Jewish leaders fear anti-Semitic backlash

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

A Jubilee letter from a republican to royalists

With the Jubilee weekend edging ever nearer Rob Williams offers some help for those Royalists who ju...

GCSEs are a pointless waste of time

A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...

Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers

For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...

Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives

Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...

Bernard Madoff's alleged $50bn (£33bn) financial fraud reverberated in Israel yesterday, with concern being voiced by some about a possible antisemitic backlash.

One of the country's most respected private educational funders, the Chais Family Foundation, which disburses $10m annually in Israel and another $2.5m in Eastern Europe, has been forced to shut down.

Israeli and American Jewish leaders involved in fighting antisemitism said they were concerned that although many of Mr Madoff's victims are foundations belonging to Jews – reportedly including ones affiliated with Steven Spielberg, famed holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and US real estate magnate Mortimer Zuckerman – people with an anti-Jewish agenda would focus on Mr Madoff to forment hatred. "Always when Jews are in involved in something terrible and negative like this it can be misrepresented. Antisemitism is not a rational process," said rabbi Michael Melchior, an MP who headed a forum against antisemitism. "Jews are like other people, there are good and bad. This scandal was not only done by a Jew, it hits Jewish charities and things crucial to Jews."

Among Mr Madoff's American Jewish victims is the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles which says it has lost $6.4m or about 11 per cent of its assets as of December. The Chais Family Foundation, which funds student scholarships, teacher training and university research, was yesterday in the process of notifying its 77 Israeli recipients that they would receive no more funding because it is closing. "We have been obliterated," said Avraham Infeld, its president. Only last week the foundation had approved a project that would have placed a thousand computers in classrooms in northern Israel. "Last Thursday Mr Chais called me and told me the man he had invested with for 35 years was a crook and the foundation was without a penny."

Ken Jacobson, the New York-based deputy director of the Anti Defamation League, whose mandate is to combat antisemitism and bigotry, said "We expect the antisemites to have a field day. They will exploit it."

He termed the scandal "a real tragedy for the Jewish community. A lot of people were deceived by this person-a lot of Jewish charities and institutions took the biggest hit".

Mr Madoff was chairman of the business school and treasurer of the board of trustees at Yeshiva University, an orthodox Jewish institution in New York. He resigned his posts on Friday. The Madoffs were also significant contributors to the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York.

Career Services

Day In a Page

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated
A right royal trip down the river

A right royal trip down the river

A new exhibition celebrates the glory days of London's mighty Thames
The 10 Best lawn mowers

The 10 Best lawn mowers

From petrol-fuelled to self-propelled
Every second counts

Why does life appear to speed up as we get older?

Matilda Battersby finds out how the clock plays tricks with our minds
Couture on the Croisette: Fashion hits

Couture on the Croisette

The best outfits from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Child of the revolution: the Burmese family that democracy brought back together

Home of the free

The Burmese family that democracy brought back together
Cannes review: Canine accolade and Hitler's return are high spots amid the gloom

Cannes review

Frocks, canine accolade and Hitler's return
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?

The going price of getting away with murder

Robert Fisk: The long view
Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Andy McSmith meets Dennis Skinner
Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show