It is not every day you get to meet someone like Jonathan Burkan. I was fortunate enough to run into him at a ZOA Dinner in 2016 soon after President Donald Trump was elected. Life has not been the same since. He is a one-man machine from dawn to dusk. He had humble beginnings. He received his MBA from Vanderbilt. He has risen to become an elite Wall Street Executive. Unlike the majority of high finance movers and shakers, Jonathan Burkan’s real passion is Israel and the Jewish People. President Trump as a result appointed him to the US Holocaust Memorial Council. This was a well-deserved and prestigious honor.
In 2017, I went with Jonathan for the first time to Israel together. We have subsequently gone numerous times. In 2017 we were on a group trip with Governor Mike Huckabee to Israel. Coincidentally, we happened to be in Israel at the same time as President Trump. We were invited to the Israel Museum to hear the President by Ambassador David Friedman. It was one of the high points of President Trump’s tenure in the White House. It was a defining moment that led to the heroic and courageous move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem which had been stalled by his predecessors. It also set in motion the annexation of the Golan Heights and the miraculous Abraham Accords.
On that Israel fact-finding mission, Governor Mike Huckabee, Jonathan Burkan, myself, and the rest of the group visited the Tomb of Joseph (Kever Yosef) in Shechem. It was a historic and unforgettable journey up and down.
In 2018 Jonathan Burkan helped bring his old friend Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin with our group to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who had a very close relationship with Governor Walker was generous and gracious to meet our whole group. It was a moving and memorable experience.
In May of this year, Jonathan Burkan helped bring the newly appointed Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley to Israel with the Israel Heritage Foundation. The group which included Philanthropist and Salute to Israel Day Parade Grand Marshal Harley Lippman, former Ambassador to Switzerland, Ed McMullen, and world-renowned Litigator Richard Porter visited the savagery and devastation inflicted by Hamas on Kfar Aza and the Nova Festival site. Michael Whatley, Harley Lippman and Amb. McMullen each had private meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Jonathan Burkan is presently the Honorary Chairman of the Israel Heritage Foundation. He and Paul Packer are the National Chairmen of the Trump 47 Jewish Leadership Coalition. They have held a number of successful events already including one in Milwaukee during the Republican National Convention. They are galvanizing the Jewish vote for President Trump. Haim Chera is the Honorary Chairman of the Coalition.
Jonathan Burkan is a strong and ever-present voice for a robust and symbiotic U.S.-Israel relationship. He is making a difference. We can and should all learn from him.