|
In contrast to the lack of any meaningful discussion of
the organized American Jews and their power, which in my
view is due to their great political influence in general
and their predominance in the media in particular, the
Hebrew press does not have such inhibitions. This is due,
among other reasons, also to the fact that the power of the
State of Israel depends to a considerable extent on its
ability to use the organized American Jews and their power
for its own interests. The first
article, [The
Jews Who Run Clinton's
Court], translated
here describes the power of the Jews at what can be
described as Clinton's court. The second
( first here),
[The
Jewish Laundry of Drug
Money], describes the
predominant part which the Haredi [ultrapious] New
York Jews play in laundering the drug
money. Their ability to do so for quite a long time
with relative impunity is connected in my opinion with the
great political influence or the Jews described in the first
article |
Published in the Israeli Newspaper
Ma´ariv, September 2, 1994:
The Jewish Laundry of Drug
Money
By Ben Kaspit, the New York
correspondent
[Translated by professor Israel Shahak]
Rabbi Yosef Crozer fell because of his big mouth. "I
launder money, a lot of money", he once told an acquaintance. "Every
day I take $300,000 from 47 Street in Manhattan, bring it to the
synagogue, give a receipt and then take a commission". The man who
heard that story from Crozer was, how sad, an undercover
Jewish agent of the U.S. agency for fighting drug use, DEA. A month
later, in February 1990, Crozer was arrested by agents on his
way from 47 Street to Brooklyn. They found on him prayer books, five
passports, and also $280.000 dollars in cash in the trunk of his car.
He traveled that route every day. He would arrive at the gold trading
oflice on 47 Street in the afternoon, and leave shortly later,
carrying suitcases and bags loaded with cash. From there he drove to
the "Hessed Ve'Tzadaka" ["Mercy and Charity"] synagogue in
Brooklyn, which was turned into an instrument for laundering millions
of dollars, the revenue from drug sales in the New York area.
That was how Crozer made his living. Assuming that the
commission for laundering money ranged in the area of 2-6%, Rabbi
Crozer can be presumed not to have suffered from hunger. The
investigators who questioned him faced a simple task, A respectable
and pious Jew who never imagined that he will be interrogated, a son
of a highly respected rabbi who headed a large yeshiva in city of New
Square, Crozer broke down and cooperated. But then his lawyer,
Stanley Lupkin, argued that his client, a pious Jew, had no
idea that he was laundering drug money. Crozer, according to
his lawyer, believed that he was laundering money for a Jewish
diamond trader "who trades in cash and not for Gentile drug traders,
and was using the situation to make some extra money just for his
synagogue. It seems that this argument had some effect since
Crozer was sentenced to one year and one day imprisonment. In
exchange for a lenient sentence, he supplied his interrogators with
valuable information which helped them to capture a person whom they
had been seeking for a long time: Avraham Sharir, another
pious Jew, the owner of a gold trading office on 47 Street, who was
really one of the biggest sharks of laundering drug money in New
York City. Sharir, an Israeli Jew aged about 45, to whom
we will later return, subsequently confessed to having laundered $200
million for the Colombian drug cartel of Kali.
The drug trade is considered to be tbe most profitable branch of
crime in the world. The profit margin ranges in the area of 200% for
cocaine and 1, 200% for heroin. The amounts of money circulated in
the branch are larger than the budgets of many small states. The
temptation is great. The main problem of the Colombian drug barons
who control a significant part of world drug trade is how to get rid
of the money. It is a problem of the rich, but a nagging one. Two
major Colombian drug cartels operate in the U.S.: the Kali cartel and
the Medellin cartel. The killing of the head of the Medellin cartel,
Pablo Escovar, by Colombian authorities in December 1993,
greatly weakened this cartel, which had controlled the drug trade in
the New York area. The Kali people, in contrast, hold a monopoly over
the Los Angeles and Miami area markets. At present, the Kali people
distribute about 80% of the world's cocaine and a third of heroin.
The Kali drug cartel makes $25 billion each year within the
U.S. alone. The money must somehow be shipped out of the U.S. without
arousing the attention of the American authorities. Besides, the cash
must be given a seal of approval and, one way or another, become
legitimized. Around this complex issue a mega-business has sprung up:
laundering and smuggling drug money. American customs investigators
have found millions of dollars in containers supposed to have
contained dried peas, in double-sided gas tanks, in steel boxes
attached to freight ships. In 1990 they found $14 million in cash in
a shipment of cables, supposed to have been sent from a Long Island
warehouse to Colombia. According to records found on the site, that
was shipment no.234 (multiplied by 14 million, calculate it
yourselves). The same year, at Kennedy Airport, in a warehouse, 26
large containers were found which were supposed to have contained
bull sperm. The latter was not there, but there were $6.5 million. In
May of this year American investigators raided a bowling ball plant
in Long Island. They picked the balls, cut them in half and found
within 210,000 dollars, in used $100 bills.
Despite their active imagination, the drug barons find it hard to
keep up. $25 billion is a lot of money and it must fill a lot of
space, since most of the money gained in drug deals conies in bills
of $l0-20. And that is how the match was made between the drug
cartels and the 47 Street in Manhattan, That street is the world
center for trading diamonds, gold, jewels and precious stones.
Hundreds of businesses are crowded in there, between Fifth and Sixth
Avenue, Shops, businesses, display halls. In the back rooms and on
the top floors, far from public access, the action takes place. That
is where the major traders sit, that is where the deals are made.
Diamonds, gold and jewels pass from hand to hand, with a handshake.
The frantic activity there offers an ideal cover for illegal
transfers of money. "In fact, even legitimate business appears, on 47
Street, to be dark and mysterious", said a customs official.
"Merchandise arrives constantly, boxes, suitcases and packages are
constantly opened, everything arrives in armored cars, under heavy
security and a shield of secrecy. Now, go find the black money".
