WJC President Ronald Lauder receives Guardian of Zion Award

“For the first time since the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is acceptable again.”

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder has accrued precious little reward. (photo credit: Courtesy)
World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder has accrued precious little reward.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In a glittery ceremony at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel on Tuesday night, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder was conferred with this year’s Ingeborg Rennert Center Guardian of Zion award. The center is part of the Faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan University.
The award presented to Lauder by philanthropist Ingeborg Rennert coincided with the 80th anniversary celebrations of the WJC, which calls itself “the diplomatic arm of the Jewish People” representing and advocating for Jewish communities and organizations in a hundred countries around the world.
Before launching into his speech entitled “The Future of the Jewish People,” Lauder noted that “at a time when there are those who try to rewrite history, when they try to tell a terrible lie that there was never a Jewish claim to Jerusalem, the Rennert Center at Bar-Ilan University uses facts – not fiction – to preserve the truth.”
Lauder also warned of the resurgence of anti-Semitism.
“For the first time since the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is acceptable again,” said Lauder. “The new target is not the international Jew, but the State of Israel, which is constantly vilified throughout the media, on the Internet, at the United Nations, and on every college campus.”