Robert Kraft, New England Patriots Owner, Announced As The 2019 Genesis Prize Laureate

The Genesis Prize Foundation announced prominent American philanthropist and owner of the New England Patriots football team, Robert Kraft, as the 2019 Genesis Prize Laureate.

The annual $1 million Genesis Prize, dubbed the “Jewish Nobel” by Time Magazine, honours extraordinary individuals for their outstanding professional achievement, contribution to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values and Israel. The Prime Minister of Israel will present the award to Robert Kraft at a gala ceremony in Jerusalem in June.

The award comes during an alarming resurgence of anti-Semitism and other forms of ethnic- and racially-motivated hate crimes. In the UK, record levels of anti-Semitic activity have been recorded last year, and the issue has encompassed street level incidents, organized groups and mainstream political parties. In 2018, more than 100 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the UK each month by the Community Service Trust.

Elsewhere in Europe last year, anti-Semitic incidents (including those not involving physical violence) were being reported in France and Germany at an average rate of four per day. A study by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights found that 89 per cent of European Jews felt that anti-Semitism had gotten worst in their country over the past twelve months. Similarly, a CNN poll last year found that one in ten Europeans admitted having an unfavourable view of Jewish people.

Likewise, in the United States the FBI confirmed that anti-Semitic incidents in the country increased by 37 per cent between 2016 and 2017, while in Europe violent attacks against Jews during the past several years claimed victims in Brussels, Paris, Toulouse, Marseille, and elsewhere. Most dramatically, 2018 saw the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history, when eleven Jewish congregants were killed at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in October.

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