"The match between the drug barons and 47 Street", an American
customs investigator told "Ma´ariv", " is ideal." The gold and
diamonds industry circulates large amounts of cash. The diamond
traders are accustomed to transporting large amounts of money in
cash, from one state to another, efficiently and without leaving a
trace. Large amounts of money pass from hand to hand on 47 Street,
without arousing suspicion. A diamond trader might launder $5 million
every day, without arousing special attention. It is difficult to
monitor the deals, to locate the sources of the money and it is very
difficult to infiltrate that closed field, which is based on personal
acquaintance and trust. Added to it is the fact that in the course of
the past five years, the diamond industry on 47 Street has been in a
deep slump, which led many traders into bankruptcy. "A trader like
that", said an investigator, "faces the choice of bankruptcy or
making easy, quick and relatively safe money. Not everyone is strong
enough to withstand the temptation".
All of that would not have been of interest to us if not for the massive Israeli or Jewish presence on 47 Street. "At least 50% of the diamond traders there are Israelis", so an Israeli diamond merchant who wishes to remain anonymous, told "Ma´ariv.". 'Not a few Israelis also operate in the field of jewels, precious stones and gold. All of them came to New York to make fast money, conquer the market, get their big break. Not all of them succeeded, especially not recently". But Jewish presence on 47 Street is much greater than that. Experts in the field estimate that 75-80% of the active traders on the street are Jews. A large part of them are very talous Orthodox Jews, mainly Hassids. There is also a respectable representation of Jews from Iran and Syria, usually also very pious. One can get along fine in Hebrew on 47 Street. There are many more kosher restaurants in the area than in the entire Tel-Aviv. The place is also the biggest laundry for drug money in the U.S..
The expansion of the phenomenon of laundering drug money in the
U.S. in general and on 47 Street in particular, led to the
establishment of a special American task force, to combat the
phenomenon. The unit is called Eldorado, after the mythical South
American city of gold. It is staffed with 200 agents, officials of
the U.S customs and internal revenue agencies. Eldorado, established
in April 1990, investigates the money laundering in general. Fifty of
its agents dedicate their time just to 47 Street. "It is work that
demands tremendous manpower, said Robert Van Attan, an
Eldorado officer, since the money has to be monitored along the
length and breadth of the continent, sometimes also abroad". The
target of the Eldorado agents is money, and money alone. They are not
interested in drug imports, drug deals or drug dealers. "We want to
put our hands on the money. To hit their pockets", say members of the
unit.
The task is difficult. In America there is no law that prohibits possessing money. On the other hand, when a large amount of cash is found in the possession of a launderer, the agents confiscate the money. If the person can prove that the source of the money was legitimate, he gets it back. That does not happen. The launderers are experienced. When one of them is caught and several million dollars are found in his possession, he willingly hands over the money, but asks for a receipt. "The money is not mine, I want you to confirm that you took it," is the common request. Incidently, their lives depend on that receipt. It is not a simple matter to trail them. The eyes of a typical launderer are glued to his rear-view mirror. He makes sudden stops, moves from one lane to another, chooses long and twisted routes from one place to another. Eldorado has an answer. The investigators follow their targets with eight, ten, sometimes 12 vehicles. If necessary they use one or two helicopters. There is also sophisticated equipment, the wonders of American technology in the fields of tapping. surveillance and code-breaking. In the first two years of its operations, Eldorado captured 60 million dollars and arrested 120 launderers. Compared to the scope of overall laundering, that is peanuts. "That is not the point," say the Eldorado agents. "Obviously, it is impossible, with the existing legal restrictions, to put an end to the phenomenon. Our warfare is psychological". Incidently, Eldorado is not the only agency combatting money laundering. The DEA, the American Drug Enforcement Agency, and the FBI, also conduct lively activity in that field. Not always is that activity coordinated.
In recent months the Eldorado agents discovered a new center of
operations. It is termed The Cocaine Triangle. Its sides are:
Colombian drug barons, Israeli-Jewish money launderers.
Jewish-Russian mafiosi. The Colombians funnel the money, the
Israelis launder it, the Russian mafiosi (who have recently overrun
New York in droves), provide the security and the muscle. A New York
journalist recently told "Ma'ariv"; "The Israeli Jews are gaining
notoriety in the money laundering market. You need only look at the
list of arrests and the inditements of the past 3 years, in order to
grasp the enormous scope of Israeli involvement in that
field".
One reason for the growing power of the Jews in the laundering
drug money business is the Law of Return with its easy possibility of
escape to Israel. In May 1993, five members of Jewish
international laundering which had worked with the Kali cartel were
arrested. The ring was exposed following an FBI 'sting' operation, in
the framework of which it established a dummy corporation called
Prism, which served the gang for laundering money. In the course of
less than one year $22.5 million were laundered through the company.
The head of the ring was an Israeli named Zion Ya'akov
Evenheim, known as 'Zero' Evenheim who had a dual Israeli
and Colombian citizenship, stayed in Kali, from where he coordinated
the activity and supervised the transfers of money. Most of the
ring's members were arrested in May 1993. Evenheim was
arrested by Interpol in Switzerland and extradited to the U.S.. He is
cooperating with the FBI. Additional Israeli detainees; Raymond
Shoshana, 38, Daniella Levi, 30, Binyamin Hazon,
Meir Ochayon, 33, Alex Ajami, 34. Many other suspects,
to whom we will later return, escaped to Israel, and there are
difficulties in extradicting them to the U.S.
In the course of the investigation, FBI agents recorded hundreds of hours of conversations in Hebrew among the Israeli suspects. For the purpose of translating the material, they employed, among others, Neil Elefant, a Jewish resident of New Jersey who had lived in Israel for some time and who spoke fluent Hebrew. Elefant translated and translated, until one day in May 1992 he was amazed to discover among the speakers a friend, Jack Zbeida, an Jewish antique dealer from Brooklyn. Elefant was in a difficult dilemma. He approached his rabbi, Elazar Teitz, who told him that his religious duty is to warn Zbeida. Elefant then secretly met Zbeida and told him that he was targetted by the FBI. Alex Ajami, an Israeli Jew who was one the heads of the gang, was also present. Zbeida and Ajami hurried to the FBI offering to cooperate, turning in Elefant, who was arrested and charged with interfering with legal procedures. He argued that one of the reasons for his decision to warn Zbeida was the zealousness, almosst approaching anti-Semitism, which he found among the FBI agents trying to involve State of Israel in drug affairs. Judge Kevin Duffy sentenced Elefant to 18 months imprisonment. In the meantime the FBI was forced to hurriedly arrest all those involved in the affair. In spite of the hurry, many involved Israeli Jews fled to Israel. Some few of the tens Israeli and American Jews who fled on this occasion to Israel are: Raymond Shoshana, Adi Tal, David Va'anunu, his nephew Yishai Vanunu, Ya'akov Cohen. Most of them came out of the affair with a lot of money which they also took to Israel. The Americans know that the chances of any one of them being extradited to the U.S. are close to nil.
