For Shame!
Major financial fraud, questionable sexual practices and even organ trading. In the 21st century, there are still enough Jews who manage to reinforce anti-Semitic sentiment around the world
Nu, so what if he said so? Yet, to prevent all sorts of disapproval, let us assume that there is something to it. And that if Jews, at least in the Diaspora, steal and shame us, then at least they do it on an impressive scale, intelligently, with excellence, even. We might, therefore, view the shame they put on us as a kind of achievement worthy of the tribe that has produced so many intellectuals, doctors, scientists and shapers of world culture.
And so, since we have convened here to name 100 Jews who have been particularly successful and influential, why not give credit to those Jews who, despite shaming us and perhaps even strengthening anti-Semitic stereotypes at times, also served as a source of slightly twisted pride to us?
First place in this countdown goes to the guy who does not even bring a hint of a smile to our lips. He not only shamed us awfully, but was almost solely responsible for the greatest damage done to the image of the Jewish people in modern times. Please welcome Bernie Madoff, the New York broker who was behind the greatest fraud in history and who managed to cheat thousands of private investors, banks and organizations out of billions of dollars.
For nearly 50 years, Madoff ran a hugely successful investment firm in New York – but his evil inclination got the better of him and he decided to adopt a Ponzi scheme – a method whereby investors’ profits are “generated” using the funds put in by other investors. Had he only been a drop luckier, Madoff would have managed to go gently into the night before ever being caught. But in the late summer of 2008, when Wall Street was swept by financial crisis, many investors started withdrawing their money and alas, the whole business began to crumble. In the end, when the money in the cashbox ran out, the swindler was hard-pressed to repay other investors and had no choice but to confess his deceit.
But if we are to put aside the heavy blows sustained by the investors and the shame and damaged reputation we suffered, Madoff was, after all, a most successful entrepreneur, businessman and fraud. He was no everyday thief. Whoever wishes to find solace in that surely can.
What a relief that he was not caught at fraud or baking matzah with the blood of Christian children – considering that Dominique Strauss-Kahn really managed to attach almost every other anti-Semitic stereotype to himself that ever was: He was a senior economist in France, a highly influential politician and finally, chairman of the International Monetary Fund, one of the most prominent figures in the world economy.
Within his close circle (and beyond),he was known to be quite the skirt chaser, and he was suspected of sexual harassment on several occasions. But fortunately for him, his inability to conquer his evil urges did no real damage to his career, and according to experts, would not have even negated his ability to run for president of France, which he planned to do. Until, one day, his luck ran out.
In May 2011, on his way from the U.S., Strauss-Kahn was arrested by the police on the suspicion of sexually assaulting and imprisoning a housekeeper that came to clean his hotel room. The arrest, plastered all over the media, ended in a serious indictment against him, his resignation from the IMF and the shelving of his dream of the French presidency.
The incident opened a Pandora’s box of stories and complaints concerning his adventures and misdeeds, some deep within the criminal realm. Ultimately, in spite of everything, the senior economist managed to avoid prison: In the U.S. lawsuit, the prosecution concluded that the chambermaid’s testimony was unreliable. But the story did not end there. The maid did not give up and filed a civil lawsuit against Strauss-Kahn, forcing him to compensate her for the encounter (the sum of the compensation, incidentally, remains a mystery).
Thus ended the career of StraussKahn, a warm-hearted Jew and a passionatesupporter of Israel. He also lost his successful wife Anne Sinclair and was left to battle his legal troubles alone. His many achievements no one can take from him – certainly not his illustrious ability to destroy his own life in such a way.
Third place, sadly, goes to another good Jew who got entangled in a sex scandal – albeit without police involvement. Anthony Weiner was a wunderkind, a prodigy. At 27 years old, he became the youngest member of the New York City Council, and eight years later - in 1999 - represented New York in Congress, easily winning seven subsequent terms.
Over those years, he was one of the most successful politicians in the Democratic Party, became a prominent and influential Congressman, and one of the greatest supporters of Israel. Despite making quite a few enemies, who knows how high he could have climbed in his career had he only been able to keep his urges in check – or at least be more cautious about his Internet surfing.
At the same time that Strauss-Kahn struggled to break out of the iron embrace of U.S. law enforcement, Weiner uploaded a sexually suggestive image to his public Twitter account. At the time, he was newly married and an expectant father. The picture was intended for a 21-year-old student with whom he was having a cyber affair. Weiner removed the picture just seconds after realizing his mistake – but it was too late.
Someone managed to intercept the photo, and the next day it appeared on a website affiliated with the American right wing. From there it spread. At first, the embarrassed politician claimed that someone had hacked into his computer, and he even questioned the authenticity of the photograph. A week later, however, an additional picture surfaced that he had sent to another young woman. This time Weiner had no other choice but to confess and resign from Congress.
On the same stage as Strauss-Kahn and Weiner stars the most famous White House intern of all times, Monica Lewinski. The misdeeds of the then U.S. president, charismatic Bill Clinton, cost him a ringing slap across the face from his wifem Hillary nd almost had him impeached. As to Lewinski, one might claim that she bears lesser blame than Strauss-Kahn or Weiner.
Lewinski was, after all, no more than a confused young woman exploited by the most powerful man in the world. To this day, nearly two decades later, at age 40 and trying to keep out of the spotlights, she is still haunted by stories from the past. The names of the others are also clearly stained for all eternity.
In other spheres also connected to control of their sex drive, Jews are represented all too well. Take, for example, prostitution. In Argentina, Jews took control of the entire industry as early as the late 19th century, even establishing a prostitution ring called Zwi Migdal. There is no need to get into the doings of the Jewish mafia in Las Vegas, too well versed in these matters. Or one Heidi Fleiss, the proverbial “Madame of Hollywood,” who ran a prostitution ring in Los Angeles in the 1990s. We shouldn’t know from such things.
“In the 1990s, Israel kidnapped Palestinians who had been injured or killed in clashes with the IDF, and harvested their organs.” This was the central claim of a journalistic investigation – or rather a blood libel – published four years ago by a popular Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. The author, Donald Bostrצm, who had already written his piece several years earlier, decided to bring it up again after an ultra-Orthodox network was discovered in New York that engaged in organ trafficking. He suggested that ultra-Orthodox Jews partaking in this business was evidence that Jews did not have particular inhibitions associated with necrophilia.
The network in question – which is a true story – was uncovered in July 2009. Federal agents stormed the synagogues and community institutions of Syrian Jews in New York and New Jersey. Forty-four suspects were arrested, including rabbis and mayors who were charged with taking bribes from members of the trafficking ring. However, most of the suspects were not evenconnected to organ trade, just money laundering, and most were not rabbis. But the headlines screamed: “Rabbis Trade in Human Organs,” with photographs reminiscent of the days of the mafia in the 1920s and 1930s. “The matter involves respectable rabbis within the community who give us all a bad name,” protested one member of the community.
The most notable of all suspects apprehended by the police was Levi Yitzchak Rosenbaum, the one who was responsible for the organ trading. At the trial, he confessed to serving as a go-between in the deals where kidneys were sold by impoverished Israelis to American recipients. Rosenbaum was adamant that despite scraping more than $100,000 off each deal for himself (as opposed to the several thousand received by each donor), he was merely saving human lives. The judge and the jury, by the way, were not impressed: He was sentenced to two-and-a-half
years in jail.
How sad that characters like these continue to pour fuel on the fire of antiSemitic propaganda.
