LATINOS

What about the Hispanic community, other Jewish brothers and sisters in early civil rights wars? The exploitation of impoverished Mexican-Americans in Jewry's bid to scale the American socio-economic ladder parallels that of Jewish-African-American history. In Los Angeles, a Jewish politician, Ed Roybal, rose to power in 1949 via a coalition of "Eastside Jews and Latinos." "Out of 40 invited guests [to a fundraiser for Royal]," notes the Los Angeles Times, "15 showed up -- all Jews ... The money went to established Community Service Organization (CSO), which promptly set about mobilizing the largely dominant Mexican American community ... Jewish support for CSO had even broader ramifications as the organization went on to become a powerful force both in Los Angeles and throughout the state." [FEINGOLD, D., 10-21-98, p. E1]

When UFW leader Cesar Chavez "organized his first field worker strike in Oxnard in 1958, the funds came from Los Angeles-based Jewish labor leader Ralph Helstein's United Packing House Workers of America." Other major Jewish supporters of the UFW's early grape boycott were Sigmund Arywitz and Max Mont. Politician Howard Berman, "friend" of Chavez and "now a Congressman representing a largely Latino division in the Valley," authored California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act. "The ties," says Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the UFW, "was very, very strong with the Jewish community and have continued through the years." "The Jewish community," notes Julian Nava, the first Mexican American to be elected to the Los Angeles school board, "was fundamental not only in fund-raising but in lending the support of many community groups." [FEINGOLD, D., 10-21-98, p. E1]

This Jewish assistance all seems noble, but the pattern over time exactly mirrors the situation between Jews and Blacks during the civil rights era: Latinos have been merely stepping stones for collective Jewish advancement. When the Jewish community secured their enormous socio-economic and political power, for years incongruously mixed in the ranks of impoverished Hispanics and African-Americans, they then abandoned their non-Jewish colleagues in the civil rights struggle. As the Los Angeles Times noted in 1998, "The income levels of Jews rose dramatically in the decades following World War II, creating a class divide between the two groups ... The communities literally grew more distant ... Some Latinos felt that the Jewish community has retreated from the cause of social justice." [FEINGOLD, D., 10-21-98, p. E1]

As Danny Feingold adds about today's looming Jewish economic oppression of poor Mexican Americans, "While a sizeable Latino middle class has emerged in Los Angeles, there is still a formidable class division between the two communities -- illustrated most vividly, perhaps, by the city's garment industry, where Jews account for a significant percentage of ownership and Latinos make up the majority of the work force." [FEINGOLD, D., 10-21-98, p. E1] This is the traditional clothing "sweat shop" milieu, where workers -- many from Mexico who are in America illegally -- have few rights and are freely exploited at very low pay. In Jewish history, even a dominantly oppressive grape grower like Lionel Steinberg (who "at one time was one of the [Coachella] desert's largest [grape] growers, producing 10 percent of the desert's total acreage") is rendered a friend of the exploited farm worker. Steinberg's claim to humaneness was that he was the first grower to sign a table grape contract with the UFW, in 1970. "Immersed in Democratic politics," as "a Jew," notes a local Coachella Valley newspaper, "he contributed time and money to Israeli causes." [HENRY, M., 3-9-99, p. B1]

As Jewish scholar Joel Koktkin notes about traditional Jewish/Hispanic relations: " Unlike Jews and Gentiles, or African Americans, Jews and Latinos share little history or mythology. For the most part, their contacts have been opportunistic. Jews have employed Latinos in garment factories, as maids and gardeners and serviced them as customers in a host of enterprises from Whittier Boulevard to Santee Alley and Pico-Union." [KOTKIN, J., 3-25-01, p. M, p. 1]

Members of the Hispanic community these days have even taken hits as 'anti-Semites." In San Francisco, in a situation paralleling Jewish hegemony in New York City schools over the African-American community, Latina activist Pilar Mejia, principal of Cesar Chavez Elementary School, was transferred from her position after complaints by Jewish teachers and the intervention of the strident American Jewish Congress lobbying organization. Her crime? "One of the most outspoken defenders of immigrant children," noted the San Francisco Examiner in 1999, "[Mejia] apologized today for having openly lamented that 'three white Jewish women' were teaching Spanish-speaking kids." Mejia's gripe rested on the fact that that 65% of the children in her school "spoke little if any English." Frank Duhl, a Jewish ex-husband, came to Mejia's defense against the charge that she was anti-Semitic. "I've known Pilar for 30 years," he said. "We have two sons. She is not anti-Jewish. The superintendent removed her because she was accused of intolerance. This is a woman who has been fighting intolerance and injustice all her life." [GUTHRIE, J., 2-10-99, p. A1]

Growing Jewish-Hispanic balkanization is even reflected in the politics of a street name change. In 1995, in metropolitan Los Angeles, city managers in the San Fernando Valley decided to rename a street in honor of Cesar Chavez. The obscure street to be changed was called Kalisher. Kalisher is a Jewish surname, and soon enough a local Jewish actress, Bonnie Kalisher, came forward with a petition of 500 signatures requesting that the street keep its original name. Kalisher had discovered that the street was named in 1874 after a Jewish immigrant named Wolf Kalisher (no direct relation), a man who, she said, had helped local Native Americans. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 5-28-95, p. B18]

Jewish activism has been sharply expanding recently into forging pragmatic political bonds with the Hispanic community, largely because the Mexican-American community of the southwestern United States has been enormously growing and stands to wield political influence by virtue of their population numbers. Although Jews and Latinos have little in common (for example: enormous gaps in wealth and social status, enormous gaps in religious concerns, and an an enormous gap in support for bilingual education), "Top organizations and leaders met here this week," noted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2001, "at the first national Jewish Latino summit to discuss the development of a common agenda and ways to strengthen the alliance between the two groups ... The Jewish community -- organized, wealthy and politically savvy -- and the Latino community, the fastest-growing minority group in America, need each other to help push their common legislative priorities, leaders say ... A joint declaration of principles discussed at the summit is being circulated among Jewish and Latino groups, according to Diana Siegel Vann, Latin American Affairs director for B'nai B'rith International, which co-sponsored the summit. The declaration calls for fair portrayals of Jews and Latinos in the media, strengthening of public education, support for Israel [emphasis added], increased aid to Latin America and economic empowerment for minority communities ... New America Alliance and B'nai B'rith International have started a Latino Jewish Fund that will help support the growing relationships between the two communities at the national, state and local levels." [SAMBER, S., 4-2001, p. 29, 34]

