join, the source added.
While the club “probably skews more Republican than the Jewish community as a whole,” there are many prominent Democratic members, a number of whom supported Obama’s campaigns.
But they might not support him now, the source said.
“After the UN vote and attack on Israel, I think it probably hurts the club. If there is a club that excludes Jews, he would probably be more comfortable around those folks.”
Maryland golf club in ‘uproar’ over Obama’s Israel policies, may reject application added by World Tribune on
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