1083 British chief rabbi plays Antisemitic Canard against Corbyn, 2 weeks out from election

British chief rabbi plays Antisemitic Canard against Corbyn, 2 weeks out
from election

Newsletter published on November 30, 2019

(1) British chief rabbi warns against Labour victory
(2) Ephraim Mirvis in London Times
(3) "Damning new evidence of Labour's anti-Semitism"
(4) The Antisemitic Card, by Finian Cunningham
(5) Lobby campaign via Labour Friends of Israel, to undermine Corbyn
because he supports Palestinian rights
(6) World Jewish Congress, Enabling Israel’s Violence against Palestinians

(1) British chief rabbi warns against Labour victory

https://www.jta.org/2019/11/26/global/in-unprecedented-intervention-british-chief-rabbi-warns-against-labour-victory

In unprecedented intervention, British chief rabbi warns against Labour
victory

BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ

NOVEMBER 26, 2019 5:21 AM

(JTA) — In an unprecedented move, Britain's chief rabbi warned ahead of
the country's general elections that the Labour Party's anti-Semitism
problem means that the "very soul of our nation is at stake."

Ephraim Mirvis made his intervention, which is an unusual foray into
partisan politics for a chief rabbi, on Tuesday in a column published in
the online edition of The Times of London.

"It is not my place to tell any person how they should vote," Mirvis
wrote, adding: "I regret being in this situation at all." But in the
column, he listed anti-Semitism scandals involving only Labour and its
leader since 2015, the far-left politician Jeremy Corbyn.

"Many members of the Jewish community can hardly believe that this is
the same party that they proudly called their political home for more
than a century. It can no longer claim to be the party of diversity,
equality and anti-racism. This is the Labour Party in name only," he wrote.

Mirvis then wondered "how complicit in prejudice would a leader of Her
Majesty's opposition have to be in order to be considered unfit for high
office," adding: "Would associations with those who have openly incited
hatred against Jews be enough? Would support for a racist mural,
depicting powerful hook-nosed Jews supposedly getting rich at the
expense of the weak and downtrodden be enough? Would describing as
‘friends' those who endorse and even perpetrate the murder of Jews be
enough? It seems not."

Come the December 12 election, "the very soul of our nation is at
stake," he wrote.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England, and
the Muslim Council of Britain expressed sympathy for the Jewish
communities' sentiments as expressed by Mirvis.

His column "highlights the real fear many British Jews have, regarding
the unacceptable presence of anti-semitism in Britain and in politics
today," the Muslim Council wrote in a statement, in which it reiterated
its concerns about alleged anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by Prime
Minister Boris Johnson and his right-leaning Conservative Party. The
archbishop, Justin Wells, wrote on Twitter that the fact that Mirvis
"should be compelled to make such an unprecedented statement at this
time ought to alert us to the deep sense of insecurity and fear felt by
many British Jews."

Corbyn in 2013 defended a mural depicting Jewish men playing monopoly on
the backs of dark-skinned men. In 2014, he laid a wreath on a monument
commemorating Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at
the 1972 Munich Olympics. He called Hamas and Hezbollah his friends in 2009.

Under Corbyn, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel vitriol proliferated in
Laour's ranks, prompting the Equality and Human Rights Commission, a
government watchdog, to launch its first inquiry into the handling of
racism in any mainstream British party.

Corbyn has denied harboring or encouraging any anti-Semitic bias.

Amanda Bowman, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews,
said Mirvis' call is unprecedented, adding that it is "sadly reflective
of how many British Jews feel." They are "fearful that if Labour has
allowed antisemitism to take hold in this way while in opposition, that
things will become worse if they are in government," she wrote in a
statement Tuesday.

(2) Ephraim Mirvis in London Times
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/ephraim-mirvis-what-will-become-of-jews-in-britain-if-labour-forms-the-next-government-ghpsdbljk

november 25 2019, 10:00pm, the times

Ephraim Mirvis: What will become of Jews in Britain if Labour forms the
next government?

ephraim mirvis

Elections should be a celebration of democracy. However, just weeks
before we go to the polls, the overwhelming majority of British Jews are
gripped by anxiety.