The Jewish community is already trying to guilt-trip and sensitize the Latino community to its own absurdly remote role [per Spain, and per European Catholicism] in the history of anti-Semitism. "Half of the Latinos in a Jewish-sponsored survey," noted the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "said they were unaware of how Jews were treated during the Spanish Inquisition." [SAMBER, S., 4-2001, p. 34] Here's a lack of concern where propagandizing Jewish organizations, of course, seek remedy. In 2001, the same year as the above bonding, the Latino/Hispanic online magazine La Voz de Aztlan, looking into traditional Jewish self-interest in bonds with minority communties, voiced harsh condemnations of Jewish political exploitation and manipulation of the Los Angeles Mexican-American community. [See Article one, Article two]

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Jewish money talks in many ways in American political life;  some of the committed rich can even take on less overtly Jewish issues  -- virtually alone -- that are dear to them. In 1998 Jewish multi-millionaire Ron Unz, for instance, embarked on what may be a new trend; by "will and wealth," noted the New York Times, he was the founding -- and central -- force in successfully lobbying the public to wipe out bilingual education in California. The head of a voter's initiative that he instigated, its advertising costs totaled $1.2 million, of which he personally contributed $700,000. [BRUNI, p. 1, 30]

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With expanding Hispanic populations in Los Angeles, New York, and Florida (areas heavily populated with Jews), and rising Hispanic political power, Jewish attention in recent years has been shifting towards "coaltion building" also with Hispanics. This is despite the fact that Jews and Hispanics have little in common: Hispanics tend to be ardently Catholic and many are impoverished. Jews are the most affluent ethnic group in America, and dominant in the California garment factories that tend to hire Hispanic workers at low wages. But, as the (Jewish) Forward noted in 2001:

"In the current Los Angeles mayor's race, Jews and Hispanics appear to be backing the same candidate, Antonio Villaraigosa, a former speaker of the state assembly, over his white opponent, former City Attorney James Hahn ... 'I've always chided the pro-Israel leadership for not taking Hispanic leaders to Israel the way they do with blacks," said Linda Chavez, a conservative political thinker who was President Bush's first nominee for seceretary of labor. Such trips have in fact begun. Mr. Villaraigosa, the L. A. mayoral contender, visited Israel in 1999 with other Latino leaders on an ADL- sponsored trip. 'On Israel Independence Day he talked about how that impacted him," said the ADL's Mr. Lehrer." [DONADIO, R., 5-11-01] (Linda Chavez is married to Chris Gersten, former Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition). [BESSER, J., 1-5-01]

On May 31, 2001, during the last Los Angeles mayoral debate, KNX radio reporter Frank Mottek challenged Villaraigosa about his former secessionist ideology. The candidate did not respond directly to the question, however, but shielded himself with platitudes and his strong Jewish connections:

MOTTEK: "It has been reported Mr. Villaraigosa that when you were at UCLA you were active in a Latino rights group which among other things says in its constitution that it is in favor of forming a separate republic in the Southwest United States. Do you hold the beliefs of that organization as your own and do you still support the group and what do you tell kids that see this kind of stuff on the Internet?"

VILLARAIGOSA: "I say that we have to do everything to combat hate and ignorance. I say that we need to do what the [Simon Wiesenthal] Museum of Tolerance has done. I know, because later in June I'm going to be honored by the Museum of Tolerance. I put together over the last six years more than 18 million dollars for this museum. I put money for this museum. That amount of money is unprecedented in the history of this state. I put money together for this museum because I agree with the Rabbis who work here. Rabbi May, Rabbi Cooper. I supported this museum because they have the tools for tolerance program in our schools and in our police department. I'd like to get the person that worked on that Website in one of those programs so that we can teach them the need to come together and not vilify one another. I'm proud of the fact that this is a great country. This is a country of opportunity and this is also a country of free speech. So I honor his right to free speech, I just hope that he works on the tolerance." [MOTTEK, F., 5-31-01]

In March 2002, New York politician David Weprin made the news when he -- ardent activist for Jewish causes (his mother is a Jew from Cuba) -- decided to spread his influence and seek membership in the the New York City Council's Black and Hispanic Caucus. Some of the members of this minority coalition rebuffed him. "The Weprin name is synonymous with Jewish affairs as it is with Queen politics ... Even if the Hollis Democrat [Weprin] has not identified as much with Hispanic causes," editorialized Newsday in support of his admission, "he is emblematic of a city in which many people claim multiple heritage." [NEWSDAY, 3-4-02]

Incredibly, Weprin, Jewish activist reinvented politically as Hispanic, had made the news on behalf of far-right Zionist causes just a few weeks earlier. As the Jewish Forward reported "A freshman New York City councilman is winning some powerful endorsements for his proposal to name a street in his native Queens after slain Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavim 'Gandhi' Ze'evi, who had urged the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The proposal by Democrat David Weprin, who chairs the City Council's powerful finance committeee, has won the endorsement of [Jewish] State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, as well as Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in the Bronx ... The enthusiasm of some mainstream Jewish organizations for the street-naming proposal may be the latest sign of what communal leaders say is a new era in which it is no longer verboten for American Jews to discuss, or in some cases prokmote , Ze'evi's platform of 'transfer.' The term 'transfer' has come to refer to the mass removal of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza to other Arab countries by means that Ze'evi himself was often vague about. Most mainstream Jewish groups, from left to right, historically have rejected the doctrine as immoral." [CATTAN, N., 1-25-02]

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Another version of the exploitation of American urban areas, in this case in the Hispanic community (and the "funnel profits to Israel theme"), is the case of Irving Moskowitz, controversial Miami-based gambling baron in the small metropolitan Los Angeles city of Hawaiian Gardens. Moskowitz has repeatedly made international news for his support of right-wing Jewish groups and their projects in Israel. In 1999, the Hawaiian Garden's city attorney, Julia Sylva, quit her position in outrage at Moskowitz's callous exploitation of the local community. She charged that over $58 million raised in Moskowitz's Hawaiian Gardens operations go to Israel each year "and the city gets zero." [ASSOCIATED PRESS, 3-24-99] She also noted the disturbing conflict of interest of Jewish attorney Beryl Weiner, who was both Moskowitz's lawyer and the attorney for Hawaiian Garden's redevelopment agency. Sylva contended that city development plans would in effect subsidize new Moskowitz casino expansion with $20 million of taxpayer money. [SHUIT, p. B1] Moskowitz actually pays the city $200,000 a month. He owns a third of the town's commercial property. He is so powerful in this Hispanic community (he lives in Florida and Israel), that when he once stopped his monthly payments the city had to lay off all 21 members of its police force. Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, who lives in a nearby city and is critical of Moskowitz's far-right views about Israel, notes the Hawaiian Gardens situation: "It's the kind of company town in which Moskowitz calls all the shots." [TUGEND, T., 7-16-2000]

