Trump appoints Martin Marks as Jewish Community liaison

Marks is a vocal Zionist and campaigner against antisemitism, who worked on Trump’s 2024 campaign as Director of Jewish Outreach.

He has been instrumental in expressing Jewish concerns regarding the freezing of a grant programme that benefits several synagogues, according to Nathan Diament, executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union.

"We’ve been trying to shake that loose for several weeks, and Martin has been very, very helpful with that,” Diament said. “He’s been a good facilitator in terms of getting issues in front of the people that need to hear about them.”

The liaison role went unfilled during the first Trump administration, though it was de facto performed by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, but has reportedly been prioritised amid the current cabinet’s crackdown on antisemitism.

Before politics, Marks was a writer for outlets including Vanity Fair and The New Yorker and ran a yoga studio in Palm Beach, Florida.

He has also previously worked as the senior advisor and chief strategist to his mother, Lana Marks, who served as ambassador to South Africa during the first Trump term.

The family are longstanding members of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, which they say that they joined as many other private beach clubs did not grant membership to Jews at the time.