The story of Adi Tal is worthy of elaboration. He is an
impressive youth, handsome, with a good record in the army, a son of
a fine Israeli family, formerly a security guard at El-Al. All that
did not hinder Tal from becoming involved in laundering drug
money already in 1988. In March 1988 the American authorities
arrested 11 members of the laundering ring, including Tal and
his good friend, also an Israeli, Nir Goldstein. The
investigators at the time said that Tal and his friends had
operated cautiously, used aliases and codes and lived in constant
fear. They would receive large amounts of money from Colombian
couriers, divide the money into sums of less than 10,000 dollars (any
amount over 10,000 dollars that is deposited in an American bank
requires a report), deposit the sums in banks and convert them into
travellers checks which they sent, by means of international
couriers, to a dummy corporation in Panama. The most popular code
which Tal's gang used was taken from diamond industry. When
information was transmitted about the transfer of a diamond of 30.4
carats, it meant the sum of $30,400. Tal worked for the money
launderer of the Kati cartel, Jose Satro. The Colombians
constantly pressured him to increase the scope of the laundering.
Tal was afraid. "He lived in constant fear, his bags were
always packed and he was prepared to flee at any minute to Israel",
one investigator said.
An important member of Tal's laundering ring was Rabbi
Shalom Leviatan, a Lubavitch Hassid, head of the branch in
Seattle. It is assumed that all the considerable political power of
of these Hassids and of their rebbe (then alive), were exerted in
favor of that laundering ring. "My intentions were good"
Leviatan said after he was captured. "A person learns from
experience", he added. According to him, he did not know that he was
laundering drug money, and he was certain that he helps Iranian Jews
trying to smuggle their money out of Iran. Leviatan got out
cheaply and was sentenced to 30 days community service. Tal,
who confessed to laundering $10 million, was sentenced to 52 months
imprisonment. He served his sentence at Danbury jail in Connecticut,
but did not learn his lesson. When he was released, he joined a gang
which was captured in the FBI's 'sting' operation. This time he
managed to flee to Israel where he apparently remains, to this
day.
The gold and diamond industry has recently become the favorite of
the drug barons, due to the numerous possibilities for laundering
which it contains. One of the popular methods is laundering by means
of trading in gold. This is how it works: the drug money is converted
into gold, which is smuggled to Colombia, from where it is exported
to Milano and used to make jewellry which then legitimately returns
to 47 Street. "The funniest thing in this business", say the
investigators, "is that the jewellry comes here under favored import
conditions because the gold seemingly originates from Colombia, and
that state has favored trade conditions with the U.S." There are also
other methods. Drug money is deposited in the accounts of diamond
merchants as though it were their profits and is later transferred to
Colombia. Sophisticated diamond deals are made between various
parties with the aim of 'releasing' large amounts of money on the
side. Sums of less than $10,000 are deposited in various bank
accounts, converted into travellers' checks and are then transported
to their final destination. But in spite of the ingenuity,
undoubtedly one of the most popular and successful ways to launder
money is through Jewish religious institutions, such as yeshivas and
synagogues. Since the majority of the 47 Street gold and diamond
merchants are religious Jews the process is made easier. The
Jewish religious institutions badly need funds. The Colombians drug
traders can be generous. They transfer their drug money "us
donations, which go to the Jewish religious institutions one way and
come out by the other way back to the donors. On the way the
synagogue or yeshiva obtain a respectable percentage for its pious
uses. Everyone is happy: the drug barons who launder their money
quickly and efficiently and the synagogue or yeshiva which makes easy
money.
The lirst laundering operation in which a Jewish institute in New
York was involved was exposed already in 1984. A ring which laundered
about $23 million while making a profit of $2 million operated at the
oldest yeshiva in the city, "Tifereth Yerushalayim", located in
Manhattan. The laundering was performed for the Kali cartel. The
contact man was David Va'anunu, mentioned in the context of
the Prism affair, who worked with the cartel's major launderer,
Jose Sairo. The yeshiva's representative was a very pious
Hassid, Mendel Goldenberger who daily received cash from
Va'anunu and deposited the money in the yeshiva's accounts.
Goldenberger, who claimed not to have known the source of the
money, was convicted of forging bank documents and given five years
suspended imprisonment. Vanunu was convicted, sentenced to
eight years imprisonment but released much earlier after he became an
informer for the DEA. Later, as was stated, he ran into trouble again
and fled the U.S.. Nine persons were convicted in that affair,
including Rabbi Israel Eidelman, Vice President of the
yeshiva, and some of its dignitaries. Tiferet Yerushalayim faced
financial difficulties at that time. Its leaders attempted to
maintain the number of students by paying them from the laundering
drug profits.
That phenomenon, incidently, is very common among the New York
Jews. Many Jewish congregations are dying out because their members
are leaving the city or their former neighborhoods. Thus, they are
losing their sources of income and facing large debts. In that
situation the road is short for the synagogue or yeshiva to launder
drug money as a pious duty, since it means easy money, and lots of
it. "Laundering money is extremely beneficial to the yeshivas and
other Jewish religious institutions", said a source close to the
investigation. "They are in a difficult situation and therefore they
turn a blind eye to the drug problem. They don't ask what is the
source of the money as long as it keeps coming in". The attitude of
the pious Jewish community, according to the same source, is "drugs
are sold anyway. As long as it does not harm our own community and
only does good for it, it doesn't matter if we benefit from drug
trade". The role of the Israel is is, in many cases, to make the
connection between the religious Jewish communities of New York and
the Colombians.