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Mexico's Ambassador to the European Union, Jaime Zabludovsky. Mexico's Secretary of Foreign Affairs is Jorge G. Castaneda (Gutman), also Jewish. [http://www.aztlan.net/mexzion.htm]

In 2001, the Washington Post noted that "Jorge G. Castenda is Mexico's Foreign Minister and [Andres] Rozental is one of his key troubleshooters. Together, they have played leading roles in engaging the United States and Mexico in their most serious negotiations in decades aimed at reforming their immigration policies ... Casteneda, 48, and Rozental, 56, share the same mother -- a Russian immigrant to the Mexico -- and deep understanding of the United States ... Casteneda, whose father was also foreign minister, is the intellectual author of much of [Mexican president Vicente] Fox's thinking about the world ... Named ambassador-at- large while continuing his consulting business, Rozental is often on the road ... Rozental's dual role has led to questions about whether his work on behalf of the government is benefiting his consulting clients ... In his private office, overlooking the heart of Mexico City, Rozental [said]: 'We are each other's best friend ... I don't think many people know how close we are.'" [SULLIVAN/JORDAN, 8-28-01]

In October 2001, Ernesto Cienfuegas posted the following list in an article about Castenda: "Partial List of High Level Mexican Officials of Jewish Descent":

* SANTIAGO LEVY ALGAZI ( DIRECTOR GENERAL DEL IMSS )
* JORGE GUSTAVO CASTAÑEDA GUTMAN ( SECRETARIO DE RELACIONES EXTERIORES )
*JULIO JOSE FRENK MORA ( SECRETARIO DE SALUD )
*ALEJANDRO GERTZ MANERO ( SECRETARIO DE SEGURIDAD PUBLICA ) *AARON DYCHTER POLTOLAREK ( SUBSECRETARIO DE COMUNICACIONES )
*ANDRES ROZENTHAL ( EX-SUBSECREATRIO DE RELACIONES EXTERIORES)
*JAIME COHEN YAÑEZ ( DIR. GRAL. DE SANIDAD DE LA SECRETARIA DE LA DEFENSA NACIONAL )
* DAVID PENCHYNA GRUB ( JEFE DE LA UNIDAD DE COORDINACION SECTORIAL DE LA SECRETARIA DE DESARROLLO SOCIAL )
*ISAAC ROJKIND ORLEANSKY ( DIR. GRAL. DE PLANEACION DE LA SECRETARIA DE DESARROLLO SOCIAL )
*GERARDO GUIDI KAWAS ( DIR. GRAL. DE ADMINISTRACION DE LA SECRETARIA DE MEDIO AMBIENTE )
*EIKAR MEYER MURGUIA ( JEFE DE LA UNIDAD INFORMATICA Y TELECOMUNICACIONES DE LA SECRETARIA DE ENERGIA )
*ANDRES ROSENZWEIGH PICHARDO ( DIR. GRAL. DE ESTUDIOS DEL SECTOR AGROPECUARIO DE LA SECRETARIA DE AGRICULTURA Y GANADERIA )
*MARIO ROZENSTEIN SZRAIBER ( PRESIDENTE DE LA COMISION NACIONAL DE AVALUOS NACIONALES )
*ALEJANDRO MUSI LETAYF ( DIR. GRAL. DE ADMINISTRACION DE PERSONAL DE LA SECRETARIA DEL TRABAJO )
*GILBERTO JOSE HERSHBERGER REYES ( DIR. GRAL. DE ASUNTOS JURIDICOS DE LA SECRETARIA DE LA REFORMA AGRARIA )
*WALTER BELLER TABOADA ( DIR. GRAL. DE PREVENCION DEL DELITO Y SERVICIOS A LA COMUNIDAD DE LA PROCURADURIA GENERAL DE LA REPUBLICA )
*MOISÉS KOLTENIUK TOYBER ( DIRECTOR GENERAL DE MINERIA ) *SAMUEL LEVY ( FUNCIONARIO DEL INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ECOLOGIA )
* JOSÉ WOLDENBERG KARAKOWSKI (PRESIDENTE DEL INSTITUTO FEDERAL ELECTORAL )
*JACQUELINE PESCHARD ( CONSEJERA DEL I.F.E. )
*JACQUES ROGOZYNSKY ( DIRECTOR DE BANOBRAS )
*EDDY VARON LEVY ( DIPUTADO FEDERAL DEL PRI )
*RENE DRUCKER COLIN ( ASESOR DE CUAUHTEMOC CARDENAS ) *ADOLFO GILLY ( ASESOR DE CUAUHTEMOC CARDENAS )
*JENNY SALTIEL COHEN ( SECRETARIA DE TRANSPORTES Y VIALIDAD DEL D.F. )
*ROBERTO EIBENSCHUTZ HARTMAN ( SECRETARIO DE DESARROLLO URBANO Y VIVIENDA DEL D.F. )
*CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM PARDO ( SECRETARIA DE MEDIO AMBIENTE DEL D.F. )
* LUIS WINTERGERTZ ( DIR. GRAL. DE PROTECCION CIVIL DEL D.F. ) *LEÓN ALAZRAKY GAYCINSKY ( CONTRALOR INTERNO DEL D.F. ) *ISAAC CHERTORIVSKY ( PRESIDENTE DEL PATRONATO DE BOMBEROS DEL D.F. )
*TEODORO MAUS REISBAUM ( CONSUL EN ATLANTA )
*JUAN JOSE BREMER DE MARTINO ( EMBAJADOR EN ESPAÑA )
*JAIME ENRIQUE ZABLUDOWSKY KUPER ( EMBAJADOR EN LA UNION EUROPEA )
*CARLOS SALOMÓN CAMARA ( DIERCTOR DE LA LOTERIA NACIONAL ) *CARLOS IMAZ GISPERT ( LIDER DEL PRD EN EL D.F. )
*ERNESTO NEMER ( SECRETARIO DE ADMINISTRACIÓN DEL EDOMEX.) *FRITZ GLOCKNER ( PUBLICISTA DEL P.R.D. )
*JOSÉ LEVY GARCÍA ( SECRETARIO DE FINANZAS DE JALISCO )
*OSCAR GERBER ( FUNCIONARIO DEL GOBIERNO DE JALISCO ) *ARACELY PITMAN ORTIZ ( CONTRALORA DE LA ASAMBLEA LEGISLATIVA DEL DISTRITO FEDERAL )
*ESTHER KOLTENIUK TOYBER DE CESARMAN ( DIRIGENTE DEL PRI-DF) *GASTÓN LUKEN GARZA ( CONSEJERO CIUDADANO DEL I.F.E. )
*SAMI DAVID DAVID ( EXCANDIDATO DEL PRI AL GOBIERNO DE CHIAPAS )
*SARA H. WOLDENBERG KARAKOWSKY ( GERENTE DE DESARROLLO DE RECURSOS HUMANOS DE LA COMPAÑÍA DE LUZ Y FUERZA DEL CENTRO ) *HAROLD GABRIEL APPELT ( LIDER DEL PRI EN LEON, GUANAJUATO ) *JULIA LIRA DE GABRIEL ( DIPUTADA LOCAL PRI-GUANAJUATO )
*SIMÓN LACK ALEXANDER ( DIRECTOR DE PLANEACION DE LA TESORERIA DEL SENADO DE LA REPUBLICA )
*TERESA BECKMAN ( SECRETARIA PARTICULAR DEL EXSENADOR DEL PRD JORGE CALDERON SALAZAR )
*ARTURO OROPEZA BARUCH ( COORDINADOR DE LA COMISION AMBIENTAL METROPOLITANA DEL ESTADO DE MEXICO )
*JORGE SILVERSTEIN TENENBAUM ( SUBSECRETARIO DE COMUNICACIONES Y TRANSPORTES ) [CIENFUEGAS, E., OCT. 2001]

