Seth Klarman

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Seth Klarman

Overview:

Seth Andrew Klarman is an American billionaire and hedge fund manager. His family charitable organization, the Klarman Family Foundation, is a supporter of multiple right-wing pro-Israel groups. He’s also co-founder and chairman of the Times of Israel, a prominent Israeli online newspaper.

Klarman has also pay-rolled various neoconservative Israel lobbies, such as the hawkish Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Birthright Israel, and the Israel Project. The latter two groups focus respectively on encouraging immigration to Israel and creating positive representations of Israel in the media. Klarman has also sponsored the Central Fund of Israel which works on setting up Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The Klarman Family Foundation describes itself as being committed to helping all citizens of Israel. This foundation also supports some Muslim organizations like the American Islamic Congress which some experts describe to be a wedging strategy. These organizations are accused of being Muslim front groups while championing anti Muslim and pro-Zionist views.

Concerns about rise of pro-Palestine, anti-Israel views

In 2006, klarman expressed his concerns about the rise of pro-Palestinian views in the West: “In the West, ‘Palestinianism’—the notion that an innocent, indigenous people suffer senseless, cruel oppression by the Jews of Israel (who ought to know better) threatens to become the standard view. It is the basis for an attack by Western radicals on Zionism, Jewish national self-determination, and by extension on Jews everywhere.”

During an interview in 2011, Klarman implied that criticism of Israel is similar to the rise of Nazism: “I am scared of this moment in history. When you look at the history of anti-Semitism … hatred of Jews has shifted to hatred of the Jewish state. … When Israel is singled out like no other country … [it recalls the] slow march of Hitler. [There is a] steady march in the world, from college campuses to the U.N. People would love to dismantle the Jewish state. … When Israel is singled out when Jews are singled out, it’s absolutely terrifying.”

1. https://www.timesofisrael.com/about/
2. https://electronicintifada.net/content/weddadys-free-arabs-american-islamic-congress-and-pro-israel-funders-who-helped-them-rise
3. http://mondoweiss.net/2013/11/palestinian-billionaire-repressive
4. http://www.jihadwatch.org/2006/06/jews-are-under-siege-a-call-for-action
5. http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/why-is-charlie-rose-hugging-seth-klarman

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