WJC drops AUD 7.5 million Leibler libel suit
The World Jewish Congress drops its libel suit against former Australian Jewish leader Isi Leibler
The news broke in Australia on Wednesday when a “WJC headquarters update,” dated July 27, reached the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).
In the section on “WJC legal victories,” the update first noted its victory in a Swiss court against a journalist who had attacked the WJC, and then said it was “withdrawing” its suit “without prejudice” against Leibler, a former WJC senior vice-president.
“At this time of increased peril to Israel and the Jewish people it is time to focus on the organization’s critical work on behalf of Jews and Jewish communities around the world,” the update said.
ECAJ president Grahame Leonard congratulated WJC president Edgar Bronfman and his committee on the decision, which he said was “clearly in the best interests of world Jewry”.
“Once we get clarification from them, we would be happy to enter into discussions about some form of ongoing relationship,” he said.
The ECAJ withdrew its membership from the WJC on July 26 after it issued an ultimatum urging the world body to drop the suit.
But Leonard said the ECAJ would only rejoin the WJC when it is “satisfied that the WJC is well governed and transparent and focused on its core mission.”
Leibler was expelled from the WJE steering committee in 2004 following a published report in which he alleged financial improprieties at the organization.
An investigation by the attorney general of New York, where the congress is based, found financial impropriety but no criminal wrongdoing or loss of charitable funds.
Leibler, who lives in Jerusalem, had told the AJN before the news broke that the WJC’s refusal to drop the suit in the current climate was “beyond belief”.
“Particularly at a time like this (the Middle East crisis), it’s obscene,” he said. And in a letter to Bronfman, written before the WJC had dropped the suit, Leonard slammed the WJC, particularly during Israel’s crisis with Hizbullah.
'United by support for Israel'
“World Jewry, in particular at this time, needs to display the greatest degree of unity that it can muster and put behind it personal animosity and past acrimony in order to serve the interests of both the State of Israel and the Jewish community throughout the world.
“If we ever could, we cannot now afford the luxury of the damaging and counterproductive lawsuit between the WJC and Isi Leibler,” Leonard wrote.
In a statement of his own, the WJC’s secretary-general Stephen Herbits had said: “Jewish communities around the world are united by their support for Israel, the commitment to seeing the safe return of their soldiers, and the fight against terrorism. That is our united focus, anything else is secondary.”
The ECAJ had been affiliated with the WJC since 1944.
'No communication'
Leibler said in response that "As of now, I have received no communication from the WJC and I never at any stage, made any undertakings to the WJC, with whom I was never at "war". I merely defended myself against their defamatory allegations and called for transparency and governance.
"If it is true, the WJC appears to have finally come to its senses and unilaterally withdrawn the libel suit, which prolonged the scandal and would have caused further damage to the Jewish World. It is regrettable that the leadership only saw fit to do so after the withdrawal and disaffiliation of the Australian Jewish Community.
"As far as I was concerned, the matter ended with the release of the damning report of the Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, which fully vindicated me, corroborated my concerns and prescribed the reforms to be implemented by the WJC, including the obligation of the chairman of the Governing Board to step down.
"I trust that in the near future, the WJC shall elect a new leadership, implement the reforms of the Attorney General and resume its former role as a constructive vehicle for World Jewry. During this somber period, we should all be concentrating on supporting the State of Israel in its struggle against the forces of darkness."
Reprinted with permission of The Australian Jewish News