The Colombians are more satisfied with this method of laundering
than with any other because, for political reasons, it is a
relatively secure way which could be assumed initially not to be
forcibly investigated by the U.S. authorities. Only in July 1990 the
situation began to change. The Federal authorities renewed an
investigation of some Williamsburg's Hassids, owners of jewellry
shops on 47 Street, who were suspected of laundering drug money. The
investigation focussed on brothers Naftali, Miklosh and
Yitzhak Shlesinger, and on Ya'akov Shlesinger
(Naftali's son) and Milon Jakoby his nephew. The
investigators found evidence of close connections between the
Shlesingers and the Andonian brothers, members of a
Colombian family accused of laundering almost one billion dollars.
The Shlesingers were suspected of laundering money by means of
a subsidiary called Bali, through checks drawn from the account of
"Camp Yereim" [Camp of the Pious"] - a Hassidic summer camp
in the Catskills. Camp Yereim denies any connection with those
checks. On April 7 of this year, Rabbi Abraham Lau, a
prominent Hassid from "Magen Abraham" synagogue in Los Angeles was
convicted of conspiring to launder drug money. Lau is married
to the niece of the Satmar Rebbe, Moshe Teitlebaum who
wields enormous political influence in New York State.
Unfortunately, Lau told an undercover FBI agent about a
"sacred network" of Satmar Hassids in which other Orthodox Jews had
also participated. The "sacred network", whose membership was
strictly limited to pious Jews, operated in the 47 Street area in New
York and was capable of laundering up to $5 million weekly, thanks to
its widespread contacts with Jewish charitable institutions.
Unfortunately, law enforcement agents in New York do not believe
that the "sacred network" and the many other Jewish laundering rings
have any sanctity. In the past year the Federal activity concerning
Israelis and Jews on 47 Street has greatly increased. The
investigators now employ the services of many Hebrew translators
since the rings, even if composed of native American Jews, employ
only "the sacred language" (i.e. Hebrew] for their operations.
Aharon Sharir is, undoubtedly, the major Israeli launderer. He
was born in Iraq about 45 years ago, immigrated to Israel with his
family at the age of one year, graduated from an Israeli high school,
served with distinction in the army and became an expert in fixing
delicate mechanical instruments used to mend gold jewellry. In 1979,
Sharir came to New York on a tourist visa with $6,000 in his
pocket. He went into the gold business, established a small plant for
manufacturing gold jewellry and did well. Then, through another
Israeli diamond trader, he discovered the laundering business.
Sharir reached a laundering scope of about $160,000 per day,
six days per week (laundering is not done on the Sabbath) but in 1985
his wings were clipped when he was accused of having swindled a New
York bank to the tune of $3 million. He quickly returned the money
and was sentenced to a fine and a suspended imprisonment sentence. In
1988 Sharir's laundering activities reached amazing heights.
His gold shop on 47 Street became one of the greatest laundering
centers in the entire U.S. "Three times a week", Sharir told
the court at one of the many trials in which he is now testifying,
"we received the cash. It used to arrive in canvas sacks, in carboard
boxes or in suitcases. Sometimes there were a million dollars in one
shipment". Ruy Lopez, representing the Colombian cartels would
especially arrive from Miami equipped with a document sent from
Colombia which contained detailed coded instructions about where to
send the money. "Even with automatic money counting machines it
was difficult to count the money"e;. Sharir testified. "It
arrived in bills of 5, 10 and 20 dollars. The bills, most of which
had been used to sniff cocaine, had a strong odor of coke. A real
stink. My employees could not stand it. Every 2-3 hours they had to
take a break, go out for some fresh air, so as not to get high".
Sharir's role was to see to it that the money would be
transported out cf the U.S. and arrive in the bank accounts of the
Colombian cartels in Panama and in Colombia. For that purpose he
deposited money into his bank accounts, as though it was his profits
from the shop, purchased assets for the use of the drug cartels,
bought and sold gold at inflated prices from merchants who were part
or the conspiracy, concealed money through various manipulations.
Finally, all the money was turned into checks drawn on the accounts
of Jewish religious institutions. Sharir received from the
Colombians for his labors 6% of the turnover. Within a short period
of time he moved with his family to a luxurious house in Woodmere, on
Long Island. He purchased a luxury Jaguar car, showered his wife,
Miryam, with expensive jewels, and donated lavishly to Jewish
charities.
The troubles began in late 1988. In December his shop was raided by American customs and internal revenue agents, after they received notice from his banks concerning the volume of his deposits. They brought dogs to sniff out drugs, carried out a meticulous search of the offices and took away cars full of documents. Sharir did not lose his cool. While the agents were milling around his offices, he managed to conceal $600,000 which were in his bank account at the time, and transfer the money to a safe place. Simultaneously, Sharir fell out with his Colombian operators who claimed that he stole from them $26 million of drug money. Sharir, who denied the accusation, hired an Israeli professional investigator, Lihu Ichilov, to solve the mystery. Ichilov soon became Sharir's partner. He flew to Panama, established two dummy corporations there, opened bank accounts and improved the laundering routes.
Following the Federal agents' raid on his offices Sharir
did not give up. Within two weeks he opened two other offices on 47
Street and resumed work. When asked by one of his lawyers how he had
expected to escape the attention of the law, Sharir replied:
"I changed my system and believed that now, with God's help, I would
never be caught". Sharir's new system included Rabbi Yosef
Crozer whom we discussed earlier. Crozer's big mouth
brought Sharir down, and he was arrested in March 1990.
Crozer also led to Sharir confessing to having
laundered $200 million. His wife, Miryam, was arrested
together with him. Sharir, under the pressure of the
interrogation agreed to cooperate in exchange for his wife's release
and for the cancellation of the charges against her. The prosecution
agreed.
