As the diplomatic meeting opened at Donald Trump’s estate in Miami, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised the US president with an unusual gift: lapel pins shaped like the American flag, set with gemstones mined deep beneath the soil of the Carmel Mountains. Behind the glittering jewelry lies a story of a prophecy by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the determination of one family and a factory in Acre that was forced to shut down because of the war.
When Netanyahu pulled out the elegant box late Monday night at the meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and presented it to the US president, he was not offering just a gold accessory. Embedded in the lapel pins, designed in the stars and stripes pattern, one for the president and one for his wife, Melania, was a geological and historical fragment of the Land of Israel, something science itself did not know existed until a few years ago.
The pins are made of 14-karat white gold and set with 69 tiny red garnet stones. Unlike most gemstones used in jewelry, these stones were not imported from Africa or Brazil. They were painstakingly extracted from the soil of the Carmel Mountains and the Kishon River basin by the Israeli company HolyGems.
Those present at the ceremony said Trump reacted with amazement, calling the gift “incredible,” and was visibly moved by the story behind it and by the discovery of gemstone deposits deep beneath the sacred soil of Israel.
To understand the excitement felt by HolyGems CEO Tali Shalem-Taub, one must go back decades. Her father, Hanan “Avi” Taub, a businessman and Chabad Hasid, heard a single sentence from the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1988 that changed the course of the family’s life: “In Haifa there is a sea and a valley, and there are precious stones and pearls there.”
For two decades, despite skepticism from geologists and years of bureaucratic hurdles, the family invested everything, including millions of shekels, in grueling searches in the Carmel and Kishon areas. In the end, they succeeded. A rare gemstone deposit was discovered, including the uniquely Israeli Carmel Sapphire, as well as sapphire, ruby and the red garnet stones that now adorn Trump’s American flag pins.
“We were contacted less than 72 hours before the prime minister’s flight,” Shalem-Taub recalled in an interview with ynet. “We immediately began preparing the pins. It was clear to us that they had to be perfect. People who were there told us President Trump was very enthusiastic and said it was amazing. The real excitement will be when we see him wearing the pin on his suit.”
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Made of 14-karat white gold and set with 69 tiny red garnet stones
(Photo: Holy Gems Website)
The man behind the discoveries, Avi Taub, did not live to see the culmination of his efforts. In 2020, five months after his sudden death, the State of Israel approved his application and issued a first-of-its-kind discovery certificate confirming that his dream had been realized: an economically viable gemstone deposit in the Zvulun Valley at the foot of Mount Carmel.
For the Taub family, the shining moment in Miami was a bittersweet victory, arriving during one of the hardest periods the north of Israel has faced. The company’s factory in Acre was forced to close because of the war and constant rocket fire toward the western Galilee.
“This is an incredible milestone,” Shalem-Taub said. “We are certain we are guided by divine providence despite the immense challenges we have faced. The past four years have been tragic for everyone, but they were also the years when we were supposed to break through internationally as a brand. After completing the discovery process and arranging royalties with a state that had never dealt with gemstone resources, COVID-19 struck, followed by the war.”
Following the closure of the Acre factory, the family plans to establish a new visitors center and manufacturing facility near Tivon, close to the mining sites along the Kishon.
Along with the two lapel pins presented to the Trumps, an official certificate of origin was included, detailing the story of the Israeli discovery. “We dreamed of this moment for years,” Shalem-Taub said. “We believe everything happens in its own time. These stones waited in the ground for thousands of years, and they were also waiting for this moment.”