World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement,[1] the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as "the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people". Membership in the WJC is open to all representative Jewish groups or communities, irrespective of the social, political or economic ideology of the community's host country. The World Jewish Congress headquarters are in New York City, and the organization maintains international offices in Brussels, Belgium; Jerusalem; Paris, France; Moscow, Russia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Geneva, Switzerland. The WJC has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Formation
August 1936
Worldwide
David de Rothschild, Chairman of the Governing Board; Charlotte Knobloch, Vice President; Chella Safra, Treasurer
Plenary Assembly
Prosecution of Nazi war criminals
The World Jewish Congress has repeatedly called for the prosecution of presumed Nazi war criminals. WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said in 2011: "There must never be impunity or closure for those who were involved in mass murder and genocide, irrespective of their age". The WJC would persist in its efforts to bring the "few old men out there who have the blood of innocent Shoah victims on their hands" before courts of law, to be tried and held accountable for their actions.[172]
In 2009, WJC officials called for the extradition Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk from the United States to Germany, where he was wanted on charges of aiding to kill at least 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor death camp during World War II. Demjanjuk's trial and conviction by a Munich court in May 2011 was hailed by the organization. It declared: "Belatedly, justice has now been done, and the family members of those who were brutally murdered in Sobibor will certainly welcome this verdict."[172]
In December 2010, Lauder publicly urged Serbia to extradite Peter Egner to the United States where he was wanted to stand trial for serving in a Nazi unit during World War II that murdered 17,000 Jews.[173] Egner died in January 2011.[174]
Jewish refugees from Arab countries
The issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands continues to be on the World Jewish Congress agenda today. The WJC website states that "The plight of Jews who fled from, or still live in, Arab lands and their specific concerns are not well-known and need to be raised with governments and international organizations. Where illegal seizure of assets took place, these should be returned to their former owners, or adequate compensation should be paid. Jews remaining in Arab lands, as well as other religious minorities, should be granted religious freedom and allowed to practice their faith according to their traditions. Jewish communal sites in Arab countries must be preserved and respected." The WJC believes that the plight of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands has been neglected for decades by the international community, including governments and international organizations.[233]
In September 2012, the WJC co-hosted two conferences on the issue, together with the Israeli government. They were held in Jerusalem and at the United Nations headquarters in New York, respectively. The aim was to raise the profile of the issue and enlist international support. In a speech to the New York symposium, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder urged the world to recognize the suffering of Jewish refugees. "Now is the time to set the historical, diplomatic and legal record straight. Lasting peace can only be built on historical facts – both the issues of the Jewish refugees and the Palestinian refugees must be addressed." Lauder said that "only addressing the historical facts" could help to bring about peace.[234] At the Jerusalem conference, a joint declaration was adopted calling on the United Nations to place the issue of Jewish refugees on its agenda and that of its affiliated forums.[235]
Palestinian critics derided the move to raise this issue now as a "manipulative strategy". It was "part of a public relations campaign that is both cynical and hypocritical", PLO Executive member Hanan Ashrawi told the newspaper USA Today.[236]
Following the conferences, Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman instructed Israeli diplomats around the world to raise the matter in all official government meetings and with parliamentarians.[237] According to figures provided by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, approximately 850,000 Jews from Arab states across the Middle East left their native countries following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 due to state-sponsored persecution. Most of them were forced to abandon their property and possessions, the ministry said.[238]
Other issues
In August 2008, World Jewish Congress and Venezuelan Jewish community leaders met in Caracas with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frias. The meeting stirred some controversy in the Jewish world[239] because of Chávez' public support for Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his strong criticism of Israel. However, then WJC Secretary-General Michael Schneider defended the meeting with Chávez and said the WJC acted only on behalf of, and with the backing of, the Venezuelan Jewish community.
Following the exclusion of Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer from an ATP tournament in Dubai in February 2009, the WJC called for the "suspension of all sporting events in the [United Arab Emirates] until Israeli participants are admitted." The response of the women's and men's tours to the exclusion of Peer had been "faint-hearted," and they should have canceled the event immediately, WJC President Lauder was quoted by the news agency Bloomberg as saying.[240]
Ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the World Jewish Congress criticized the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, for not agreeing to hold one minute's silence at the opening ceremony in remembrance of the eleven Israeli sportsmen killed by Palestinian terrorists during the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. Ronald Lauder said Rogge's stance was "unfeeling" and "completely out of touch."[241] He added: "Forty years after the saddest moment in Olympic history – when eleven Israeli athletes and sports officials and a German police officer were killed by Palestinian terrorists – it would have been an excellent opportunity to show to everyone that the sports world stands united against terrorism ... Nobody wants to 'politicize' the Olympic Games, as the IOC seems to suggest, but Baron Rogge and his colleagues on the IOC Executive have utterly failed – or refused – to grasp the importance of such a symbolic act."[242]
In January 2019 WJC President Lauder, the Albanian Ambassador to the UN Besiana Kadare, and the United Nations Department of Global Communications co-hosted an event[243] discussing the actions of Albanians who protected Jews during the Holocaust in Albania.[244][245]
Fundraising and finances
The WJC raises its funds mainly through the World Jewish Congress American Section, which is a non-profit body registered in the United States.[246]