It was an extremely good deal as far as the prosecution was
concerned. For three months Sharir fed the Federal
investigators with most valuable information concerning the Jewish
laundering industry. The information included names, methods of
operation, codes, and bank accounts. Sharir led them to the
exposure of what is termed the new "cocaine triangle". He led to the
incrimination of more than 35 Jewish launderers, the capture of $10
million and the break up of numerous Jewish laundry rings. Among
others, Sharir incriminated the biggest laundering shark in
the history of the U.S., Stephan Scorkia. Sharir, who
testified at his trial, directly led to his conviction.
Scorkia was charged with laundering $300 million, and was
sentenced to 660 years imprisonment.
Sharir is now enrolled in the U.S. witness protection
program. He lives under an assumed identity, released on bail,
travels under heavy security between New York, Rhode Island, Arizona
and other states, testifies in criminal trials and goes on. His wife,
Miryam divorced him shortly after the affair erupted. She
refuses to comment on the matter and told Daily News; "I have no
intention of talking. I divorced Aharon in order to distance
myself from him and from his friends, and that is exactly what I am
doing." Sharir was directly responsible for the flight of at
least 35 Colombians from the U.S. back to Colombia. One of the
escapees was Duvan Arbolda, one of the Kali cartel's major
launderers. Arbolda was charged in a Manhattan court of
laundering on a vast scale, following Sharir's testimony. When
he completes testifying, Sharir himself will stand trial. The
prosecution will agree to a very low sentence, but this does not
improve his chances of survival. "At present, Aharon Sharir
heads the Kali cartel's wanted list" said an American customs
official. Charges have also been served against Lihu Ichilov,
Sharir's partner. However, Ichilov fled to Israel on the
eve of his trial, in January 1991. That was the period of the Gulf
War and the judge, Richard Owen, who tried Ichilov in
absentia, said: "Mr. Ichilov apparently prefers to face the
horror of Scud missiles falling on Israel than the American justice
system".
Note 1. The Satmar Hassidic sect fiercely opposes Zionism. The present rabbi's uncle and predecessor (the position of a rabbi among the Hassids is limited to the members of "the sacred family"), Yoel Taitelbaum, had published learned books in which Zionism was described as an invention of Satan, Israeli victories (especially the one in the Six Day War) were attributed solely to the direct Satanic help given to the Israeli army, while the Holocaust was being "justified" as the Divine punishment of the Jews for the sin of some of them becoming Zionists. The present rabbi, although formally continuing the teachings of his uncle, has the most amicable relations with the Israeli government.
Published in the Israeli newspaper Ma´ariv, September 2, 1994:
The Jews Who Run Clinton's Court
By Avinoam Bar-Yosef
[Translated by professor Israel
Shahak]
Several weeks ago the rabbi of "Adath Yisrael" synagogue in
Cleveland Park, Washington, dedicated his Sabbath sermon to the
Jewish cultural and political center which is being formed in
America. "For the first time in American history", the rabbi said,
"we no longer feel that we live in diaspora. The U.S. has no longer a
government of Goyim [Gentiles], but an administration in
which the Jews are full partners in the decision making at all
levels. Perhaps the aspects of the Jewish religious law connected
with the term 'government of goyim' should be re-examined, since it
is an outdated term in the U.S.". 1
Indeed, as far as the Jews are concerned, President Bill
Clinton contributed towards a real change in the Administration's
outlook, having concluded a series of changes in enhancing Jewish
power beginning during under President Reagan and his
Secretary of State, Schultz. True, the Jewish political
influence was also evident in America of the previous decades. We
have already seen a Jewish Secretary of State, Kissinger,
enjoying the confidence of President Richard Nixon and there
were Jewish Cabinet members under Carter. However, they were
usually the exceptions testifying to the rule. Especially. pious Jews
were hardly ever appointed to participate in political work
concerning the Middle East.
The picture has now totally changed and not only about the Middle
East For example, every morning at about 6:00 o'clock, several staff
cars travel from the CIA center to the White House with senior
officers of the American intelligence community, who are about to
present to the president and to the four top staffers a PDB -
President's Daily Briefing - the term for the most exclusive report
in Washington. The document, consisting of 5-7 pages, is often
accompanied by top secret satellite photographs transferred by the
Pentagon. It is composed in the course of the night by the best
American intelligence experts who analyze the telegrams and reports
arriving from the CIA's world-wide network of agents. It contains the
most sensitive information regarding developments around the world.
Its uniqueness, compared to other American intelligence documents,
lays in the fact that it almost always indicates the source of the
information, whether it is a document stolen by a spy, or an agent or
'mole' infiltrating a foreign government, or whether the source is
tapping by means of satellite. If Clinton is in Washington, he holds
a short discussion on the contents of the document with the five
other addressees: Vice-President Al Gore, National Security
Adviser Anthony Lake, White House Chief of Staff Leon
Penta, Deputy National Security Adviser Samuel ("Sandy")
Berger, and National Security Adviser to the Vice-President,
Leon Perth. Two of the addressees, Berger and Perth, are
warm Jews. They have reached posts that are extremely sensitive for
the U.S. policies. They are by no means exceptions.
In the National Securitv Council, 7 out of 11 top staffers are
Jews. Clinton had especially placed them in the most sensitive
junctions in the U.S. security and foreign administrations:
Sandy Berger is the deputy chairman of the council; Martin
Indyk, the intended ambassador to Israel, is a senior director in
charge of the Middle East and South Asia; Dan Schifter, the
senior director and adviser to the president, is in charge of Western
Europe; Don Steinberg, the senior director and adviser to the
president, is in charge of Africa; Richard Feinberg, the
senior director and adviser to the president, in charge of Latin
America; Stanley Ross, the senior director and adviser to the
president, is in charge of Asia.
The situation is not much different in the president's office
which is full of warm Jews: the new Attorney General, Abner
Mikve: the president's schedule and programs manager, Ricky
Seidman; deputy chief of staff, Phil Leida; economic
adviser, Robert Rubin; media director, David Heiser;
staff director, Alice Rubin; Ely Segall, in charge of
volunteers; Ira Mezina, in charge of the health program. Two
Cabinet members, Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Micky
Cantor in charge of international trade agreements, are Jewish.
