Jewish National Fund: "Treasury acted as stealthy thieves in handling of Holocaust victims' property,"

Article of interest. Jewish National Fund reportedly stole property of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The article was published in the Israeli daily Haaretz. Should an organization that commits criminal acts against Jews, or any other individual or group, or be allow to have charitable status in Canada or any other country?

Ed Corrigan

"The commission found that the treasury destroyed the files after requesting to see archive material that pertained to victim-owned land which the Jewish National fund sold and partitioned to other parties. Additional companies that dealt with land that belonged to Holocaust victims include Yachin, an agricultural conglomerate, and a daughter-company of the JNF, Himnuta.

"Various occurrences cannot but lead to the conclusion that these institutions acted with blatant impropriety when handling the assets of Holocaust victims," the report says. "For the sake of clarity, it needs to be said that these institutions acted as stealthy thieves, as market-place hagglers, and they certainly did not act as public institutions are expected to act.""

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035430.html

'Treasury acted as stealthy thieves in handling of Holocaust victims' property'

By Tomer Zarchin

Tags: Jewish World, Israel News

The Finance Ministry may have ordered the destruction of ownership documents of land in British-mandate Palestine that was purchased by European Jews who died in the Holocaust, according to a recent report. The land was then sold to third parties who were unaware of the true owners' identity. The internal report, commissioned by the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets, was submitted two weeks ago to the company's board of directors. It points to some 30 assets defined as "highly likely" to have belonged to Jewish Holocaust victims. The treasury's security officer in the 1950s, according to the report, ordered the destruction of all real estate files. The team of researchers who compiled the report, headed by the Company for Restitution's attorney, Dr. Nissan Sharifi, called the order to destroy the files "mysterious and bizarre." The Finance Ministry's spokesperson's office told Haaretz they were unaware of any destroyed files. The commission found that the treasury destroyed the files after requesting to see archive material that pertained to victim-owned land which the Jewish National fund sold and partitioned to other parties. Additional companies that dealt with land that belonged to Holocaust victims include Yachin, an agricultural conglomerate, and a daughter-company of the JNF, Himnuta. "Various occurrences cannot but lead to the conclusion that these institutions acted with blatant impropriety when handling the assets of Holocaust victims," the report says. "For the sake of clarity, it needs to be said that these institutions acted as stealthy thieves, as market-place hagglers, and they certainly did not act as public institutions are expected to act." The assets in question are property in the Sharon region, mainly around Netanya, Tel Mond, Emek Hefer, Hof HaSharon, Bnei Zion, Batzra and Harutzim. JNF leased the lands to dozens of East European Jews before the Holocaust. One case involves a group of 22 Lithuanian Jews who collectively leased from JNF some 110 acres for a period of 49 years, from October 1933 until 1982, with an option for another 49 years running through 2031. The agreement was conducted with Yachin's mediation. Yachin acted as the buyers' representative in negotiations with JNF, as shown in a power of attorney document which the buyers signed at the British consulate in Kaunas. Yachin was supposed to use the land for growing agricultural produce - including citrus tree groves. Proceeds were shared between Yachin and the owners. However, the team of researchers - who combed through thousands of archived files found throughout the country - could recover no documentation of how the land was used after World War II. One internal letter from 1946 written by a Yachin employee reads: "As a result of the war in Europe, Yachin no longer knows the whereabouts and status of the people who own the citrus tree groves in question. Tracing them will require a long time. Should the owners present themselves, they will be entitled, according to their contracts with Yachin, to receive the lands that they own that are still in Yachin's possession." A document from the office of the treasury's accountant general dated to 1952, which concerns grove owners who died in the Holocaust, deals with a request by new settlers. The settlers, who wanted to build homes on land owned by Holocaust victims, sought to be assured that they would not be "made to pay for preexisting debts." Another letter of correspondence, which the team believes came from the offices of the JNF or Himnuta, concerns arrangements to re-register victim-owned land as JNF land. "In cases where we are able to ascertain that the owners are indeed missing, it is preferable if we transfer the land to our names through the rabbinical court system rather than through our arrangement with the government." Another file from 1945 concerns a request to extend the borders of Kfar Yedidya, which bordered on lands owned by parties who were missing and most probably perished in the Holocaust and was managed by Yachin. Through an agreement between the JNF and Yachin, the two parties agreed that Yachin will give JNF victim-owned lands near Kfar Yedidya for the village's expansion. Should the land owners present themselves, the correspondence said, they will be entitled to receive "the remaining plots from the land" which Yachin gave the JNF. Yachin, when queried by Haaretz, wrote back to say that prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, the company was only a contractor, growing agricultural produce on land owned by other parties. "Ninety-eight percent of Yachin's real estate was leased to it by the State of Israel, in accordance with an agreement signed in 1952 between Yachin and the State of Israel. Therefore, disputes and grievances that pertain to land ownership should be taken up with the state, as the lawful owner of the property in question," Yachin's response read. The company added that it has already provided a parliamentary committee on the subject a full list of the assets Yachin had leased. The JNF told Haaretz that it has set aside all the land which is suspected as owned by Holocaust victims, and that the assets were transferred to the possession of the Israel Lands Administration. The JNF went on to say that is has, and is still transferring, tens of millions of shekels over to the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets and in some cases even before all the relevant probes have been concluded.