In 2001, a Jewish ethnic newspaper featured an article about Mexico's President, Vicente Fox, and his attendance at the American Jewish Committee's annual dinner: "When Barry Jacobs, a Foreign Service officer for 28 years and now director of strategic studies for the American Jewish Committee, learned that Mexican President Vicente Fox was to speak at the group's annual dinner, he was more than surprised. 'It's mind-blowing,' said Jacobs, who serves as AJCommitee's liaison to the Mexican-Jewish community. "It was an incredible honor that he flew up for this event. Fox was eager to participate in the May 3 dinner, according to AJCommittee officials ... Fox's well-received speech -- indeed, his mere presence at the event -- reflects the growing importance that Mexico's 40,000 Jews have obtained in their country, says observers. When AJCommittee visited Mexico in October and invited Fox, then the president-elect, to speak a their dinner, he accepted immediately ... Jacobs said several members of Fox's Cabinet have some Jewish background, even though Jews make up less than half of 1 percent of Mexico's population. 'The importance of the Jewish community in Mexico is that they are a small community doing well economically,' Jacobs said." [BERGER, M., 5-11-01]

In fact, the Finance Chairman for the Vicente Fox presidential campaign was also Jewish, Lino Korrodi. [http://www.aztlan.net/foxfunds.htm

See also Nation of Aztlan web site: http://www.aztlan.org

Jewish World: Tribal Tribulations. High-profile Peruvian Jews are caught up in a slew of high-profile corruption cases. And that’s not even including the rumors about the Jewish wife of the president
Jerusalem Report, Decemer 2, 2002
"A man's house may be his castle, but for Alex Wolfenson, his home’s been his prison for the past five months ... Alex Wolfenson and his older brother, Moisés, are under house arrest, charged with stealing state money, and facing up to eight years in prison. They are not the only members of Peru’s small, yet powerful, Jewish colonia (community) of some 3,000 who have been accused of being involved in the web of corruption weaved by ex-president Alberto Fujimori and his right-hand man Vladimiro Montesinos, who is now himself imprisoned, awaiting trial on some 100 charges, ranging from bribery to human rights abuses. Former TV station owners Samuel and Mendel Winter are in prison awaiting trial, and Efrain Goldenberg, Peru’s ex-finance minister, is accused of various crimes, including mismanagement of some $140 million in state funds, particularly relating to the then-government’s spending on election ads. He fled to the United States when the scandal began to unfold and remains there to this day. Of course, in a country where almost every day brings a new scandal to light, Jews aren’t involved in all of them. Unless you count the president’s Jewish wife, Eliane Karp, no Jews were involved in President Alejandro Toledo’s paternity battle over the 14-year-old girl he now admits to fathering with another woman; nor, for example, were any involved in the party thrown by a government agency charged with feeding the poor ... If the Wolfenson, Winter and Goldenberg cases weren’t bad enough, further epic scandals have pushed what would ordinarily be communal matters into the national spotlight. The first involves the loss of some $50 million by Jewish individuals and communal organizations who had invested in the holding company of Banco Nuevo Mundo (BNM), a Jewish-run bank that the Peruvian government is trying to liquidate ... Sitting in a suite at his five-star hotel, Los Delfines, Jacques Levy, the 48-year-old former head of BNM, says his problems began when government institutions started to withdraw their deposits, draining BNM’s financial reserves. 'It was financial terrorism,' says Levy, although no one seems prepared to suggest what the government’s motive might have been. When, in December, 2000, the Peruvian banking authority intervened, BNM had a loan portfolio of $495 million and deposits of just $47 million. The directors contend that almost all the depositors in BNM have been given their money back. The problems, particularly with the Jewish community, arise from a Panama-based holding company whose main investment was BNM. The directors of BNM sold millions of dollars of promissory notes to Jews and Jewish groups in the holding company. When the superintendency closed the bank, the notes became worthless, turning millionaires into paupers overnight. Even a Jewish retirement home lost money. The charges leveled at Levy and his fellow directors by Peru’s Jewish community are: They duped investors to buy into the holding company, when they thought they were buying BNM; they invested the holding company’s money in businesses in which the directors had a beneficial interest; they continued to solicit deposits right up to the day before they knew the superintendency was going to intervene; they refused to repay the money they lost; and they brought shame upon the community in the eyes of non-Jewish Peruvians when the scandal hit the national press ... One director says he is so embittered that he’s delighted his son is going out with a non-Jewish girl ... The most recent involved a secretly taped conversation between Moisés Wolfenson and Salomón Lerner, former president of Peru’s sprawling development agency, Cofide, coordinator of the Peruvian branch of the Jewish Human Rights Association and close friend of President Toledo. According to Peru’s Conservative Rabbi Guillermo Bronstein, the tape has 'reopened old wounds.' Lerner is allegedly heard telling the Wolfensons to change the editorial line of their tabloid newspapers to being pro-Toledo or they’d find themselves in the same position as the imprisoned Winters. (Samuel Winter is Moisés’s father-in-law.) "You can’t fight power," Lerner is allegedly heard saying. Two versions exist as to why the meeting took place. The first has it that Isaac Galsky, Alex Wolfenson’s father-in-law and Peru’s richest Jew (estimated to be worth $200 million), had asked his business partner, Lerner, to arrange the meeting because he didn’t want to see his extended family in trouble. The other allegation is that Toledo asked his friend Lerner to put pressure on the Wolfensons, who had supported Fujimori since 1995. The Wolfensons accuse Lerner of trying to blackmail them. Lerner denies the charges, but has had to resign as president of Cofide, because of the scandal ... The other epic scandal which has brought the Jewish community into the limelight involves Montesinos, former president Fujimori’s spy chief and right-hand man from 1990 to 2000. At the beginning of his third term, the increasingly autocratic Fujimori was suspected of buying off opposition politicians and media. But there was no proof. Until on September 14, 2000, a video was broadcast on a Lima cable news station showing Montesinos handing over $15,000 in cash to an opposition congressman. This first 'vladivideo' was political dynamite. And by the time the dust settled, Fujimori’s government had fallen; the ex-president had fled to Japan; Montesinos had been extradited back to Peru from Venezuela; and people close to Fujimori and Montesinos -- including the Jewish ones -- were in trouble. One of these was Israeli arms dealer Zvi Sudit who, through his company Hightech Technology, has reportedly admitted paying millions of dollars in illicit commissions to Augustin Mantilla, a former interior minister. Sudit has been supplying arms to Peru since 1980. He was also close to Montesinos; according to one report, Montesinos entrusted Sudit with the $15 million payoff the spy chief received from Fujimori, before fleeing to Panama and on to Venezuela. Sudit, along with his Jewish partners, Israeli Ilan Weil, Peruvian Rony Lerner (no relation to Salomon) and Canadian/Peruvian James Stone (also a close friend of Montesinos), are helping prosecutors with their investigations. The star witness in the Montesinos case is Matilde Pinchi Pinchi, the former spy chief’s personal aide who is cooperating with the investigation in exchange for immunity. Among the many unfortunates she fingered are the Wolfensons who, she says, received $14,000 a week for over a year from the former spymaster in exchange for supporting Fujimori in their newspapers ... The allegation leveled at Samuel and Mendel Winter created even more of a storm, not only because they are in prison awaiting trial for stealing state funds, via the bribes they allegedly received, but because it involved a very public spat between them and Israeli-born media tycoon Baruch Ivcher. The Winters were arrested in February last year, just days after their mother died. They were accused of accepting $5 million from Montesinos to help them buy a majority stake in Frecuencia Latina, the TV channel owned by Ivcher. The Winters already owned 46 percent of the station and were, at one time, friends of Ivcher’s. In exchange, the Winters -- who are said to have visited Montesinos almost daily in the run-up to the 2000 elections -- allegedly signed a contract agreeing to run only Fujimori ads during the campaign ... . The government went on to accuse Ivcher of selling arms to Ecuador during Peru’s war with its northern neighbor. (He says there were plans to torture him and get him to admit his treason on camera.) He fled, knowing that if found guilty, he would have faced death by firing squad. Ivcher was stripped of his citizenship -- with the collusion of the Winters, who had hoped to gain control of the station ... Peru has already updated its internment laws to keep the Winters in prison for up to three years without trial. And there’s always the possibility further charges could be leveled against them, sending them back to jail when they’re released ... Inevitably, much of the Peruvian press has had a field day with these scandals, referring to 'the Jewish bank,' 'Jewish arms dealers.' Even Adam Pollack, 'First Friend' of the president, is identified as 'Jewish-born.'At least according to one report, he can’t return to Israel, where he lived for 27 years, because he faces embezzlement charges. On the other hand, now that he’s the country’s second vice president, the incorruptible David Waisman’s Jewishness is rarely mentioned. Nor that of Daniel Schydlowsky, current president of Cofide and widely touted as the next economy minister. Still, there’s always the first lady. Unproven allegation of financial impropriety have been leveled at Elaine Karp, who, despite all her work with Peru’s indigenous and poor, has an even lower approval rating than her husband. 'She’s made so many enemies,' says Rabbi Bronstein, 'that whatever government gets in next will probably investigate her." But at least by then, Peru’s other accused Jews will either be free, or quietly serving time.'

