Wealthy Jews Moving out of Israel
by Ian Mosley
The wealthiest of Israel’s elite are starting to seek out new homes elsewhere. This should tell us something about what may be in store. Some of us may remember Marc Rich, possibly the biggest tax dodger in US history, who fled to Israel. About seven years ago, just as Clinton was leaving office, Marc Rich got a pardon dropped in his lap. He may have been the first of many wealthy Jews looking to escape Israel.
Another super-rich Jew has recently relocated. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reports: “Israeli diamond billionaire Lev Leviev, who immigrated to Israel from Uzbekistan in 1971, has bought the most expensive new property ever sold in Britain -a $70 million home with a bullet-proof front door costing $100,000, British real estate dealers said on Tuesday. The 51-year-old businessman best known for his diamond trading company and who is estimated to be worth $6.5 billion, is expected to move with his wife and two of his nine children.”
Ha’aretz goes on to say: “Leviev, who is said to have immigrated to Israel without a penny to his name, also has homes in Israel, New York and Moscow, but is thought to favor a move to London because of high taxes in Israel. The seven-bedroom house in the exclusive north London district of Hampstead boasts a $1.5 million stone staircase constructed using 150-year-old carving techniques and an indoor swimming pool with gold-plated mosaic tiles. The Palladian-style home also features a gym, sauna, ballroom and cinema, a private hair salon and a one-tone bathroom basin carved from a single piece of white Iranian onyx.Once installed in his new home, Leviev will be protected not only by the bullet-proof front door but by 25 security cameras and a high-tech alarm system that can be controlled remotely - from a yacht in the Caribbean if necessary. In his front garden is a topiary bush that cost $40,000 to shape, and should he get cold there is a $200,000 hand-carved stone fireplace in the living room .” Well, now we know how the other half lives.
Ha’aretz continues: “A London property agent who asked not to be named said $70 million was the highest ever paid for a new property in Britain. The most paid for any property is believed to be $128 million spent by steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal for a London mansion. He recently launched a company in London and opened a flagship diamond store in exclusive Bond Street, competing directly with De Beer’s, the South African-based company that has traditionally been the world’s largest diamond dealer. Leviev’s decision to spend millions on London property comes despite a downturn in Britain’s once red-hot market. After nearly 10 years of steady growth, prices have tapered in recent months and are even expected to fall in the coming year.” Poor Whites are being foreclosed and evicted all across Britain while wealthy Jews are buying in.
Tens of thousands of Jews have fled Israel over the past few years, mostly to Europe where they are protected from criticism and given superior legal status by “race relations laws.” Many Jews still choose the Goldeneh Medina, the “golden dripping honeycomb” in Yiddish, which is what they call America. I wonder what these wealthy Jews might know that the rest of us don’t about what’s coming with Bush and Iran.