During the past few years, on my travels through the UK and further
afield, one concern has been expressed to me more than any other. Of
course, the threats of the far right and violent jihadism never go away,
but the question I am now most frequently asked is: What will become of
Jews and Judaism in Britain if the Labour Party forms the next government?

This anxiety is justified. Raising concerns about anti-Jewish racism in
the context of a general election ranks among the most painful moments I
have experienced since taking office. Convention dictates that the Chief…

(3) "Damning new evidence of Labour's anti-Semitism"

https://forward.com/opinion/435506/british-chief-rabbis-eleventh-hour-election-intervention-shows-how-far/

November 26, 2019

Can Britain's Chief Rabbi Convince Voters Not To Support Anti-Semitic
Labour?

Liam Hoare

November 26, 2019

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/labour-antisemitism-corbyn-not-fit-for-high-office-says-ephraim-mirvis-0thlclsns

https://t.co/qpvyMId1Yl

Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman)

November 25, 2019

Though in 2018, Chief Rabbi Mirvis's predecessor, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
labelled Corbyn an anti-Semite, comparing him with the notoriously
racist Conservative politician Enoch Powell, Rabbi Sacks would not have
written such an oped. Chief Rabbi Mirvis's op-ed is, then, entirely
without precedent, and a sure a sign as any that, as if it were
possible, the Labour Party's anti-Semitism crisis and relations between
the party and British Jews have reached a new nadir.

Britons will go to the polls two weeks from now and the conversation
among those engaged on one side or the other regarding Labour's
institutional anti-Semitism has become evermore polarized and
entrenched. ...

Within the bubble, minds are made up. There is for Corbyn supporters no
critique of the man that can be made in good faith.

The heat of the campaign, a time when minds are concentrated and the
prospect of a Corbyn-led minority government does indeed seem more real,
is clearest in the media and online. Throughout November, damning new
evidence of Labour's anti-Semitism was uncovered, including Corbyn's
embrace in 2008 of a speaker who claiming Zionism made Jews "immoral"
and a Labour Member of Parliament who reportedly sang "Hey Jews" to the
tune of the Beatles' "Hey Jude" during a raucous, late-night bus journey
in 2018.

(4) The Antisemitic Card, by Finian Cunningham
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/52631.htm

The Antisemitic Card

By Finian Cunningham

November 27, 2019 "Information Clearing House" -

It is a ludicrous situation when anyone criticizing Israeli state
violations against Palestinians or neighboring countries is then
instantly discredited as being "antisemitic".

We see this in Britain and the United States all the time. Congresswomen
like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib have been denounced for being
"anti-Jewish", including by President Trump, simply because they
protested Israeli policy of occupying Palestinian lands or for having a
malign influence on US foreign policy.

In Britain, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his party have once again
this week been vilified as "antisemitic" in prominent news media.

The reality is that Corbyn is neither racist or anti-Jewish. The
specious allegation stems from him and sections of Labour being
vehemently critical of Israel and its conduct towards Palestinians.

If elected in the general election next month, Labour says it will cut
military trade with Israel and move to officially recognize a
Palestinian state.

This conflation of valid criticism of the Israeli state with being
"anti-Jew" is a cynical distortion which is wielded to give Israel
impunity from international law. It plays on moral blackmail of critics
by equating the historical persecution of Jews and in particular the
Nazi holocaust with the sanctity of the modern Israeli state.

That distortion is exposed by many Jews themselves who have spoken out
in the US and in Britain to defend the right of people to criticize
Israeli policies. They understand the vital distinction between the
Israeli state and the much wider existence of Jewishness. They
understand that to be opposed to Israeli state practices is in no way to
mean animus towards Jews in general.

