Last update - 13:27 02/12/2007
By Anshel Pfeffer
Tags: Global Shtetl, Anshel Pfeffer
The latest corruption affair in British politics, involving Labour's chief fundraiser Jon Mendelsohn and David Abrahams, who gave £600,000 to the Labour Party, is yet another in a long series of scandals that have Jews at the heart of them.
While the British media is not focusing on their Jewishness, it is hard to forget that the last Labour fundraising scandal, aka "Cash for Honors," cast a shadow of suspicion over another prominent Jew - Lord Michael Levy, former PM Tony Blair's personal envoy to the Middle East.
The charges against Levy were dropped due to lack of evidence, and nor is there any evidence of illegality in the current affair, but the fact it comes on the heels of the Levy investigation does create a lingering unease.
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Let's not forget that the American political establishment is still reeling too, after mega-lobbyist and self-styled Orthodox Jew Jack Abramoff was sentenced to five and a half years in jail last year for handing bribes to a long list of Republicans, including at least one congressman.
And although I am of course reluctant to spur on "Elders of Zion" conspiracy theory enthusiasts, we should nonetheless be asking ourselves why there always seem to be Jews around when politics and funny money meet. And the standard excuse, that there are "rotten apples in every barrel," just won't do, as the involvement of Jews in these cases is hugely disproportionate to their percentage of the population.
Looking at the lists of major political donors in countries like the U.S., Britain and France, one can see a very high number of wealthy Jews, the great majority of whom have a clean record, who are evenly spread across the political spectrum. In the U.S., for example, they cover the whole range from George Soros on the far-left to Sheldon Adelson in the more rightist circles of the GOP. These trends point to a number of conclusions, none of which are necessarily negative.
Jews in most Western countries are heavily involved in public life, for a wide range of reasons. The rich ones are prepared to put their money where their mouths are. In many cases, this has nothing to do with Jewish interests but the donor's personal ideology.
As a small and often historically persecuted minority, Jews have always tried to gain political influence, for among other reasons to help out their co-religionists. Even in the cleanest of administrations, political donations buy if not direct influence, than at least a degree of access unavailable to those of average income. That's the way to play the game.
For the last 60 years, the presence of major Jewish donors and fundraisers in the ruling parties has been of invaluable service to Israel. The money-men have traditionally acted as trusted go-betweens for the leaders of countries in times of crisis. Some, like Ronald Lauder, have even been sent on secret diplomatic missions to Arab countries to convey messages not to be entrusted to normal channels.
The Jews are not alone in the market. Various countries and minority groups are busy buying up favors - just look at the power of the oil-rich Saudis. Where would we be if Jewish money-men had left the field to them entirely?
Still, it does seem that these political philanthropists have operated too often with a feeling of immunity, for all their business sense, not realizing just how exposed they might be
