Islamophobic World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is one of 52 major US Zionist organizations – blaming Palestinians for Israeli high crimes committed against them.
WJC president Ron Lauder one-sidedly supports Israel. According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), tax documents the organization obtained showed he contributed over $1 million during the US 2016 presidential campaign for Islamophobic ads in swing states – targeting voters most likely receptive to them.
The campaign was run by the militantly hard-right Secure America Now NGO. Longtime Lauder political aide Allen Roth heads SAN.
Its board of directors includes former GOP Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and lunatic fringe Trump national security advisor John Bolton.
In 2012, the organization financed ads featuring Netanyahu warning Florida residents of an Iranian nuclear weapons attack – aimed to get Jewish voters to vote Republican.
In early 2014, it sponsored neocon Senator Ted Cruz’s Eastern Europe and Ukraine trip. He was involved in the campaign to replace democratic Kiev governance with Nazi-infested putschist rule.
Ahead of the US 2016 presidential election, SAN published online videos, claiming ISIS could overthrow French and German governance.
A Lauder spokesman said he helped fund SAN “support their work in opposition to the nuclear Iran deal.”
Claiming he was unaware of its anti-Islamic campaign lacked credibility. No one donates over a $1 million dollars for any reason without knowing its purpose and aims.
Lauder is the billionaire heir to the Estee Lauder Companies fortune, currently its chairman emeritus, a longtime Republican, a former Reagan administration ambassador to Austria.
Open Secrets called SAN “a secretive group that worked with Facebook (and) Google to target anti-Muslim ads at swing voters” in North Carolina, Nevada and other states.
One ad shown on Facebook and seen in Google searches showed “a woman with a French accent cheerfully welcom(ing) visitors to the ‘Islamic State of France,’ where ‘under Sharia law, you can enjoy everything the Islamic State of France has to offer, as long as you follow the rules.’ “
The ad Islamified the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and Mona Lisa, showing her covered in a burka, a caption reading “as a woman should” be.
The video was interspersed with violent images, including launched missiles, blindfolded men kneeling with guns at their heads, and children shown training with weapons – “to defend the caliphate.”
Another ad featured the “Islamic State of Germany,” inviting visitors to “celebrate the arranged marriages of future jihadi soldiers” at a pork-and alcohol-free Oktoberfest, adding:
“You can even sell your daughter or sister to be married.” The ad also featured the landmark Hollywood Hills “HOLLYWOOD” sign, replaced by “Allahu Akbar,” and the Statue of Liberty wearing a burka, holding a star and crescent instead of a torch.
NYC’s “ground zero” was shown as a place where city residents and visitors can “celebrate our Islamic victories” in the “Islamic States of America.”
Lauder-supported political ads were contemptible by any standard. He wasn’t blind to what his funding went for – Islamophobic propaganda stoking fear.
The ads were viewed millions of times on Facebook and Google, according to Bloomberg, both companies complicit in fear-mongering – along with Lauder.
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