Only in the past week, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has
declared his government intends to expand annexation of Palestinian
territory in the West Bank. The land occupied by Israeli forces since
the 1967 Six Day War is illegally occupied, according to multiple UN
resolutions under international law. Now Netanyahu wants to increase the
violations. And with the support of the Trump administration which also
announced it was no longer viewing Israeli settlements on Palestinian
land as illegitimate.

Over the past month, the Israeli military has stepped up airstrikes on
the Gaza Strip where nearly two million Palestinians subsist in abject
poverty largely because of an Israeli blockade. One family of nine,
including children, was killed by an airstrike on their home on November
14. As always the death toll among Palestinian civilians is grotesquely
disproportionate to Israeli victims of rockets fired from Gaza.

Israeli forces have also been carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in
Syria, including the capital Damascus, over the past year. Russia, among
others, has condemned those attacks as "unlawful aggression". Arguably,
war crimes.

When Jeremy Corbyn and Britain's Labour Party and a handful of American
politicians speak out to denounce Israeli violations they are doing so
to uphold international law and voice support for victims of state
violence. That is a principled and honourable position.

Shamefully, the US and British governments and much of the corporate
news media never do speak out. They shield Israeli leaders from
international accountability by vetoing UN resolutions or by turning a
blind eye. Pro-Israeli lobbies funnel massive donations to politicians
in Washington on both sides of the aisle, and to the British
Conservative Party. Their silence is bought. Not only silence but
outright distortion, such as when people criticize Israeli malfeasance –
and there is much of that – then they are absurdly
character-assassinated as "antisemites".

Admittedly, many British Jews phoned into radio stations this week to
complain that they feel unwelcome in Britain due to what they perceive
as growth in antisemitism under the Labour Party. To be fair though,
their claims were not backed up by hard evidence of specifically
anti-Jewish behaviour. They were eliding their Jewishness with Labour's
criticism of Israel.

The claims made against Corbyn this week by the British Chief Rabbi
Ephraim Mirviz of being "unfit for office" because of an alleged
complacent attitude towards antisemitism in his party should be put in
context.

Corbyn has apologized several times for a tiny fraction (less than 0.1
per cent) of party members accused of antisemitism. Why should he be
obliged to keep on apologizing, as BBC interviewer Andrew Neil
imperiously demanded again this week?

Chief Rabbi Mirviz is a self-declared friend of Conservative leader
Boris Johnson and an ardent, uncritical supporter of the Israeli state.

Mirviz does not represent all British Jews, as many other Jewish groups
came out voicing their support for Corbyn and his valid right of free
speech to criticize Israel.

Mirviz got prominent media coverage for his views this week in the
London Times and Daily Mail, among others. Britain's rightwing media are
owned by billionaire oligarchs who despise Labour's manifesto for
progressive wealth redistribution.

Official race-hate figures for Britain show that physical attacks
against British Muslims are preponderantly more than attacks against any
other religious minority, including Jews. Boris Johnson's Conservatives
have evident problems of fomenting Islamophobia. Yet we don't see
British media providing proportionate criticism on that to balance their
focus on Corbyn and his alleged views.

The antisemitic card is played to shield Israel from important
criticism; and by Britain's plutocrats and their media who would rather
see the public squabbling over spurious claims about antisemitism so
they can keep on plundering wealth from the majority of British people.

(5) Lobby campaign via Labour Friends of Israel, to undermine Corbyn
because he supports Palestinian rights
https://off-guardian.org/2019/11/27/everything-you-really-need-to-know-about-labours-antisemitism/

Nov 27, 2019  98

Kit Knightly

The rapidly approaching General Election means accusations of
antisemitism are back on the menu, and the mainstream media are eagerly
ladling out healthy portions to any and everyone.

It hit the headlines again most prominently yesterday when the Times
headlined "Labour antisemitism: Corbyn not fit for high office, says
Chief Rabbi Mirvis".

The possibilty that Rabbi Mirvis may not be completely unbiased has yet
to make on to a mainstream frontpage.

The Guardian are, as always, in pole position when it comes to
large-scale distribution of propaganda. They have a piece, published
today, headlined: "Antisemitism and Labour: everything you need to know".