NATIVE AMERICANS

Who Gets the Money? Needy Native Americans, you'd think. But Indian casinos are making millions for their investors and providing little to the poor,
Time, December 8, 2002
"So how, exactly, is Hollow Horn prospering from the $12.7 billion Indian gaming industry? Like most Native Americans, not at all. Last year the Oglala's Prairie Wind Casino, housed in a temporary, white, circus-tent-like structure smaller than a basketball court, turned a profit of $2.4 million on total revenue of $9.5 million. Most of the money went to fund general programs, such as services for the elderly and young people, as well as education and economic development. But even if there had been profit sharing instead, the payout would have worked out to a daily stipend of just 16¢ for each of the 41,000 tribe members. That's not to say that members of a few small tribes near big cities aren't doing very well from gaming. In Minnesota, 300 members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux community reportedly take home more than $1 million a year. But bands like that are the exception. Only 25% of gaming tribes distribute cash to their members, usually no more than a few thousand dollars each. So if the overwhelming majority of Native Americans like Hollow Horn aren't benefiting from the Indian casino boom, who is? In many cases, the big winners are non-Indian investors, some of whom pocket more than 40% of an Indian casino's profits. Actually, calling these people investors understates their role. They often serve as master strategists who draw up the plans and then underwrite the total cost of bringing a casino online: ferreting out an amenable tribe, paying a signing bonus, picking up tribal expenses and paying the salaries of the tribe's officials, all of this before a spade of dirt is turned. If an Indian band isn't federally recognized as a tribe and is thus ineligible for a gaming venture, these full-service backers will bankroll genealogists to construct a family tree, then hire lawyers and lobbyists in Washington to help change the band's status. And if a reservation isn't prime real estate for a casino, the investors sometimes purchase a more suitable patch and instruct their lawyers and lobbyists to persuade the government to designate the land as a trust, as reservation property is called ... Say what you will about Lyle Berman—and people have called him a lot of things: a pit bull, an intimidator, a fearsome competitor—but no one has ever accused him of modesty. Of his casino-development company, Lakes Entertainment Inc., Berman once told reporters, 'We're the most successful company in Indian gaming' ... By his account, as of September 2001, he
was worth almost $69 million."

October 30, 2001 Casino case raises issues of money, politics Contributions coincide with favorable decisions,
By Sean P. Murphy, Citizens Alliance (from Globe), October 30, 2001
"Arthur Goldberg, owner of Caesars, Bally's, and other casinos in Atlantic City, knew a threat when he saw one: When an Indian tribe, the St. Regis Mohawks, announced plans last year to build a casino in Monticello - an hour closer to New York City than his casinos - Goldberg knew his business would suffer. But Goldberg, a fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, had friends in high places. Pretty soon he was arranging meetings with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Then came a cascade of ''soft money'' contributions to the Democrats. Over a five-month period following the April 2000 announcement of the Mohawk casino deal, Clinton's Bureau of Indian Affairs made several unusual decisions helpful to Goldberg. First, the bureau withdrew the federal government's longstanding support for the group of Mohawks who planned the casino in Monticello; instead, the bureau backed a group of tribal leaders allied with Goldberg; and finally, the bureau intervened to help prevent the enforcement of a Mohawk tribal court's $1.8 billion judgment against Goldberg for interfering in tribal affairs. On the very day - Oct. 6, 2000 - that the Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a letter declaring that the tribal court had no authority, Goldberg's company contributed $10,000 to the Democratic National Committee. It was the second time a Goldberg contribution was registered on the day of a decision favorable to him ... ''Arthur Goldberg reached right into the government to protect his Atlantic City casinos by controlling gaming in New York state,'' said Robert Berman, a businessman who headed the group planning the Mohawk casino at the Monticello Raceway."

