LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (JTA) — “I have been accused of being too pro-Israel and too pro-Jewish, to which I plead guilty as charged,” media baron Rupert Murdoch, who is not Jewish, told 400 supporters of the Jerusalem College of Technology at a dinner here Sunday evening. Driving home his point, the controversial chairman of The News Corp., which controls a vast international media and communications empire, added: “For 50 years, my companies have taken a strong, even strident, position in support of Israel. Our commitment to Israel and its people is unyielding [and] I believe in Israel’s future and high-technology achievements.” Murdoch was honored by the college, which combines religious and engineering studies, with its Wilstein Award in recognition of what it called Murdoch’s role as a global leader in the world of high technology. In particular, leaders lauded the Murdoch-owned New Digital Systems Ltd., a company specializing in encryption of high security electronic data. New Digital’s research and development arm is based in Jerusalem, and many of its founders and present staff are graduates of the college.
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