However, The Guardian editorial staff – or whichever over-keen but
under-trained intern was tasked with assembling this quick hit-piece –
made a couple of key omissions and errors.

Here's everything you REALLY need to know about antisemitism and Labour.

Firstly: There isn't any. At least, none worth speaking of.

Labour incidents of antisemitism account for 0.08% of the membership.
That's one-third of the rate it occurs in the everyday population of
Britain. In short – Labour is 66% LESS antisemitic than the general public.

Racism is, of course, an unpleasant fact of life. There will,
unfortunately, always be people who hate other people for wildly
non-sensical reasons surrounding their identity. But limiting it to less
than a tenth of a per cent is pretty good going, wouldn't you say?

In fairness to the Guardian, it does reluctantly point this out
(although they do feel the need to round up):

Labour says that while such incidents must be dealt with robustly, the
context is that complaints connected to antisemitism amount to 0.1% of
party membership

However, since this fact renders every other word in the article moot,
we would suggest it be in bold, at the top…rather than squirrelled away
behind some qualifications deep in the middle.

"But", I hear you say, "if there's so little antisemitism in Labour, why
is it always in the news?"

Well, that's an easy question to answer: because of two very awkward facts.

A. The recently adopted, and much-hyped IHRA definition of
"antisemitism" is incredibly broad, and essentially allows criticism of
Israel to be included under the umbrella of "antisemitism".

AND

B. The Israeli lobby launched a campaign, funded by their embassy and
working through the Labour Friends of Israel, to undermine Corbyn
because of his stance on Palestinian rights. This was documented in the
Al Jazeera film "The Lobby".

That is why "antisemitism" is always in the headlines. Because powerful
people want it to be.

…and that's it. That is literally everything you need to know about
Labour's "antisemitism":

It is statistically insignificant. There was a paid campaign to pretend
otherwise. That's really all that needs be said.

(6) World Jewish Congress, Enabling Israel’s Violence against Palestinians

https://israelpalestinenews.org/world-jewish-congress-billionaires-oligarchs-global-influencers-for-israel/

World Jewish Congress: Billionaires, Oligarchs, Global Influencers for
Israel

(Collage by If Americans Knew) Some attendees of the 2019 WJC gala:
Michael Mirilashvili ($3 billion), Moshe Kantor ($4 billion), Henry
Kissinger ($180 million), Ron Lauder ($4 billion), Leonard Lauder ($21
billion), Boris Lozhkin ($500 mill), Baron David de Rothschild & Lord
Jacob Rothschild (family net worth estimates range from billions up to
$700 trillion.)

Billionaires, Russian oligarchs, Ukrainian ambassadors, international
financiers, the Rothschilds, and glitterati of all sorts gathered at the
2019 gala for the World Jewish Congress.

The gathering represented unparalleled power & wealth (and not a little
corruption)… martialled on behalf of Israel…

By Alison Weir

Contact@Ifamericansknew.Org  November 24, 2019

The World Jewish Congress (WJC), which calls itself "The Representative
Body of over 100 Jewish Communities Worldwide," held its annual gala at
the Pierre hotel in New York City on Nov. 6.

It bestowed its annual Theodor Herzl Award (named after Israel’s
founding father) on former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for her
work on behalf of Israel. Some previous awardees have been Joe Biden and
Henry Kissinger.

One of the WJC’s main issues is support for Israel. Among its many
activities in this realm, it collaborates with the Israeli government to
defend Israel from criticisms of its human rights abuses and
discriminatory system.

The WJC defines many factual statements about Israel to be
"antisemitic," and labels legitimate opposition to Israeli violence and
oppression against Palestinians "antisemitism." As a result, its top
issue, combating "antisemitism," often consists of efforts to suppress
information about Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and to combat
efforts on behalf of Palestinian human rights.

At one of its recent international conferences to oppose this newly
defined "antisemitism," US Special Envoy Elan Carr proclaimed that every
law enforcement office and every prosecutorial agency throughout the
world must "force everybody who has even a hint of antisemitism to
undergo a tolerance program." (More on this below).