Kerzner's son lobbying for casino,
Las Vegas Sun, January 23, 2002
"Howard Kerzner is keeping his hopes alive to build a major resort casino in Hawaii. Kerzner, president of Sun International Hotels Ltd., has spent the past two weeks lobbying lawmakers in Hawaii for an exclusive gaming license ... Howard Kerzner is the son of Sol Kerzner, the chairman and chief executive of Sun International. Sol Kerzner is best known in Las Vegas for his aborted bid to acquire the Desert Inn on the Las Vegas Strip from then-owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Steve Wynn acquired the D.I. shortly after Kerzner backed out of the $275 million deal in March 2000. In gaming circles, Sol Kerzner is also well known for a lucrative deal in which a partnership he headed developed and for a time managed the giant Mohegan Sun Indian casino in Connecticut. The Boston Globe reported the partnership, Trading Cove Associates, will have received an estimated $1 billion from the tribe that owns the casino over the life of the partnership -- apparently hundreds of millions of dollars more than allowed by federal law. Critics charge that amount is exploitative and well above the 30 percent limit on profits non-Indians are allowed to earn from Indian casinos. Trading Cove and Mohegan officials have defended their arrangement as appropriate, though that deal has prompted Congress to consider tightening the law to ensure tribes are not exploited by non-Indian developers."

Tribal Gamble. The Lure and Peril of Indian Gambling,
Boston Globe, August 26, 2001
One of a series of Globe articles on this subject:
"Focusing on the huge profits some investors now take from Indian-owned casinos, an angry Senator John McCain yesterday grilled two government officials on the deal-making behind the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut and on the Clinton administration's last-minute recognition of the Nipmuc tribe of Central Massachusetts. In his questioning, McCain made clear his concern that non-Indian investors at the Mohegan Sun casino dodged federal law to get hundreds of millions of dollars in extra profits that rightfully belonged to the tribe. "Do you find that disturbing? Outrageous, even?" McCain asked Montie Deer, the chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, a panel established to enforce a strict limit on casino profits for non-Indian investors ... McCain pinpointed the Mohegan tribe's relationship with a group of investors known as Trading Cove Associates, a syndicate headed by international gambling mogul Sol Kerzner, creator of Sun City in South Africa. In 1988, Congress recognized that some tribes were so poor that they might agree to give as much as 90 percent of any profits to their non-Indian investors. Congress set 30 percent as the maximum profit margin for those investors, though in exceptional circumstances the tribes could grant up to 40 percent. The Indian Gaming Commission was charged with enforcing that limit by approving contracts between tribes and investors who would also act as casino general managers. The Mohegan tribe made its deal with Trading Cove Associates, which originally proposed to develop both a casino and an on-site hotel in exchange for the development rights. But before submitting the proposal to the National Indian Gaming Commission, Trading Cove withdrew the hotel component. The commission approved maximum compensation for Trading Cove in 1995 anyway -- an arrangement worth close to $500 million, to be paid over seven years. After the casino opened, Trading Cove and the tribal leadership agreed on a 'buyout' whereby the tribe would take over direct management of the casino. Nevertheless, the tribe promised to pay Trading Cove in full, as if Trading Cove had continued as general manager. But with Trading Cove no longer managing the casino, the National Indian Gaming Commission lost authority to enforce restrictions on Trading Cove's share of profits. That was the ruling of the commission's general counsel in 1998. As a result, Trading Cove could then negotiate for profits above the maximum set by Congress. And it did so by selling the hotel rights back to the tribe for as much as $450 million, according to interviews and documents reviewed by the Globe. Trading Cove, in all, will receive an estimated $1 billion from the tribe."

Casino operator offers to buy, donate massacre site,
by Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News (at mytwobeadsworth.com),
September 3, 2002
"The wandering spirits of 163 Arapaho and Cheyenne slaughtered and mutilated at Sand Creek on the rolling prairie of southeastern Colorado in 1864 have another chance at resting in peace. There's a Dec. 2 closing date for rancher William Dawson to sell the 1,456 acres at the heart of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, where 700 Colorado militia soldiers killed and mutilated Cheyenne and Arapaho, mostly women, children and the elderly. 'It will be a big win for everyone,' said Victoria Livingston, Dawson's real estate agent. 'It has been sacred ground for the Indians since the massacre. It should end up with the Indians.' Election year tribal politics have delayed the closing three times in 2002. Jim Druck, a Minnesota-based casino operator, will pay $1.5 million for the land. He runs a casino for the Cheyenne and Arapaho in Oklahoma and will donate the property to the tribes ... Druck, owner of the Minnesota-based Southwest Entertainment Inc., heard the story and offered to pay Dawson's price in late 2001. That same year, he had taken his family to the Nazi death camp at Dachu, where his father, an Army captain, had helped evacuate the starving survivors at the end of World War II. The Drucks are Jewish, but none of their close relatives died in the concentration camps, he said ... Druck, who calls himself a 'recovering attorney' who did well in real estate, also did pro bono work for Native Americans in Minnesota until he closed his law practice in 1976. Years later, some of his Indian clients approached him to run a casino. Druck went to work for the Arapaho and Cheyenne in Oklahoma in 1992 on the first Indian bingo casino approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Druck also owns the Gold Rush Casino in Cripple Creek."

