Sheldon Adelson's Dismissal of Israeli Democracy Draws Silence From Groups He Backs
By Josh Nathan-Kazis - November 12, 2014
Recipients of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s largesse are dodging questions about his latest salvo against Israeli democracy.
Adelson, a leading Republican donor, has long stood out among American Jews for his conservative views. He may have stepped farther outside of the American Jewish mainstream than ever before, however, in statements at a conference in Washington on November 9 in which he seemed to
write off Israel as a democratic state.
“I don’t think the Bible says anything about democracy,” Adelson said. “[God] didn’t talk about Israel remaining as a democratic state…
Israel isn’t going to be a democratic state — so what?”
While Anti-Defamation League national president Abraham Foxman has slammed Adelson’s remarks, leaders of groups that have taken money from Adelson have not responded to requests to address his statements.
“Mr. Adelson is certainly entitled to his views,” said Mark Charendoff, president of the Maimonides Foundation and former president of the Jewish Funders Network. “The question is whether he seeks to impose those views on the not-for-profits he supports, and whether he seeks to determine their educational message.”
A spokesperson for Birthright Israel, whose group gets $32 million a year from Adelson, did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Republican Jewish Coalition, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, or the Israeli American Council, all of which have received major funding from Adelson.
...
This is not the first time that some Jewish charities that take Adelson’s cash appear to be avoiding discussion of his political views. ... But a challenge to Israel’s democratic character by such a prominent funder of Jewish causes and advocate for Israel interferes with the very message many of those groups seek to convey.
...
Three-quarters of Israeli Jews believe that Israel “can be both Jewish and democratic,” according to a 2013 Israel Democracy Institute report. A recent survey by the Jewish Agency’s Jewish People Policy Planning Institute found that attitudes in the Jewish Diaspora are similar to those in Israel, and that those who believe that “Israel should be ‘only Jewish’ or ‘only democratic’ are outside the consensus view of Diaspora Jews.”
...
In his comments, made during a high-profile appearance in Washington at the inaugural national conference of the Israeli American Council, Adelson appeared to brush all that aside. The council, which received some 40% of its funding from Adelson in 2012, hosted Adelson in a discussion with
Democratic Jewish mega-donor Haim Saban, another major donor to the group. Saban told Adelson that he supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because any other resolution would imperil Israel’s democratic status. Adelson disagreed, disparaging Israeli democracy. Israel, he urged, should build “a big wall” around its borders.
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“Sheldon Adelson’s comment suggesting that it’s not so important that Israel remain a democracy is disturbing on many levels,” Foxman wrote. “In fact, the founders of Israel got it exactly right when they emphasized the country being both a Jewish and democratic state. Any initiatives that move Israel away from either value would ill-serve the state and people of Israel.”
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More:
http://forward.com/articles/209072/s...-democracy-dr/
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Originally Posted by newbitech
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