The Jewish Voice described the recent World Jewish Congress gala in New
York:

"It’s 6 PM on Wednesday November 6th in New York City and dozens of
Secret Service are gathered at the Pierre to protect billionaires,
politicians and global influencers at one of the premier evenings of the
year."

JV reports that "the illustrious guest list was unparalleled," and
provides a lineup that represents extraordinary wealth and power (and,
in a number of cases, diverse types of malfeasance).

JV provided the names of some of the guests, to which are appended their
net worths when available (these fluctuate over time) and additional
information:

Robert Kraft ($7 billion net worth, NFL Patriots owner, received
Israel’s Genesis Prize at a lavish ceremony in Israel, where he pledged
$20 million to combating anti-Semitism and the Palestinian-led boycott
movement against Israel, charged with two counts of soliciting
prostitution in Florida -Boston’s WBUR radio reports: "The
diamond-studded legal guns representing the 78-year-old New England
Patriots owner (one of them a former Epstein lawyer) may save him… "
meanwhile, the women are facing up to 15 years in prison)

Also among "the super power players who descended on the foyer of the
Pierre," JV reports, "were numerous oligarchs from Russia, Ambassadors
from the Ukraine, and dozens of inner circle investors who rarely
venture out to weekday galas."

Among the oligarchs at the event was Kazakh Israeli billionaire
Alexander Mashkevitch, net worth $3.6 billion. Israel’s Ha’aretz
newspaper calls him "one of the biggest oligarchs to have emerged from
the former Soviet Union." Mashkevitch is alleged to have ties to
organized crime in the U.S. and has been accused of a $55 million
money-laundering scheme in Belgium. He has also been investigated for
organizing a sex party on a luxury yacht in Turkey. (His daughter was
also recently charged with fraud.)

Working to counter support for Palestinian human rights Mashkevitch is
president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (a Regional Affiliate of the
WJC) and said to be its "most generous philanthropist."

The Times of Israel reports that the EAJC regularly collaborates with
Israel’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Strategic Affairs and
works "to counteract the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement"
(BDS is founded on the principle that "Palestinians are entitled to the
same rights as the rest of humanity).

According to the TOI, the EAJC works "to influence global public opinion
in Israel’s favor." TOI states: "EAJC’s public diplomacy program
cultivates relationships with thought leaders in its 25 constituent
countries. These thought leaders include businesspeople, academics,
journalists, politicians, cultural leaders, and bloggers. EAJC
encourages these individuals to visit Israel and likewise sponsors
prominent Israelis to speak to such groups abroad, with EAJC acting as
an intermediary between the Israelis and their foreign counterparts."

It is unlikely that the thought leaders brought by EAJC learn about
Israel’s systemic discrimination against its non-Jewish inhabitants,
including Christians, and Israel’s ongoing violence against Palestinians
in Gaza and the West Bank.

Also present at the WJC Gala was the EAJC’s First Vice President
Emmanuil Grinshpun, a leader of the Jewish community in Moldova, a
member of the European Jewish Parliament, honorary consul of Kazakhstan
in the United States and board member of the Chabad Russian Center in
South Florida (info on Chabad is here). Grinshpun has been involved with
Veaceslav Platon, reportedly "considered by Moldovan law enforcement to
be a mastermind of financial crime."