They are joined by a long list of senior Jewish officials in the
State Department, headed by the head of the Middle East Peace Team,
Dennis Ross, and followed by many deputy secretaries and even
more senior secretaries' chiefs of staff.
One of the most interesting Jews from the Israeli point of view,
who has rarely been exposed to view till now, is Rehm
Emmanuel, Clinton's senior adviser in charge or coordinating
special projects in the White House. His office is located next to
the famous Oval Office. Rehm won extra points from his boss
last week, when he succeeded to pass the law for combatting crime. He
has become an expert at communicating with Congress and has already
had many successes, the most prominent of which was the ratification
of NAFTA. Now he is immersed in the passing of the Health Bill. Last
Thursday his office was in shambles and he strode around it like a
typical Sabra, simultaneously conducting a lively conversation with
me, studying the protocols of the debate held at the time by the
Senate and watching the report of Wolf Blitzer (also a Jew) on
the CNN and being updated by his secretary and three aides on the
positions of the senators regarding the vote. "Do you prefer to meet
over the weekend or early next week, after this whole nightmare is
over?" I asked him. "That would be a real relief," he replied. The
following day, after the law passed by one vote, I called to
congratulate him: "If you want to come - you have to do it now. The
president decided to take a vacation and told us that whoever wanted
to enjoy the summer should also take a vacation. So I'm packing and
leaving on Sunday morning." Even then he was not calm but nervously
fiddling in his chair. He has a face that is more suitable for an
Israeli tourist than for a senior official in the U.S.
Administration. "You know, Rehm Emmanuel is a name that would
not be out of place in the Tel-Aviv phone directory," I told him. A
large warm smile spread across his face. "Our origina1 name was
Auerbach. We opened the first pharmacies in Tel-Aviv and in
Jerusalem. My father changed his name after my uncle.
Emmanuel, was killed in Israel's War of Independence (I
948-49]. My father was then a member of Etzel [IRGUN)
commanded by Begin, and it was customary to change names in
the underground. Yes, he is still a warm Likud supporter, but he also
admires Yitzhak Rabin since he admires whoever becomes Prime
Minister as a result of the last Israeli elections. After that war he
came to America. studied medicine and met my mother who was then a
social work student. [ was born in Chicago". Rehm and his
two brothers received a warm Jewish education. "You know, we
studied at a Jewish school and had private Hebrew teachers. My first
visit to Israel was three days after the Six Day War. My father said
then that we had to go to Israel. I was eight years old, but I
remember it as if it were this morning. The Arabs were completely
delighted there was such a joy and it was so very exciting. There
were high hopes that as a result the Jews will enjoy freedom and
peace. Since then I continued to visit Israel every summer until
1972. Then I began my studies. When I matured I went into politics
the pastimes of an Amedean youngster."
"What meaning does the connection to Israel and to Judaism have
for you today? "Since 1972 1 did not visit Israel, until 1991. Then
the Gulf War broke out and missiles landed in Tel-Aviv. I immediately
volunteered for one month service in the Israeli army, through the
"Overseas Volunteer Unit".2
What I did then to help the Jews was not much. Naturally, it was not
combat service. But we helped as much as possible and the main thing
was that we were there. Does that answer your question?"
Perhaps the most intriguing thing that happened to me personally
in the course of the past year. since I have been posted in
Washington, was the meeting with the organized American Jewry. The
best place to see them as they are, the place where I always came
each year to admire them, is the annual convention of the pro-Israeli
lobby, AIPAC. This is the place not only to feel the pulse of
American involvement in the Middle East, but also where I felt that
somehow it helps me to ignore the deep distress inherent in the
feeling of loneliness of living in a state located in the heart of so
many hostile Arabs. I always asked myself what was the value of the
Jewish experience in America as far as Israelis concerned. Did the
identification with Israel derive from a deep sensation of a common
Jewish fate or was it one of the tools of the local community to
garner power for achieving truly equal rights in a mixed society
comprised also of many emigrants and members of various faiths? Was
the Jewish power in the U.S. a phenomenon which will decrease
or to increase? Were the intermarriages of Jews with Gentiles
threatening to weaken the Jewish power in the U.S.? Or, so I was
sometimes afraid, were the American Jews building a new Jewish
cultural center that would compete with Israel?
"Adat Yisrael" synagogue in Washington is not only a place of worship. It is a Jewish community center, with a prestigious Jewish kindergarten, a Jewish school with Judaism, literature, culture and of course, Hebrew classes. On Saturdays there are always two separate prayer sessions. The first is the large one, encompassings hundreds of worshippers. which ends in a food blessing at tables tastefully laid with Jewish delicacies- Its members belong to the creme of Washington society. senior administration officials, successful lawyers, rich businessmen. All are wealthy people. Next week, on the Jewish New Year, the prayers will be joined by many other Jews who usually spend their weekends at the most exclusive clubs, or on the most expensive golf courses, or riding the best horses, or at their expensive houses near the West Virginia lakes, or sailing in their private yachts. Next week, like during all Jewish holiday seasons, the most expensive limousines that can be imagined will stop at the entrance to the synagogue, to let out the elegant women, the men mummified in their expensive suits at their side, followed by the well-dressed children. The entrance fee to synagogue is $1000 for a single holiday In addition to that prayer session another, with younger members and cheaper entrance fees, regularly gathers in one of the other halls, where prayers are held according to the customary Israeli style, except for the fact that men and women sit together. This famous session has several other characteristics. Most of the members visit Israel at least once every year. Most of them speak fluent Hebrew. All of them are familiar with the prayer procedures. Only a few of them come out of deep faith. Others do so out of the wish to meet the best Jewish society or to meet a Jewish girl whom they would marry. But the most important reason for their praying is that they feel a close connection with Israel. Those of them whose love for Israel is most ardent watch the Israeli TV news every night. It might sound strange, but the Washington cable station broadcasts the Israeli TV news program every night at half past midnight.
