Bill Clinton: $500K For 45 Minute Talk [Report]

Bill Clinton is one of the most desired speakers in the world. On Sunday, new rumors emerged claiming that the 1990s era United States president has now been paid a cool $500,000 for a 45-minute speech to be given in Israel on June 17.

Aaron Kalman for The Times of Israel reported:

“The Jewish National Fund has paid former US president Bill Clinton $500,000 for a 45-minute speech at the Peres Academic Center in Rehovot on June 17 in honor of the Israeli president’s 90th birthday.”

Kalman said that the money won’t go to Clinton himself but instead to the William J. Clinton Foundation, which promotes environmental and public health causes.

Although the event won’t be held for a couple more weeks, the money was reportedly paid to the foundation almost a year ago.

The Times of Israel also noted there may have been a tempest in a teapot when invited guests to the birthday party were asked to pony up the equivalent of over $800 apiece if they wanted to attend. However, Peres reportedly objected, saying he wouldn’t go himself if the event was really a fundraiser.

The Jewish National Fund promotes environmental causes, including a well-known tree-planting program in Israel. The JNF website said that they have already planted 250 million trees over the past century.

Some people are outraged by the high speaking fee:

Per @ayalahasson Jewish National Fund pays $500,000 to @billclinton for speech at gala. Aren’t they supposed to plant trees with donor cash?

— Amir Mizroch (@Amirmizroch) June 1, 2013

However, The New York Daily Post reminded the public that JNF-Israel and JNF-USA are two separate organizations. NF-US spokeswoman Neta Yoffe stressed:

“Not a single dollar raised through JNF-USA is being used to pay for President Bill Clinton’s appearances in Israel.”

As for JNF-Israel, well… it just plain costs serious money to hire Bill Clinton to speak at your event — and $500,000 is hardly the highest price he’s ever charged.

A CCN report went into detail about his earnings, saying he likely earned $89 million in speaking fees between January 2001 and the end of 2011:

“Clinton delivered 54 paid speeches in 2011…The most lucrative was a November speech in Hong Kong to Swedish-based telecom giant Ericsson — $750,000. Clinton also earned $700,000 for a March speech to a local newspaper publishing company in Lagos, Nigeria, and $550,000 for a November speech to a business forum in Shanghai, China. He earned $500,000 apiece for three events in Austria and Holland in May and in the United Arab Emirates in December.”

So is the rumor true? Did Bill Clinton charge $500,000 for the June 17 speech? It’s not entirely unbelievable, especially if he was raising money for his foundation.

Maybe I shouldn’t have snoozed through that public speaking class in high school. What’s your reaction to the newest Bill Clinton rumor?

[Bill Clinton photo by Roger H. Goun via Flickr and Creative Commons]