Opinion Editorials, April 2010

Editor's Note:

This article is written in commentary on this specific case. It does not generalize about followers of Judaism, particularly those who are against Zionism and against the Israeli aggression, wars, and occupation of Palestine.

I do think that taking Tax from Jews is nothing less than Anti Semitism in practice. After the Holocaust and 2000 years of Jewish suffering we should accept that Jews have the right to hide some money from the tax authorities, just in case the horror repeats itself.

 The BBC reported today that A US watchmaker told the American court that he “hid $10,000,000 in a Swiss bank account because of ‘survival behaviour’  learned from the Holocaust”. The 65 year-old watchmaker, Jack Barouh, argued his secretive behaviour was motivated by his “fear as a Jew of persecution and sudden loss.” Indeed with 10 million dollars Barouh could barely survive; he could for instance, hire a private jet that would fly him anywhere in the world, he could settle in 5 star hotels in the most beautiful sea resorts, yet, no one could guarantee Barouh a constant supply of matzo balls and gefilte fish and this may well be the true meaning of Jewish fear.

In fact the Jewish businessman is not at all a thief or a fraudster, he actually suffers from a uniquely recognised Jewish mental condition. According to Barouh’s doctor we are dealing here with "hide and hoard mentality”, something often found in Holocaust survivors and their families.

Evidently, the relationships between America and Israel do deteriorate rapidly. Assistant US Attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, said the Holocaust defence was no excuse: "It does not give this defendant a license to break the law. Tax fraud is tax fraud." I am reluctant to suggest that Mr. Neiman is an exemplary case of a ‘new anti Semitism’ instead of calling Barouh a fraudster  the prosecuting attorney should have stressed the need for ‘special holocaust allowance for Jews and Jews only’.

I do believe that Jews must unite and fight the sudden change and the growing dismissal of the holocaust. I suggest that Holocaust Museums such as Yad Va Shem and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington dedicate one of their many rooms to the sufferers of “hide and hoard”. They can even call it ‘Yad Va Tax’. They can advise tormented people how to hide their money from the tax man. They can also monitor the Madoffs of this world just to make sure that the Elie Wiesels do not become a subject of a Ponzi scheme once again.