The other synagogue competing for the young generation of wealthy Jews is located in Georgetown. It is a fully Orthodox synagogue, but its prayers are conducted in the Israeli style favored by "Gush Emunim". The Israeli flag is proudly displayed above the Sacred Ark alongside the American flag. On each Sabbath the prayers include the benediction for the Israeli Jewish soldiers and the prayer for the welfare of the Israeli government and its officials. Many Jewish Administration officials pray there. They not only don't try to conceal their religious affiliation but go to a given length to demonstrate their Judaism since it may help their careers greatly.
The enormous Jewish influence in Washington is not limited to
the government. In the Washingtonian media a very significant part of
the most important persons and of the givers of the most popular
programs on the TV are warm Jews. A significant part of senior media
correspondents, newspaper editors and analysts are Jewish and many of
them are warm Jews too. Many of them are influenced in Israel's favor
by attending suitable synagogues. AP's political reporter,
Barry Schweid, and the Washington Post's education reporter,
Amy Schwartz, regularly participate in a prayer session which
is considered to be close to Israel at the Cleveland Park synagogue.
Also there the Israeli flag is posted proudly above the Sacred Ark.
Let us not forget in' this context the Jewish predominance in the
Washingtonian academical institutions. At the National Center of
Medicine the percentage of Jewish researchers is very much higher
than their relative percentage in the population. In the fields of
security and science, in the film industry the art and in literature,
the Jewish influence can only be described as immense, with a
corresponding enhancement of the Jewish power.
Where did they all spring from? In Israel we are already
accustomed to the names of the Jews called Dennis Ross, Dan
Kurtzer and Aharon Miller, since they have taken part in
each of the Secretary of State's visits to the Middle East in the
last six years. But that is a relatively new phenomenon. When Dan
Kurtzer, a pious Jew who observes the Sabbath and all
commandments of Judaism arrived at the American State Department 18
years ago with a doctorate in Middle East studies, he was told: "You
have all the qualifications to serve in the Middle East division, but
don't even think of suggesting it because of your Jewish origin."
Today he is the boss of those who gave him that piece of advice,
so much had the Jewish power increased meantime. When he
arrived it was the time when the Arabists ruled the State Department
and the few Jews who had infiltrated it preferred to conceal their
Judaism. There were precedents, such as the late Arnold Rapel,
who was a senior deputy of the Secretary of State's assistant for the
Middle East, but his co-workers learned of his faith only when he was
buried in a Jewish ceremony. Dan Kurtzer was the first to
announce that he could not work on Jewish holidays since he observed
all the commandments of Judaism and went to synagogue. Today, when
the TV star Roseanne Arnold announced that she intended to
produce a series on Hanuka since the Christmas programs are already
too numerous, and when public schools in the U.S. are closed on
the first day of the Jewish New Year, the story about
Kurtzer seems very distant.
It happened several weeks ago. The Haiti crisis started to
accelerate. I phoned the State Department and requested a briefing
from the person in charge of that area. They referred me to Yehuda
Mirsky. I introduced myself to his secretary. Suddenly someon
picked up the receiver and then t heard a voice saying in perfect
Israeli Hebrew: "Good morning, how can I help you?" For a moment I
thought that I had mistakenly dialed the Israeli Foreign
Ministry. "Where do you know Hebrew from, and are you an
Israeli?" "No, I am American, but I spent three years, mainly
studying the bible and the Talmud, at the military "Har Etzion"
Hesder Yeshiva, with Rabbi Lichtenstein and Rabbi
Amital in Gush Etzion." Mirsky, like Kurtzer,
belongs to the professional of the American foreign service. Another
Jewish official who came to the State Department through a trainees'
(:oitrse is Tom Miller, currently political attache in Athens.
He was previously, among other things, Phillip Habib's
assistant in Lebanon, and the Head of the North African desk at the
time of the dialogue with the PLO and then Head of the Israel and the
Arab-Israeli Conflict desk. I met Tom when he served in de.~k
he.~d in the anti-terronsm branch. His interest in Israel began when
he was sent to Israel by his father during the Six Day war to help a
family friend who had immigrated there some time ago. The friend was
inducted to the army and his farm was in a need of help. Afterwards
Tom Miller spent six months at Orot collective farm, near
Kiryat Malachi. The effect on him was similar to the influence which
his first visit to Israel had on Rehm Emmanuel. "It was for me
a period of euphoria, of great achievements for the entire Jewish
people. It was impossible not to identify with Israel in the hour of
its magnificent victory", he told me. The second event which left a
harsh and life-long impression on him were the stories about the
horrors of the Holocaust. "The Holocaust creates a sense of a destiny
shared by all Jews. The Jews must act to strenghen Israel so
that the Holocaust cannot be repeated", he told me in another
conversation. Indeed, all the Jews at the top of
Clinton Administration, including Dennis
Ross and Martin Indyk firmly believe that the change in
the attitude of American Jewry towards Israel came mainly as the
result of the Six Day War, since that war had first reawekened the
Holocaust memories3
and then filled them with enormous pride. "It was the Six Day war
which brought the U.S. Jews out of the closet. They had been
there, wielding power and influence in the fields of science and
culture but they were rather distant from Israel", said one of the
top Administration officials, who is very close to Clinton.
"The main goal of our parents' generation was to become part of
American society, perhaps even to become assimilated. It must he
remembered that the
Holocaust was also a traumatic event for American Jews.4
They were unable to do anything for their brothers who were murdered.
The Six Day War created tremendous identification with Israel among
the American Jews. Its main importance was to create a deep link
between the Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish tendency in America,
and Israel."
Today, when there is talk about 51 percent of interfaith
marriages, the danger of assimilation appears to be even greater, yet
when examining the phenomenon from close up one finds that the trend
is opposite. More and more Jewish youngsters seek out the synagogue
and Jewish education which are very good for advancing one's career.
It is important that Israel do its bit in this area. Rehm
Emmanuel is a living proof of that. 3 months ago he was married
in a Jewish religious ceremony to Amy, a young woman from a
Christian family. She converted to Judaism and her Jewish name is now
Yad. If Rehm had wanted to assimilate, he would not
have married in a religious ceremony. Dennis Ross, so familiar
and so friendly to us, has an even more amazing personal story. His
parents were divorced when he was two years old. His contact with his
father, the son of a cantor from Chicago, was almost totally severed.
