Eine echte jüdische Vereinigung ist der Europäische Jüdische Kongress (European Jewish Congress) nun offenbar - zerstritten und zweigeteilt. Wie die Jerusalem Post berichtet, sind einige Länder aus der Dachorganisation ausgetreten:
The French Jewish community suspended its membership in the European Jewish Congress on Sunday, shortly after a vote in Paris extending the terms of the umbrella group’s leadership by two years. The French were joined by the Austrian and Portuguese communities, who say they may break away from the European Jewish Congress entirely after its General Assembly retroactively extended the term of members of the EJC’s executive. Instead of holding elections in June 2009, they will serve until June 2011. von hier
Mitverantwortlich ist die Unzufriedenheit mit dem Präsidenten des Kongresses Mosche Kantor, der ausschließlich russische Interessen vertreten soll:
The dispute comes after months of tension going back to the mid-2007 election for EJC president, contested by Russian agrochemical tycoon Moshe Kantor and French businessman Pierre Besnainou. Kantor, who ultimately won the election, was often denigrated as a “Putin stooge” who would be soft on the Kremlin and would represent Russian interests in Europe, rather than Jewish interests in Russia. The current crisis includes similar talk, with one European Jewish official telling the Post that Kantor “is taking over the whole EJC as his own little soccer club or something. At least the French and the Austrians have the balls to stand up and stay away. Most of those folks are afraid in an open and public audience to stand up and say ’no.’ That’s a shame, but it’s also a result of certain elements of Russian mentality. We’ve seen it on other occasions when there were elections on certain issues.” von hier
Ganz neu sind diese Befürchtungen nicht. Bereits 2006 hieß es:
The EJC’s president, Pierre Besnainou, accused the Russian Jewish Congress’ president, Moshe Kantor, of engaging in “blackmail” at the Feb. 19 meeting after the latter said he would give the organization a donation of $475,000 only if he could have oversight of money that he brought in from donors in his role as chairman of the board of governors. The vice president of the EJC, Ariel Muzicant, concurred with Besnainou, suggesting that Kantor was trying to thwart democracy. “There can only be one president, and what Mr. Kantor wants is to take over without being elected.” The squabble came as the EJC is trying to have a greater influence on key European political leaders in issues of Middle East policy and anti-Semitism, which have leapt to the top of the European political agenda in recent months. Some European Jewish leaders privately worry that Kantor, owner of one of Russia’s largest fertilizer firms, is a mafia mogul seeking to take over the EJC with his large donations. He already claims he is the EJC’s largest personal donor, providing the organization with more than $175,000 annually. von hier
Der Mann mit Kontakten in den Kreml zeigt, dass nicht alles immer ganz so unpolitisch vor sich geht, wie es scheint. Wenn die Sachlage so ist, wie sie die Jerusalem Post darstellt; dann Respekt vor den Vertretern der Staaten, die sich zurückgezogen haben.