Photo of Alpert, Balembsky, Mashkevitch, Ashkenazy, Grinshpun Guests at
World Jewish Congress Gala at the Pierre in New York City, Nov. 5, 2019.
(L-R) Michael Alpert, Alex Balemebsky, Alexander and Larisa Mashkevitch,
Ben Askenazy and Emmanuil Grinshpun. JV does not name the other
oligarchs who attended the gala, but a few of the Russian and Ukrainian
oligarchs connected to the WJC are:

* Boris Lozhkin – a WJC vice president (net worth appears to be about
$450-500 million, President of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, on
the board of the EAJC, Lozhkin has been accused of corruption in
Ukraine, fired as chief economic advisor to the president of Ukraine
last year after allegations of fraudulent financial transactions
involving millions of dollars came to light)

* Andrey Adamovsky – WJC vice president (Ukrainian businessman,
vice-president of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, in 2015 was found
guilty of defrauding his former business partners of $34.7 million, and
in 2016 he was again found guilty of fraud)

* Michael Mirilashvili – on the WJC Steering Committee (Mirilashvili,
net worth $3 billion, has been embroiled in various charges of corruption)

Mikhael Mirilashvili and his son Yitzhakis with  Israeli minister Yaffa
Deri. Billionaire Mikhael Mirilashvili and his son Yitzhakis with
Israeli minister Yaffa Deri. The three were suspected of corruption.

* Moshe Kantor (aka Viatcheslav Kantor) – member of WJC Executive
Committee (net worth $4 billion;  JTA reports that in 2006 he was
detained in Israel on suspicion of money laundering, in Russia he had
reportedly been fired for being involved in a business scandal, holds
triple citizenship: Russia, UK, Israel)

* God Semenovich Nisanov – WJC vice-president (net worth $3.5 billion,
reportedly a "king" of Moscow real estate, part of what Russian media
call "one of the most corrupt facilities of the last 5 years," alleged
gun running; diverse other accusations)

The Powerful, Politicians & a Princess

Jewish Insider lists some of the additional attendees:

Senator Chuck Schumer and Peter King

Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Peter King, 2015. Schumer, who
calls himself "a guardian of Israel," praised King as "head & shoulders
above everyone else" in Congress. Rep. Peter King (Republican
Congressman from New York, member of the Homeland Security Committee and
Financial Services Committee, Ranking Member of the Sub-Committee on
Emergency Preparedness, served as Chairman of the House Homeland
Security Committee in 2005-2006 and again in 2011-2012, notorious for
anti-Muslim extremism, over $100,000 in pro-Israel contributions were
given to King between 1998 and 2010) Jason Greenblatt (known as the
designer of the Trump peace plan on Israel-Palestine)

The longtime president of the WJC is multi-billionaire Ronald Lauder, an
heir of the Estée Lauder cosmetics company. At the age of 37 Lauder, a
Republican fundraiser, sought and succeeded in obtaining a position in
the Defense Department (Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and NATO
affairs), and then an ambassadorship.

Lauder kicked off the gala’s speeches by decrying "the rise in
anti-semitism," giving as an example Bernie Sanders’ recent statements
calling the situation in Gaza "inhumane" and declaring that some of the
$3.8 billion annual U.S. aid to Israel should go to Gaza instead.

Sanders’ speech was a reference to the fact that Israel has made Gaza
into "the world’s largest open air prison." A Norwegian NGO reports:
"More than 50 years of occupation and 10 years of blockade have made the
lives of 1.9 million Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip
unbearable. That is why they now are protesting and risking their
lives." (Despite these and previous strong criticisms of Israeli
actions, Sanders continues to say he is a supporter of Israel.)

In contrast to Lauder’s condemnation of Sanders, he lavished praise on
this year’s WJC Herzl awardee, former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.

Lauder called Haley "one of the greatest women in the world" and said he
hoped she would seek higher office. (Before being named ambassador,
Haley had been governor of South Carolina. She had no previous
international expertise; her college degree was in accounting.)

Lauder told the audience: "In my years of service in the diplomatic
world and as president of the World Jewish Congress, I have met many
heads of state, dignitaries, and ambassadors who have worked diligently
in support of Israel and defended it across the international stage.
Throughout her tenure, US Ambassador to the UN, H.E. Nikki Haley, proved
to be a giant in this realm…"

Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State and National Security
Advisor under Presidents Nixon and Ford, introduced Haley. Kissinger is
famous for his shuttle diplomacy and assistance to Israel (some of his
actions in that regard led to the disastrous oil boycott against the U.S.).