Two years Iater his mother married a Catholic and moved to
California. However, she posed a condition for her new husband that
her children were to have a Jewish education. Dennis grew up
in a Reform Jewish environment md could have easily assimilated
without remaining true to his roots. Although he attended a Reform
Jewish school on Sundays, it was more of a social than a Jewish
experience. But he did not forget and it was Israel which made a warm
Jew of him. In 1970 he visited Israel for the first time with a group
of American students in that glorious period of victory after the Six
Days War, his connection with Judaism grew stronger ever since. Later
he married Debbie, with a traditional Jewish education in
Jewish history. In her neighborhood she was very active in the
synagogue. At a relatively mature age Ross began to study
Hebrew, opened a prayer book for the first time and turned the prayer
into a regular habit. His Jewish roots, he proclaimed, were most
important to him and influence all his attitudes. His children follow
in his footsteps. Almost every Saturday, if he is in Washington and
is not hopping between Jerusalem, Damascus and Cairo, he goes to
synagogue with his children. His eldest son has already celebrated
his Bar Mitzva, and at the ceremony at the synagogue the ambassdors
of Syria, Israel, Egypt and Jordan sat alongside each other.
Can Israel really sense that at a distance of thousands of miles
away there is a flourishing Jewish center that not only deeply
admires and supports it, but also feels a shared destiny with it?
There is no doubt about it, especially in the matters concerning its
existence. All the Clinton's Administration officials dealing with
Israel, Ross, Kurtzer, Indik and Miller
being just a sample, may have different views concerning the desired
solution for the lsraeli-Arab conflict but they are warm Jews in
whatever they do. They sometimes disagree among themselves and they
sometimes even disagree with the views of the Israeli governments,
first and foremost since they are Americans and their primary loyalty
is towards America. But they also firmly believe that the shared
interests between the two states are fundamental and permanently
enduring. It is because of this deeply held belief that they made a
huge contribution to the fact that Clinton
Administrations has fully adopted their approach on the issue of
relations between the U.S. and Israel. Perhaps because of that
belief they claim that they are upset about the Israeli violations of
human right in the Territories, and are even more upset when one or
another Israeli minister takes an initiative concerning Iraq which
does not accord with the American line. "If Israel wants American
support for all its interests it also must coordinate its steps with
us when this concerns the basic interests of the U.S.," one of the
senior officials told me this week, following the news of the
initiative of ministers Moshe Shachal and Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer to add Iraq to the peace process.
The many Jews in Clinton's Administration have not been
created by a design, but their large number is it not due to chance
either. The American way of life supports the achievers. Despite the
previous Jewish generation wish, perhaps, to assimilate, it gave its
children the best education and not necessarily only in Jewish
religion. It was especially their achievements and ability which,
while also preserving their Jewish roots, brought the present
generation of Jews to their present positions of enormous
influence. Dennis Ross, the founder of the theory of "the
confidence building measures" between Israel and the Arab states, is
a typical product of that Jewish generation in America. Their power
might certainly boost the confidence of the Israeli Jews in the
eternity of the Jewish people and dull their sensation of loneliness
among the Arabs.
Incidently, although the Jewish power in the current Democratic
Administration is so huge, there are also many warm Jews heading for
the top positions in the Republican Party. I met Paul
Wolfowitz, for example, who was the senior deputy of the American
Defense Secretary in the Bush Administration in the course of
a visit to a Patriot missile base during the Gulf War. When he was
received by the commander of the base, whose name was emblazoned over
his chest, Lieutenant-Colonel Crimkowitz, his face glowed:
"You're Crimkowitz, I'm Wolfowitz. We both have
relatives here." That does not mean that they are all like that. Even
in America there are and will be people with Jewish roots who do not
support Israel, to say the least. Such was the former American
Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger and such is Richard
Hass, Martin Indik's predecessor on the National Security
Council. But now they are certainly exceptions.
Perhaps the rabbi at Adath Yisrael synagogue intended to compliment Bill Clinton on his warm attitude towards the Jews and to strengthen the loyalty of his Administration Jewish officials to America. Rehm Emmanuel told me that Clinton's proximity to the Jews should be explained by his love for human beings which he exhibits on every conceivable occasion. Others mention the Jewish environment during his studies in university. I would add to that a mixture of various factors, of which certainly the most important is the great admiration for Israel he exhibited following the Six Day War. Clinton was also made conscious by his many Jewish friends about the distressing memory of the Holocaust, which still haunts the leaders of the U.S. Jewish community and about its importance for the continual support of Israel which is obligatory on the U.S..
Notes:
1. According to the Jewish religion the obligation to follow the rules and laws of a Gentile government is limited to some extent. For example, its custom and currency regulations of such government need not be followed by pious Jews in all cases. On the other hand, the regulations of a government in which pious Jews have a predominant influence, even if it contains also some Gentiles, have to be strictly obeyed.
2. By a special permission of the U.S. Administration, which is not often mentioned in the U.S. media for reason clarified in this article, the American Jews can volunteer to serve in the Israeli army and some of them often do so, especially during Israeli wars. The number of the U.S. Jews who rushed to volunteer in the Israeli army during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and who "helped" it to besiege Beirut was quite big, but since the Israeli censorship banned any mention of them they were "invisible" to the U.S. media. No other army enjoys a similar privilege. The service of the U.S. Jews in the Israeli army is not supposed to include combat duties, but only such things as helping to repair tanks. Some of it certainly takes place in the Territories, including the Golan Heights.
3. Needless to say, these "Holocaust memories" are a fake. The Israelis were not only not afraid but sure of victory before the Six Day War and of course Israel faced no danger during the Gulf War. On the other hand, when the Israelis were really afraid during the 1973 October War, not of "a Holocaust" but of a stalemate affecting their interests, the American Jews swallowed all the stories about the supposed Israeli victory.
4. Actually it was not a trauma at the time when the Holocaust happened. The trauma developed much later, when the U.S. Jews acquired power.
