And I remember when I was shocked when Friends of the IDF raised $8.8 million in Chicago and $20 million fours years ago in L.A. That was nuthin’.
From a Friends of the IDF press release:
Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) raised a record $53.8 million at its annual Western Region Gala on Thursday, Nov. 2, at the landmark Beverly Hilton Hotel. The figure represents the most money raised at any single FIDF event in the organization’s history. The sold-out gala, which has become one of Los Angeles’ premier charitable events, united some 1,200 supporters from across the country to support the brave men and women of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
For the 11th year, FIDF National Board Member and major supporter Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, chaired the star-studded gala. Guests included prominent business, philanthropic, and political leaders and celebrated names in entertainment, fashion, sports, and technology, including Consul General of Israel in Los Angeles Sam Grundwerg; Dutch LLC CEO Serge Azria and his wife, Florence; Managing Member of R.H. Book LLC and Chairman of Jet Support Services Inc. Robert Book and his wife, Amy; Oracle Co-CEO Safra Catz; GUESS Founders Maurice and Paul Marciano; and Founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and his wife, Joelle. Celebrity guests included Miss Israel 2013 Yityish Titi Aynaw, Gerard Butler, David Foster, Joanna Krupa, Katharine McPhee, Paul Reubens, Melissa Rivers, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Turns out Pee Wee Herman (a.k.a. Paul Reubens) has a connection to the Israeli military.
The big donor of the night was Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison who donated $16.6 million, which FIDF says is the largest single gift in the organization’s history. Ellison explained his donation thusly: “For 2,000 years, we were a stateless people, but now, we have a country we can call our own. Through all of the perilous times since Israel’s founding, we have called on the brave men and women of the IDF to defend our home.”
The event featured special performances by singer Seal, The Tenors, David Foster & Friends, and Gene Simmons, from KISS.
LARRY ELLISON- “For 2,000 years, we were a stateless people, but now, we have a country we can call our own. Through all of the perilous times since Israel’s founding, we have called on the brave men and women of the IDF to defend our home.”
It is amazing how Zionist propaganda has become so ingrained as to be conventional wisdom. Of course, one wouldn’t expect an imperial fat-cat to be overly concerned with the truth. Make no mistake, Ellison is expressing kinship solidarity with his fellow Zionists. And for him, $16.6 million isn’t that much to buy tribal loyalty. God forbid that we should tax these fat-cats to provide universal healthcare, free Universities, environmental protection, etc.
I conclude with a quote from Joel Kovel: “Zionism is Jewish power- worldly and state power: military, economic, and ideological, too. It is the power, which to paraphrase Thomas Hobbes, is the “capacity to give names and enforce definitions,” including the definition that collapses the meaning of Jewishness into the support of Israel….” (p133, “Overcoming Zionism”, Joel Kovel)
No, Larry, you weren’t. Every person in the world who…
– underwent a religious conversion to Judaism; or
– was descended from someone who underwent a religious conversion to Judaism,
…was born in a state that was his/her homeland.
The religion-based identity of Jewish did not (and still does not) comprise a right to a colonialist, (war) criminal and religion-supremacist “Jewish State” in as much as possible of Palestine.
It’s amazing that so many people at such an event could not realize that they were donating to a government institution that is truly committing slow genocide. It’s shameful.
Not a single thought, or regard, for the fact that the millions of dollars, is going to back a ruthless military, that kill civilians at the slightest, and sometimes false, excuse. To these despicable wealthy people, those brown skin arab children, are nothing. What the United Nations and other human rights agencies say, seem to not count, nor do international laws.
They are prostituting themselves for lucrative contracts and roles, at the expense of occupied, unarmed and helpless people. Sad.
Pee Wee Herman and Gene Simmons?
These two guys serving as the face of the IDF can only help those of us who oppose the apartheid regime in Tel Aviv.
No?