The Jewish National Fund of Israel has made clear it played no role in the Israeli government’s clandestine financing of the move by Jewish religious activists into the Old City’s Christian Quarter on April 11.
JNF “is not involved in any way, shape or form. Not a single penny of JNF money is involved,” a spokesman for the land acquisition and reclamation agency declared.
The spokesman referred to reports naming a JNF subsidiary, the Himnutah Co., as an instrument used by the government to secretly funnel funds to a Panamanian dummy corporation, SBS.
SBS was set up to acquire the lease to the building, known as St. John’s Hospice, into which 150 Orthodox Jews moved during the holy days preceding Easter. The move and especially its timing brought a flood of criticism on Israel from abroad and sharply polarized opinion at home.
Himnutah admitted that it acted “as a trustee on behalf of the government,” meaning that it held the funds in question, ostensibly without knowing to what use they would be put.
“Himnutah was not involved in any way with the entrance of the tenants into the building, nor with the timing of such entrance,” the JNF spokesman said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
