WJC President Ronald Lauder speaks on passing of Sheldon Adelson
Lauder added that Adelson was optimistic about the State of Israel and its future and said, “He loved what Israel was doing, and he could not find fault with anything.”
By ALAN ROSENBAUMMiriam and Sheldon Adelson attend a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the Health and Medical Sciences School building, named after them, at Ariel University(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said that Sheldon Adelson, the noted businessman and philanthropist who passed away this week, was a major believer in the State of Israel. “For Sheldon, Israel was everything. But more important than that, although he had a world-wide empire, his whole world was the future of Israel.”Speaking with Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan, Lauder said that his task as president of the World Jewish Congress is working with the Jews living in the Diaspora and uniting the Jews of the Diaspora and Israel. “Sheldon said to me,” said Lauder, ‘I’ll take care of Israel. You take care of the Diaspora.’”Lauder added that Adelson was optimistic about the State of Israel and its future and said, “He loved what Israel was doing, and he could not find fault with anything.”Lauder also said that there were certain issues that he and Adelson avoided discussing, such as their conflicting opinions about Prime Minister Netanyahu, Adelson’s ownership of Israel Hayom, the Israeli newspaper he founded in 2007, and the issue of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