JV reports that Kissinger praised Haley "as an all-star politician adept
at the machinations of Washington and the UN." Kissinger said that Haley
"did a fantastic job by leaving no attack against the US unanswered and
helping Trump move the US embassy to Jerusalem."

JV called Haley’s speech "very campaignlike" and reported that she
received a lengthy standing ovation for her remarks.

Previous recipients of the Herzl award have included the Rothschild
family, Joe Biden, and Henry Kissinger, who was introduced by longtime
TV news celebrity Barbara Walters. (The Lauder video is here, Walters
video here, and Kissinger video here).

Current Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden received WJC’s
Theodor Herzl award in 2016, and was introduced by Henry Kissinger.
(Actor Kirk Douglas was also honored that year.)

Last year the award went to the Rothschild family, an international
banking dynasty begun in the 1700s.

Lord Jacob Rothschild and Baron David de Rothschild, chairman of the
World Jewish Congress Governing Board, accepted the award on behalf of
the family. In his acceptance speech, Lord Rothschild announced:

"On behalf of our family, we are so proud to be given your medal in the
name of Herz….. As David Wolfson said in his eulogy for Herzl in 1904,
Herzl’s name will, and I quote, ‘remain sacred and unforgotten for as
long as a single Jew lives on this Earth.’ To have our family’s name
linked with Herzl is a great honor." (Video of the speech is here.)

Lord Rothschild noted that when Herzl had originally approached the
Rothschild family to help in the establishment of the State of Israel,
they had initially refused. However, they eventually changed their
views, and Rothschild noted that the family played an integral role in
the creation of the state. Rothschild stated: "Herzl and the Baron came
to share a single objective – the redemption of Israel and the rebirth
of the Jewish nation in its historic land."

At the time, Palestine was inhabited by a population that was
approximately 80 percent Muslim, 15 percent Christian, and 5 percent
Jewish. The establishment of a Jewish state would require a massive
"ingathering" of Jews, and a massive expulsion of the indigenous
population. In the thousands of years of ancient history in the region,
Jewish dominion had lasted at most a few hundred years.

TV interview of Lord Jacob Rothschild conducted by former Israeli
Ambassador Daniel Taub, Feb. 2017. Lord Rothschild described how a
Rothschild family member had helped obtain the Balfour declaration, a
key document in eventually establishing a Jewish state in Palestine. In
a 2017 television interview, Rothschild said that his relative Dorothy
de Rothschild had played a hidden but decisive role in the eventual
creation of Israel. She had connected Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann to
the British establishment, eventually procuring the Balfour Declaration,
which opened the door to Jewish colonization of Palestine.

Balfour said that Dorothy "told Weizmann how to integrate, how to insert
himself into British establishment life, which he learned very quickly."
Lord Rothschild said: "It was the most incredible piece of opportunism."
(For more on how the Balfour Declaration was obtained, see this.)

In his WJC acceptance speech, Rothschild announced: "It is now eight
generations since our family left the Frankfurt ghetto, over 200 years
ago." He continued: "It is a source of pride to us that our family
remain involved and committed to Israel and Jewish communities in Europe."

JV reports that Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer praised the Rothschild
family for funding the Israeli Knesset and Supreme Court buildings and
for currently financing a National Library in Israel. (More here)

No one seems to know the net worth of the Rothschild family. Estimates
for the extended family range from $400 billion up to MSN News’ report
of up to $700 trillion. Lord Rothschild himself is reported to have a
net worth of $5 billion.

2018 Gala: More of the Same

Jewish Voice published an article about last year’s gala entitled,
"Moguls, Politicos & Opinion Makers Gather at Pierre Hotel for Historic
World Jewish Congress Dinner." Attendees at the 2018 gala (in addition
to many of the above) included:

World Jewish Congress History & Present

Plans to create a Jewish world congress were first officially proposed
in 1917 by the American Jewish Congress, following earlier
recommendations by Theodor Herzl. A major purpose was to promote a
Jewish state in Palestine, which at that time was inhabited by a
population that was approximately 90 percent Muslim and Christian.

