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September 17, 2004/Tishri 2 5765, Vol. 57, No. 3
Rift at World Jewish Congress goes public
URIEL HEILMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - After a decade of unprecedented successes promoting the interests of Jews around the world, the World Jewish Congress now is at risk of being torn apart by the very people behind those accomplishments.
In an internal squabble that has turned ugly and gone public, the president and chairman of the organization's board are pitted against the congress' senior and executive vice presidents, and charges of corruption and financial irregularities by one side are being met with accusations of blackmail and coercion by the other.
The spat could spell trouble for the future of the 68-year-old congress at a time of major overhaul and un-certainty.
The World Jewish Congress already is in the midst of a comprehensive restructuring process, which began a year ago. And it is set to choose a new president in the coming months to replace its president of 24 years, Edgar Bronfman, who also is the organization's single-largest financial supporter.
Charges that top officials at the organization may have tried to hide $1.2 million in a Swiss bank account, that the Jewish Agency for Israel made an unusual $1.5 million payment to the Congress, and that a senior lay leader at the Congress is orchestrating a campaign of disinformation, defamation and intimidation in an attempt to seize power could affect the organiza-tion's reputation and future.
People involved with the organization have expressed concern that the latest conflict could impair the group in its worldwide fight against anti-Semitism, Holocaust restitution negotiations and Catholic-Jewish ties - all signature issues for the Congress.
If the leadership of the Congress is found to be morally compromised, it could hamper the Congress' negotiations with European governments over compen-sation for Nazi-era crimes, they said.
Furthermore, noted one observer, "Any negative perception of the way the organization is run, even if not considered a scandal, could have a negative effect on the willingness of the charitable public to contri-bute to that cause."
If the group experiences a downturn in its fund raising from the general public, which accounts for more than 75 percent of the WJC's budget, it could handicap the Congress' ability to fulfill its mission of defending and advocating for Jews around the world.
"This public spat causes damage to the Jewish people, not only the World Jewish Congress," said Yoram Dinstein, chairman of the group's task force on reform and restructuring and a former president of Tel Aviv University.
Dinstein, echoing the sentiments of Jewish officials at the Congress and outside it, said any questions about irregularities should have been dealt with internally by the Congress' leadership, not aired publicly, thereby sullying the group's reputation - possibly needlessly.
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