An “army” of “Russian” billionaires—actually Jewish Supremacist oligarchs who made their fortunes in Russia after the collapse of Communism, where they had previously served that state, sat alongside Vladimir Putin at the unveiling of a monument to the Red Army in Israel yesterday.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the guests at the ceremony included Mikhail Fridman, the seventh-richest man in Russia, whose fortune is estimated at $15 billion by Forbes; Moshe Kantor, the chemicals tycoon who Forbes said was worth $2.3b.
“Some, like Fridman, flew in especially from Russia. Others, like Kantor, drove from nearby Herzliya, where many businessman from the former Soviet Union including Leonid Nevzlin and Gabriel Mirilashvili, to name a few, have made their homes,” the Jerusalem Post reported,
Others in attended included natural resources and property oligarch Lev Leviev (wealth estimated to be about $1.7b.), Alexander Levin, a “Ukrainian” businessman who was among those who donated to build the monument to the Soviet Army, who last year set up the World Forum for Russian Jewry, an “advocacy group based in New York.”
According to the report, “Members of United Israel Appeal-Keren Hayesod, which raised the money to build the marble and concrete monument overlooking the azure Mediterranean Sea,” were tight-lipped as to how much the homage to Communism cost.
“We organized a group of 10 to 15 top businessmen who raised the money that helped transform this dream to reality,” said Gadi Dror, the UIA’s director of the eastern region. “We do not go [into the] figures because they [the donors] prefer not to but it is meaningful amount.”
A source later said each businessman had donated at least $100,000.
The Jerusalem Post ended off with this interesting observation:
“Watching the group of mega-wealthy interact, one cannot help but wonder how so many affluent businessmen in the former Soviet Union are Jewish.
“German Zakharyaev, vice president of the Russian Jewish Congress, cited two main reasons for that. First, Jews are few among many.
““We are a minority and as such we have to be strong [if we are] to preserve our customs,” said the businessman who, as a member of the Mountain Jewish community of the eastern Caucuses, is a minority within a minority.
““This is something in our commandments that we have to keep our Jewishness and be united in the Diaspora.”
“Second, he said, Jewish businessmen are hard workers. “We think a lot and we sleep a little,” he said.”