At $500 an Hour, Lobbyist's Influence Rises with G.O.P.,
New York Times (posted at gtlaw.com), April 3, 2002
"In the last six months of 2001, the Coushatta Indians, a tribe with 800 members and a large casino in southwestern Louisiana, paid $1.76 million to the law firm of Jack Abramoff [law firm: Greenberg Tausig], a Republican lobbyist here. Last month, the Bush administration handed the tribe a big victory by blocking construction of a casino by a rival tribe that would have drained much of the Coushatta's business. William Worfel, vice chairman of the Coushattas, views the administration's decision as a direct benefit of the eye-popping lobbying his tribe paid Mr. Abramoff, more money than many giant corporations like AOL, Time-Warner and American Airlines paid lobbyists in the same period ... Mr. Abramoff, 43, has used his close ties to Republican Tom DeLay of Texas, the Republican whip, and other conservatives in the Hose to become one of the most influential -- and, at $500 an hour, best compensated -- lobbyists in Washington ... Unlike many lobbyists who take almost any client who is willing to pay their fee, Mr. Abramoff says he represents only those who stand for conservative principles. They include three Indian tribes [actually five noted in this article: the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Coushetta Tribe of Lousiana, the Sagninaw Chippewa Tribe, the Hopi Tribe, and the Missississippi Choctaw] with big casinos and, until recently, the Northern Mariana Islands ... [Abramoff] is an Orthodox Jew whos ays that even more than politics, his religion is a cnetral element of his life ... The Mississippi Choctaw paid Greenberg Traurig more than $1 million in the last half of 2001 ... The other big issue for Mr. Abramoff in 1995 that promoted his career was a bill pased by the Senate that would have stripped the Norhern Mariana Islands of their exemption from the United States minimum wage and immigration laws ... Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who sponsored the legislation in the House, is still furious about Mr. Abramoff's action. In a recent interview, Mr. Miller said, '[Abramoff] spent a lot of time, effort and money to protect a system that was a growth industry for sex shops, prostitution, abuse of women, slavery, illegal immigration, worker exploitation and narcotics, and he did it all in the name of freedom.'"

One little, two little, three little Indian casinos,
by Kenny Pearlman, Game Master Online, October 1, 2002
"Southern California is inundated with Indian casinos. When the idea of building casinos on Indian reservations came up in the California legislature it would have been soundly defeated except for the fact that the Indian tribes contributed millions of dollars to the Governor's race, as well as to the various Senate races in the state. The Indian's land was sovereign and so couldn't be regulated by any state agency ... The Indians promised there woud be no hanky-panky, that they would run their casinos just like the Nevada casinos; in fact, since most of their start-up money was coming from the Nevada casinos [Who owns these?] anyway, they would their 'investors' check their operations. That's like sending the fox to the chicken shed to count the chickens. When it came time to do any checking, the Indians had their Jewish lawyers claim soverignty and it was a done deal. The books could be cooked and no one was allowed in the k itchen to even see what they hell they were putting in the food."

Tribal Gamble, The Lure and Peril of Indian Gambling,
A Big Roll at Mohegan Sun,
Boston Globe, December 10, 2000
First of four parts,
"It rises out of the rolling hills with the promise of grandeur, its massive glass towers designed to loom 440 feet over the reflected countryside, an instant landmark, a beacon to a palace built for gamblers. At a cost of $1.1 billion, this expansion of the Mohegan Sun Casino is one of the country's largest private construction projects, a steel testament to the extravagant profits in the rapidly expanding Indian gaming industry. But it also stands as a monument to a classic American deal, a latter-day version of Indian treasure being carried off by non-Indians, despite a federal law designed to keep Indian gaming money firmly in tribal hands ... In all, the investor group headed by Sol Kerzner, developer of the Sun City Casino in South Africa, will take at least $800 million out of the Mohegan Sun Casino. The Mohegans were almost penniless and landless and relying on lawyers apparently financed by the Kerzner group when they struck the deal that cost them so dearly. Since then, the terms of the deal have largely been kept quiet by the Mohegans and the investors. At least two of the three members of the regulatory agency responsible for reviewing the finances of Indian casinos only learned of the lucrative hotel component when contacted by the Globe. The heavy share of profits being carted off by non-Indian businesses like Kerzner's is only one failure of the federal Indian gaming system. Born partly of a desire to apply the '80s faith in free enterprise to the nation's poorest ethnic group, the story of Indian gaming is now one of congressional intentions gone awry. The gaming act has failed to broadly improve the living conditions of most Indians. A Globe analysis revealed that just 2 percent of the country's Native Americans earn 50 percent of the country's $10 billion in Indian gaming revenues, and two-thirds of Indians get nothing at all ... The explosion in Indian gaming casinos, already allegedly infiltrated in some places by underworld figures, is occurring with little government oversight. The commission responsible for policing more than 241 Indian gaming operations has a budget of only $8 million and a staff of 70. By contrast, the commission supervising the 12 Atlantic City casinos spends $58 million and employs a comparative army of 800 regulators While hundreds of millions of Indian dollars are being spent on lobbying and campaign contributions in states where gaming is prime - including more than $100 million in California alone - tribes have witnessed per capita government spending on Indian health, education, and housing drop in real dollars, while human service spending for all Americans has soared. ... Kerzner and two other businessmen spent freely for lawyers and other professionals to negotiate the tribe through a labyrinth of federal and state regulations, Mohegan leaders say. ... In 1998, Trading Cove cashed out. Their take: a flat five percent of all money spent at Mohegan Sun, not just profits, for every year until 2015, without doing any further work. Based on the tribe's estimate, it's worth $675 million to Kernzer and his two partners. The remaining years of the management contract - the subject of all the commission's wrangling - was worth $245 million, according to federal disclosures by the tribe. The largely unnoticed hotel portion of the deal was worth $430 million. Combined with the $145 million already paid out on the management contract, the Kerzner group will leave the deal with more than $800 million ... Leonard Wolman, one of Kerzner's partners, said ''All the agreements were properly filed.' Wolman, a South African native who has become one of Connecticut's leading developers, said he and his Trading Cove partners were ''fairly compensated'' for the ''incredible risk'' they took in the deal."

Genting MD lending US $80mil to tribe to build Niagara Falls casino,
The Star, November 15, 2002
"GENTING Bhd managing director Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay will lend US$80mil to the Seneca Nation of Indians to build a casino at Niagara Falls, according to a report in The Buffalo News. The five-year loan from Lim’s family investment company, carrying an interest rate of 29% per annum, would provide the fuel for the plan to turn the New York side of Niagara Falls into a gambling haven, said the report dated Nov 12. Several other Indian tribes had approached Lim seeking financing for casino projects around the United States but Steven G. Horowitz, a New York attorney representing Lim, said his client had turned them down because they did not have what the Senecas have – a Niagara Falls address ... The report said that while most US bank real estate development loans were going for about 5%, the interest rate Lim would get from the Senecas was more than two-and-a-half times the rate paid on junk bonds."

