When the Kennedy Center unveiled the Israeli Lounge in 1971, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) offered soaring remarks about the importance of the small reception room, which had been designed and constructed at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir as a gift to the United States.

Kennedy called the lounge — designed by Israeli architect Raphael Blumenfeld, who also designed the interior of the Israeli Knesset, and filled with original creations by Israeli artists — a “magnificent room” that could bring “the U.S. and Israel closer together, and all humanity together.” 

But for months now, the Kennedy Center has been warning that the lounge, which is open to all patrons of the Kennedy Center, is at risk of ceasing to exist in its current form, unless donors step forward to sponsor it and pay for all renovation costs, two sources confirmed to Jewish Insider. Staff of the Kennedy Center are actively soliciting donations from Jewish philanthropists to update the lounge, which has been unchanged for more than five decades. 

“I’m here to spread the word that if we want to keep it the Israel Lounge, we’ve got to act quickly, and we’re on the hunt. So please spread the word,” Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell said in October in previously unreported remarks at a reception in the lounge, which at the time was the venue for an Oct. 7-themed exhibit by Israeli artist Marc Provisor. “It certainly would be a shame if we lost this room to a corporation or an individual and it was no longer the lounge.” 

Grenell was named president of the Kennedy Center last year after President Donald Trump took control of the institution and fired its previous trustees. Since then, the institution has faced the cancellation of a number of high-profile events, particularly after the performing arts center was formally renamed The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in December. 

Grenell has made the modernization and beautification of the building, which opened in 1971, a priority. 

“This room hasn’t been touched since 1971, so you now are standing in the oldest room, and we’ve really got to change that. If you just look around, we’re bringing the whole place up because of President Trump,” Grenell said in October.  

The building has five historic lounges, and Grenell is making clear that they all need to be renovated — and he is actively pursuing sponsorships. The first one to be renovated was the room previously known as the Opera House Circles Lounge, which recently reopened as the SyberJet Lounge, after the company SyberJet Aircraft paid to renovate it with a large corporate donation that grants it naming rights for the next five years.

“The Israeli Lounge, specifically, the contract lapsed 15 years ago, and now it’s up for sale again, and we would love for it to remain a space that honors the Jewish people,” the Kennedy Center’s vice president of public relations, Roma Daravi, told JI on Monday.

As those conversations with individual philanthropists and corporate sponsors continue, the Kennedy Center is offering no guarantee that the room will remain the Israeli Lounge. Nor will the institution guarantee that the artwork in the lounge, by the artists Shraga Weill, Ezekiel Kimche and Nehemia Azar, will remain. 

A weekend post from right-wing commentator Laura Loomer suggested that the room’s naming rights could go to Qatar. Two sources at the Kennedy Center denied that the lounge would be sold to the Qataris. But it is possible that a foreign nation could obtain the opportunity to renovate and redesign the room, and in fact other countries are in the mix, according to one source with knowledge of the solicitation process. 

The Israeli Embassy has no role in soliciting funds for the lounge, according to Tal Naim, the spokesperson for the embassy.

“We really do want to see it continue,” Naim told JI. “We’re in touch with Grenell and his team, and we appreciate their effort to find the donor.” 

Grenell has not publicly named a deadline for the project. But since a major donor has not yet materialized, Grenell has given the team raising money for the project additional time beyond what was initially allotted, according to one source.