(While many powerful Jewish American leaders supported the movement to
create Israel, including Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, most
Jewish Americans at the time had little interest in the movement and
some actively opposed it. Although today virtually every mainstream
national Jewish organization supports Israel, there are many Jewish
Americans who are critical of Israel.)

Conferences to create the WJC were then held in London in 1926, in
Zurich in 1927, in Geneva in 1932, 1933 and 1934. Finally, in 1936 the
First Plenary Assembly, held in Geneva, officially established the World
Jewish Congress.

According to its website, the WJC today "represents Jewish communities
and organizations in 100 countries around the world. It advocates on
their behalf towards governments, parliaments, international
organizations and other faiths."

The website announces: "The Talmudic phrase ‘Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh
beZeh’ (All Jews are responsible for one another), encapsulates the
raison d’être of the WJC."

It states that in the 1940s the WJC "successfully lobbied the United
Nations and governments to support the establishment of the State of
Israel."

Statistics on the organization’s annual revenue and expenditures seem
unavailable. The U.S. section alone, a tax-exempt organization that is
just one of the dozens of member communities around the world, has
revenue in the range of $25 million.

in 2005, when then WJC chairman Rabbi Israel Singer was charged with
diverting $1.5 million to his personal use, there were calls for an
independent audit. The WJC eventually removed Singer, and he was
required to return the money, but no public audit seems to have taken place.

The WJC is playing a significant role in the international project to
change the traditional definition of antisemitism to a new, expanded
version that includes criticisms of Israel.

WJC 2019

The World Jewish Congress International Meeting of Special Envoys and
Coordinators Combating Antisemitism (SECCA), Bucharest, June 17, 2019.
The new formulation for the definition of antisemitism was originated by
an Israeli minister in 2004, and Israel partisans have steadily inserted
it into a variety of national and international entities. For example,
U.S. Antisemitism Envoy Hannah Rosenthal adopted it for the U.S. State
Department in 2010.

In June and October of this year, the WJC hosted officials from around
the world for the "World Jewish Congress International Meeting of
Special Envoys and Coordinators for Combating Antisemitism (SECCA)."
Attendees discussed the alleged "need" to "obligate EU member states" to
adopt the new definition.

Elan Carr at World Jewish Congress conference on antisemitism Elan Carr,
US envoy against anti-Semitism, at a WJC summit on antisemitism. Carr
said every law enforcement office around the world must "force everybody
who has even a hint of antisemitism to undergo a tolerance program."

At the October conference in Germany, US Special Envoy Elan Carr said:
"Every law enforcement office and every prosecutorial agency must
incorporate [tolerance programs] as part of their standard operating
procedures. They have to force everybody who has even a hint of
antisemitism to undergo a tolerance program."

The WJC’s vast wealth and power support Israel, which was established in
1948 through a war of ethnic cleansing and is maintained through
apartheid-like policies and continual confiscation of Palestinian land.
U.S. taxpayers give Israel over $10.5 million per day, thanks to efforts
by the WJC and the numerous other members of the pro-Israel lobby in the
U.S.

Recently, Israeli forces assassinated a Palestinian resistance leader,
then used the response by some Palestinian factions to commit a
three-day bombardment of Gaza that has so far killed 34 people, injured
111, and damaged homes and schools. A third of those killed have been
women and children. No Israelis have been killed.

Over the years, Israeli policies have caused Gazans to be among the most
poverty-stricken populations on earth. Since March 2017, thousands of
Gazans have been participating in weekly unarmed demonstrations against
their oppression by Israel and the theft of their ancestral homes and
land (70 percent of Gazans are refugee families forced out by Israel in
1948). Every week Israeli forces have shot some of the participants.
Among those killed and maimed have been women, children, medics, and
journalists.

In addition to this, every week Israel commits a wide variety of human
rights violations against Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Below is a video showing some of these actions during a typical recent
week, Oct 3-9. (A detailed record of that week is here. The video is
also on YouTube.)


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