'Claims Conference needs reform'
WJC presidential candidate Lauder: Why are Israeli Holocaust survivors not receiving funds?
The Conference on Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), the organization set up to help distribute funds to Holocaust survivors, needs reform and an injection of transparency, World Jewish Congress (WJC) presidential candidate Ronald Lauder said during an interview with the New York Jewish News published on Friday.
During the interview, Lauder "charged that the Claims Conference, had 'anywhere between $900 million and $9 billion available at a time when 80,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel are living below the poverty line. And the question is why is the Claims Conference holding the money?'"
"Lauder said he would use his presidency to clean house while 'no one else wants to do it,' including his rival for the WJC post, Mendel Kaplan, chair of the WJC executive committee. He implied he would also use the WJC platform to call for more accountability within the Claims Conference," the Jewish Week said.
US Israel Consul brings pastors for visit
The Israeli Consul General in New England, Nadav Tamir, has organized a visit to Israel for a number of local pastors, Boston's The Jewish Advocate reported.
"In his post as consul general, Tamir has encouraged many Christian religious leaders to visit the Jewish state so that they may learn about the many aspects of a dynamic Israeli society," The Advocate said.
"This is a priority for us. Some people think that the only way to help Israel is politically, but we believe we can do things together not only in terms of politics, but also in tourism and investment ? things that have been considered soft in the past," the report quoted Tamir as saying.
Evangelical Rev. Fumio Taku, who has been to Israel three times before, and who will head a group of visiting pastors, told The Advocate: "When I first went there it struck my heart very strongly. As a Christian, having biblical roots going back to the land and the Jewish people, I felt a love and affinity to the country. When I came back, my understanding and heart had totally been transformed."
Nazi collaborators lose citizenship
The Canadian government "has revoked the citizenship of Nazi collaborators Helmut Oberlander and Jacob Fast, opening the door for their possible removal from Canada," the Canadian Jewish News (CJN) reported.
"However, one of the lawyers representing Oberlander said last week he would seek a judicial review of the cabinet decision, and promised his client will never be forced out of Canada," CJN added.
According to the report, the men were "alleged to have served in German units during World War II and lied about their wartime activities when they obtained Canadian citizenship."
Bernie Farber, CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress, said Oberlander "served as a translator for Einsatzkommando 10A, a unit that was part of the Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads whose only task was to murder Jews. It is estimated they killed more than one million Jews during the Holocaust."
"Everybody, from the cook to the translator to the shooters who participated in the Nazi killing units, bears equal responsibility," Farber said. "He's been here 50 years too long," the CJN quoted Farber as saying.