Corruption of Indian casinos no surprise,
by Bill Steigerwald,
Jewish World Review, Dec. 13, 2002
"Gee, here's a real shocker. It turns out a government program to help American-Indian tribes become more self-sufficient by allowing them to run casino gambling operations on their reservations is a failure, a fraud, a joke, a scandal. Imagine that! In theory, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 was supposed to raise Indians up from poverty, wean them off government handouts and teach them how to run their own businesses. In fact, what we created, says Time's special report, 'Wheel of Misfortune,' is a craps table of chaos, unfairness, greed and abuse. Very few Indians - there are 1.8 million of them, 85 percent still living on or near reservations - have benefited from the $12.7 billion-a-year Indian casino industry on tribal lands, says Time. Most of that gambling revenue goes to a small number of now very rich tribes and to the non-Indian big-bucks investors who bankrolled or manage their casinos. The country's 337 Indian tribes are, as a group, still a socio-economic basket case, thanks in large part to 150 years of being owned and operated by the Great White Fathers in Washington, D.C. Half of reservation Indians today are unemployed, and a third live beneath the official poverty level ... But the folks who put out Forbes - America's best, most gleeful and most consistent booster of free-market capitalism, would only have yawned and said, 'So what else is news?' For 85 years, Forbes has made its living reporting and studying the bad things government does when it sticks its politicized nose into the people's business. Its special anniversary issue is, as usual, generously crammed with smart, well-written, readable and completely biased articles that, as its editor, William Baldwin, says, 'celebrate the success of capitalism in spreading prosperity by spreading innovation.' Forbes knows the obvious and never tires of repeating it: Capitalism and economic freedom improve lives. As proof, it profiles 85 innovations created by inventors and entrepreneurs of all levels of savviness and craziness - from sneakers, frozen food and wallboard to FM radio, cell phones, Pampers, three-point seatbelts and Viagra - that we either take for granted or can't live without."

Ex-FSIN chief praises Hitler in speech
The StarPhoenix, December 14, 2002
[Note: the StarPhoenix is owned by Jewish/Zionist activist media mogul Izzy Asper. This article is also highlighted here, in his paper, the Leader-Post, in Regina, Saskatchewan, which Asper also owns]
"A respected Saskatchewan Indian leader said Friday Hitler did the right thing when he 'fried' six million Jews during the Second World War. In comments one local Jewish leader described as unfortunate, David Ahenakew, a senator with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), a former chief of the organization and a former chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), said in an interview Friday the Nazi leader was trying to clean up the world during the war. 'The Jews damn near owned all of Germany prior to the war,' Ahenakew said. 'That's how Hitler came in. He was going to make damn sure that the Jews didn't take over Germany or Europe. That's why he fried six million of those guys, you know. Jews would have owned the goddamned world. And look what they're doing. They're killing people in Arab countries' ... When asked how he could justify the Holocaust, Ahenakew said: 'How do you get rid of a disease like that, that's going to take over, that's going to dominate?" Ahenakew said when he served in Egypt in 1964. he saw Jews kill people. When asked for details, he said mines planted by the Israeli army killed civilians. 'All I know is what the Germans told me. Of course, I believe them. I saw the Jews kill people in Egypt when I was there. The Palestinians, Arabs. I saw them (Israel) f---ing dominate everything ... I don't support Hitler. But he cleaned up a hell of a lot of things, didn't he? You would be owned by the Jews right now the world over. Look, a small, little country (Israel) like that and everyone supports them. Who the hell owns many of the banks in the states, many of the corporations? Look at here in Canada. Izzy Asper (chair of CanWest Global, the owner of The StarPhoenix). He controls the media. What the hell does that tell you? That's power. That's f---ing power.' Ahenakew, who was FSIN chief from 1968-78 and AFN chief from 1982-85, grew impatient when told non-Jews own media companies, as well. 'The hell with the Jews. I can't stand them. And that's it. I don't want to talk about them.'"

JAPANESE-AMERICANS

Another such Jewish entrepreneur, in another ethnic community, was Paul Ziffren. "When Ziffren first came to L.A. during World War II," notes Dennis McDougal, "he demonstrated just how well [Jewish politician Jacob] Arvey had taught him the lessons of political exploitation, by organizing a consortium of investors who bought property vacated by Japanese- Americans during their wartime internment. Ziffren worked closely with attorney David Bazelon, yet another Arvey protégé, who had been appointed by [President] Truman to oversee 'alien' land sales. Bazelon did such a good job that President Truman rewarded him with a federal judgeship. Ziffren did such a good job that dozens of shady Chicago investors, including partner Alex Louis Greenberg, earned tidy profits from his real estate consortium." [MCDOUGAL, p. 141]


CHINESE-AMERICANS

Flushing candidate’s kin criticizes Jews, Asians,
By Alexander Dworkowitz, November 14, 2002
"Caroline Meng comments about Asian and Jewish political power in Queens posted on a Web site by the daughter of a Flushing candidate for the state Assembly has caused a stir among elected officials in the borough. Caroline Meng, 22, worked for her father, Jimmy Meng, in his bid to become Flushing’s new assemblyman and wrote about the campaign on the Web site www.wilmotgirls.com that she and friends from her alma mater, the University of Michigan, maintain. Jimmy Meng, running on the Independent and Conservative lines, finished second to Democrat Barry Grodenchik in the Nov. 5 general election. After Jimmy Meng narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Grodenchik in September, Caroline Meng, who was paid as part of her father’s campaign staff, posted her reaction to the results on Sept. 11. She criticized the support Grodenchik, a longtime adviser to former Borough President Claire Shulman and an aide to Borough President Helen Marshall, received from Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who is Taiwanese by birth. 'Another person who is supporting this Jew is this City Councilman John Liu,' Caroline Meng wrote. 'He’s an idiot who doesn’t realize that he’s being used by the Jews. So anyways, he calls all these Taiwanese voters telling them not to vote for my dad b/c he is from China, rather they should vote for the Jew.' Meng is the former head of the Flushing Chinese Business Association and Grodenchik, the only white candidate in the election, is Jewish. Four other Asian candidates seeking the seat were defeated earlier this month. 'So my question is, ‘Are the Taiwanese so proud that they would rather vote for a Jew than a person of their own race? Or does being from China make them a completely different race ... as different as the Jews?’' she asked on her Web site. 'It’s really sad how Asians can’t stick together. This is why we do not have any Asians holding prominent public office. The Jews stick together and that’s why they control everything.'' ... Caroline Meng’s remarks, which were removed from the Web site after the TimesLedger began its inquiry this week, revolve around one of the most closely watched assembly campaigns in the state ... 'All they have to do is turn away eight Chinese voters from each site, and boom! The Jew wins. That’s why I am so mad.' Caroline Meng told the TimesLedger that she stood by her comments. 'I didn’t lie or anything,' she said. 'I just told the truth about the county.'' Jimmy Meng, who was not aware of his daughter’s comments on her Web site, said her views did not reflect his own. 'I don’t agree with my daughter,' he said after having her commentary read to him. 'Jewish people help me a lot,’ he noted, referring to Jewish campaign contributors. He added: 'My lawyer’s Jewish.'”

JEWISH TRIBAL REVIEW