Claims Conference Brouhaha

Published on May 22, 2013

Those are the questions critics are asking following the disclosure that the Claims Conference received an anonymous letter in 2001 identifying several fraudulent Holocaust-era restitution claims — nearly a decade before the organization halted a massive fraud scheme.

May 7, 2013

By Shmuel Rosner
Published on May 7, 2013

World Jewish Congress head praises Pope Francis

Published on March 13, 2013

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder congratulated Cardinal Jorge María Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, on his election as Pope Francis I on Wednesday.

Moshe Kantor awarded Italy’s highest honor for non-citizens

Published on February 21, 2013

Italy awarded Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, its highest decoration given to a non-Italian.

World Jewish Congress names Robert Singer to top post

Published on January 28, 2013

Robert Singer was named secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, the organization's most senior professional position.

Turkey’s Erdogan says Israel sent ‘richest Jew’ to intercede

Published on September 20, 2012

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a Turkish newspaper that Israel sent "the richest Jewish man in the world" to create better relations between the two countries.

Compensate Jewish refugees from Arab countries, conference urges

Published on September 10, 2012

Speakers at a conference on Middle Eastern and North African Jewish refugees called for legislative initiatives to support compensation for the refugees.

Israel steps up recognition of Jewish refugees

Published on September 5, 2012

Naim Reuven was only 8 when he left Baghdad more than 50 years ago, but he still remembers going with his father to catch fish in the Tigris River.

Opinion: Jewish organizations, others must stop interfering with Holocaust survivors' rights

Published on July 2, 2012

The JTA recently published an op-ed by Menachem Rosensaft which gratuitously offers an “alternative” to the legislation that Holocaust survivors and children and grandchildren of survivors are seeking in Congress. The bills Rosensaft patronizingly calls “well-intentioned” are necessary to restore our rights to go to U.S. courts to recover insurance policies sold by Allianz, Generali, AXA, and other global insurers to our parents and grandparents which the companies dishonored after the Holocaust.

Crafting a Holocaust insurance solution that works

Published on June 27, 2012

There is a solution to get us beyond the seemingly endless stalemates and complications that continue to characterize the ongoing debate over Holocaust-era insurance claims. And I do not believe it can be found in the well-intentioned bill before the U.S. Congress.

Progressive Zionist leader Moshe Kagan dies at 92

Published on May 7, 2012

Moshe Kagan, a passionate Progressive Zionist and longtime board member of the Claims Conference, has died.

Elan Steinberg described as ‘great activist’ and ‘irreplaceable loss to world Jewry’

Published on April 10, 2012

Tributes and statements of profound respect and admiration are pouring in for Elan Steinberg, former executive director of the World Jewish Congress, who died April 6 of complications from lymphatic cancer. He was 59.

Elan Steinberg—unyielding in defense of the Jewish people

Published on April 10, 2012

Elan Steinberg's untimely death on Passover eve last week after a brief struggle with a terrible illness precipitated a degree of introspection and considerable reflection about the man, his work and the legacy he leaves for the Jewish people. Elan Steinberg would describe himself best as a simple man with simple passions.

Bahrain king meets with rabbi

Published on December 30, 2011

The king of Bahrain met with a visiting rabbi in his palace.

Opinion: Dangers of Palestinian statehood motion

Published on September 20, 2011

In the last week, indeed for several months, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) has been working tirelessly and closely with our unique network of affiliates around the world to explain the dangers of the prospective motion on unilateral Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.

Ban Iranian Olympians, World Jewish Congress urges IOC

Published on July 27, 2011

The World Jewish Congress called on the International Olympic Committee to bar Iran from the 2012 Games until the country allows its athletes to compete against Israelis.

Dan Diker named WJC secretary general

Published on June 20, 2011

The World Jewish Congress has confirmed the appointment of Dan Diker as the organization's secretary general. Diker's appointment was approved in Jerusalem Monday during a meeting of the governing board of the World Jewish Congress, the umbrella organization of 92 Jewish communities throughout the world. The meeting marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the organization.

In Reversal, U.S. to Join U.N. Rights Council

Published on March 31, 2009

Briefs: Sukkah at UC Davis vandalized; Poll: Israelis want united Jerusalem

Published on October 11, 2007

News briefs.

The leaders of Israel and of the Jewish people are failing us

By Michael Berenbaum
Published on May 24, 2007

Almost 25 years ago, I read a one-line description of Jewish leadership that has haunted me ever since. The author, whose name I have repressed, wrote: "Only a confirmed anti-Semite could believe that the Jewish people have the leadership they deserve." I protested his statement then, but I am not sure I can disagree now.

European anti-Semitism up since Hezbollah war

By Dinah Spritzer
Published on November 16, 2006

Israel's recent war with Hezbollah resulted in a new wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe -- almost all in Western Europe, a new report finds.

‘Forgotten’ Jews Address Injustice

By Joshua Brandt
Published on April 3, 2003

The conference, "Forgotten Refugees: Jews Expelled From Arab Countries," was sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council, JIMENA and the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation. Support came from the World Jewish Congress and other local and national Jewish organizations.

About 300 people attended the four-hour event, hearing and sharing testimonials detailing imprisonment at internment camps, mass deportations, rape and ethnic cleansing. The stories were interspersed throughout the conference, which also featured panels on community activism, the role of the United Nations in the Middle East and a keynote address by Algerian-born Jew Eric Benhamou, the chair of 3Com Corp.

Holocaust Survivors To Receive Payments

Published on July 1, 1999

Payments from a $1.25 billion settlement reached last year with several Swiss banks will start reaching Holocaust survivors by the second half of next year, according to the executive director of the World Jewish Congress.