He did it his way.
Francis Albert Sinatra may have been one of America ‘s most famous Italian Catholics, but he kept the Jewish people and the State of Israel close to his heart, manifesting life-long commitments to fighting anti-Semitism and to activism on behalf of Israel .. Sinatra stepped forward in the early 1940s, when big names were needed to rouse America i nto saving Europe’s remaining Jews, and he sang at an “Action for Palestine ” rally (1947). He sat on the board of trustees of the SimonWiesenthal Center; and he donated over $1 million to Jerusalem ‘s Hebrew University, which honored him by dedicating the Frank Sinatra International Student Center.. (The Center made heartbreaking headlines when terrorists bombed it in 2002, killing nine people.) As the result of his support for the Jewish State, his movies and records were banned in some Arab countries.
Sinatra helped Teddy Kollek, later the long-serving mayor of Jerusalem but then a member of the Haganah, by serving as a $1 million money-runner that helped Israel win the war. The Copacabana NYC nightclub, which was very much run and controlled by the same Luciano-related New York mafia crowd with whom Sinatra had become enmeshed, happened to be next door to the hotel out of which Haganah members were operating. In his autobiography, Kollek relates how, trying in March 1948 to circumvent an arms boycott imposed by President Harry Truman on the Jewish fighters in Eretz Yisroel, he needed to smuggle about $1 million in cash to an Irish ship captain docked in the Port of New York . The young Kollek spotted Sinatra at the bar and, afraid of being intercepted by federal agents, asked for help. In the early hours of the morning, the singer went out the back door with the money in a paper bag and successfully delivered it to the pier.
The origins of Sinatra’s love affair with the Jewish people are not clear but, for years, the Hollywood icon wore a small mezuzah around his neck, a gift from Mrs. Golden, an elderly Jewish neighbor who cared for him during his boyhood in Hoboken, N.J. (years later, he honored her by purchasing a quarter million dollars’ worth of Israel bonds). He protected his Jewish friends, once responding to an anti-Semitic remark at a party by simply punching the offender. Time magazine reported that Sinatra walked out on the christening of his own son when the priest refused to allow a Jewish friend to be the godfather. As late as 1979, he raged over the fact that a Palm Springs cemetery official in California declared that he could n ot arrange the burial of a deceased Jewish friend over the Thanksgiving holiday; Sinatra again — threatened to punch him in the nose.
Sinatra famously played the role of a pilot in Cast a Giant Shadow, the 1966 film filmed in Israel and starring friend Kirk Douglas as Mickey Marcus, the Jewish-American colonel who fought and died in Israel’s war for independence (Sinatra dive-bombs Egyptian tanks with seltzer bottles!) He donated his salary for the part to the Arab-Israeli Youth Center in Nazareth , and he also made a significant contribution to the making of Genocide, a film about the Holocaust, and helped raise funds for the film. Less known is Sinatra in Israel (1962), a short 30-minute featurette he made in which he sang In the Still of the Night and Without a Song. He also starred in The House I Live In (1945), a ten-minute short film made to oppose anti-Semitism at the end of World War II, which received an Honorary Academy Award and a special Golden Globe award in 1946.
The Chairman of the Board comes back from the grave to take on Al Qaeda.
http://humor.beecy.net/songs/frank-sinatra
I just saw the URL and I remember it well.
I'm old enough to have known these facts about Sinatra, but I was completely unaware of how pro-Israel he was. Thanks for highlighting old blue eyes' connection with the State of Israel and the Jewish people, Dave. I adore his music, not so much his politics of the last 20 years of his life. I think the Vietnam War was transformative for his politics. It was for me as well. We just went in opposite directions.
You are right about Vietnam and the "counter culture" changing Sinatra's politics Another part of Sinatra's change was the way JFK dumped him after becoming President.
"The House I Live In" was actually written by American communists, but thanks to Frank, it became a favorite of Ronald Reagan and a patriotic classic.
Truman had a boycott against proto-Israel. That is intriguing, but I think I knew that already.
During the entire struggle for Israel's independence, every weapon and item that had a military application that reached Israel from the U.S. was smuggled out and every American volunteer had to use ruses to get his passport past the watchful eyes of the State Department and Customs.
There was an old popular book of somewhat questionable accuracy called "the Pledge" about this. My Dad remembers packing some stuff in New York with the various Zionist youth groups. "For all we knew, they were clothes". After WWII, there was a lot of leftover stuff. But at the end, they largely got stuff from Czeckoslovakia. America (as you know) only really started siding with Israel when Naaser stabbed Eisenhower in the back and sided with the U.S.S.R.
I've had "The Pledge" on my bookshelf ever since it was published. I've been unable to discern any glaring errors, even though a lot of legends have sprung up about the doings portrayed. The only American arms smuggler to serve jail time was Charles Winters, a Christian, who sneaked three B-17's into Israel. He was posthumously pardoned by Pres. Bush two years ago.
I've heard other versions of events portrayed, and the purple prose makes one question it. I think that in many cases he guessed or exagerrated, much like the book that introduced us all to the Mossad. In general, I think the events occurred; for example, the radio operator in the U.S. became a well-known figure in the religious community in Staten Island (helped start one of the schools), and of course Schwimmer started Israel Aircraft.
When was that? I usually say the US didnt really support Israel until the 70s…but I guess it was degrees of support
Mid-Eisenhower, I believe. John Foster Dulles. But I haven't studied the issue. I do recall my Dad being sorry he voted for Kennedy. (Afterwards, he voted agaist three Kennedies in three states.) I think the only solidly pro-Israel president was Reagan, and even he was fooled by the MSM in Lebanon.
That's what Eisenhower deserved for stabbing Britain/France/Israel in the back
I wonder who is the Frank Sinatra of today? Who would stick their professional neck out in support of Israel and be against anti-semitism in general. I can't think of who that person is……..can anybody?
Sinatre=Mensch
Jon Voight
Truman was a great friend of Israel, and if you read the book A Safe Haven you will never again talk bad about him. Remember, he had that anti-semetic state department to deal with, and when they went behind his back at the UN he said that was it. He then backed partition and support for the new Jewish state. Its funny, Nixon is always bad mouthed, yet he sent all those planes and tanks to Israel, and the Jews hate him, but John Kennedy who called for a total arms embargo to the middle-east is loved by the Jews! The most anti-semetic family ever is loved by the people they hated.
I'm here to burst your bubble. Excerpt from Harry Truman, Anti-Semite?:
Frank Sinatra In Israel , a rare footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh3MFTvWzik
Yeah, I posted that video on here a while ago.
Sophia Loren is pro-Israeli. She filmed Lilith in Israel and had wonderful things to say about the Jewish State.