In an outburst of honesty, the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), Avi Beker, has admitted in the 15 May 2002 issue of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz that the "Holocaust Industry" promotes the interests of Israel and not those of the victims of the Nazi era.
The Jewish organizations leading the restitution and reparation campaign for the Jewish victims of the Nazis have repeatedly rejected accusations that they are promoting any interests other than those of justice for the Jewish victims of Nazism.
In an interview with Ha'aretz, which was not translated into English, Beker disclosed that, from its beginnings, the whole campaign had been coordinated with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and that, whenever a conflict of interests arose, it was settled in favour of the state of Israel. However, publicly the WJC argued that, in view of the advanced age of the survivors of the Nazi persecution, the restitution and reparation moneys should be paid by the guilty countries, companies and other parties without any further delay.
By running this kind of campaign, the WJC and its affiliated organizations consciously accepted the risk that their manipulation of a just issue might encourage anti-Jewish feelings in Europe. Obviously, they could not care less about this. Only two potential factors mattered in an otherwise ruthless campaign: Israeli and US interests.
It is noteworthy that this campaign has not been pursued strongly in the US or Eastern Europe, where a large amount of money should be restituted!
* Shraga Elam is an Israeli investigative journalist based in Zurich and author of a highly-praised book in German on the collaboration of the Zionist leadership with the Nazis. The book, Hitlers Faelscher: wie juedische amerikanische und Schweizer Agenten der SS beim Falschgeldwaschen halfen [Hitler's Forgers: How Jewish, American and Swiss agents helped the SS with laundering faked money], is published by Uberreuter Verlag and can be purchased here.