Mark Leibler
 Mark Leibler    (lawyer) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1943 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian, Israeli |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne, Yale |
| Religion | Jewish |
| Children | Jeremy Leibler |
| Siblings | Isi Leibler |
| Member of | AIJAC |
Tax lawyer who is one of the leaders of the Australian Zionist lobby through the billionaire-funded Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council. While "not not well known to most Australians", his influence "far exceeds his public profile", and he has developed and sustained close relationships with senior Australian politicians. | |
Mark Leibler an Australian tax lawyer who is one of the leaders of the Australian Zionist lobby through the billionaire-funded Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council [1]
Over 40 years, while "not not well known to most Australians", his influence "far exceeds his public profile" and he has developed and sustained close relationships - he calls them friendships- with senior Australian politicians, from Foreign Minister Bill Hayden, to Prime Ministers John Howard, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard.[2]
Background
Mark's brother Isi Leibler was president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress.[3] Their father was a diamond merchants from Antwerp, Belgium, who emigrated to Australia just before World War 2.
Business career
Leibler is the sole senior partner of Arnold Bloch Leibler, an Australian law firm founded by Arnold Bloch in 1953, where he became a partner in 1969. The company has mostly offered tax minimization schemes to rich customers, mostly Jewish businessmen from Melbourne. Out of 200 people on the Australian Financial Review's 2019 Rich List, nearly one in five are clients of Arnold Bloch Leibler.[4]
Leibler was heavily involved in Project Do It, an amnesty scheme announced by Commissioner Chris Jordan in 2014, under PM Tony Abbott. The scheme sought encourage those who had large amounts stashed away in overseas banks to bring the money back to Australia. If they did, they would be assessed for tax just going back four years. The penalty would be minimal, and unless they had committed a crime unrelated to taxation, would not be persecuted for breaching tax laws. The tax office had to forego hundred of millions of dollars in tax revenue, often from fortunes that had accumulated over decades.[5]
Politics
Leibler has said he has had some close relationships with prime minister from both the dominant parties. "John Howard certainly, and Bob Hawke, of course, and yes, Paul Keating, and so too Malcolm Turnbull".[6] When asked of Jewish business people had played some part in the lives and political destiny of Australian prime minister, he replied:
I'm not going to go there and name names. But, you know, when I was president of the ZFA, sometimes I would call one of these business people who I knew had a close relationship with politicians on both sides of politics. I would ring up and explain that there was a problem and that they needed to sit down with the PM and explain the problem. They would always be very helpful doing that.[7]
Asked why they intervened, he replied:
I mean, they were close to these prime minister in all sorts of ways. But they did feel strongly about some issues, particularly support for Israel, you know, partly because they had background or their parents did, in the Holocaust, and they knew where they had come from. They weren't into issuing public statements but they had the sort of relationship with prime ministers and foreign ministers, too that allowed them to intervene.[8]
Related Quotations
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Abbott | “In an AIJAC function in 2013. Abbot was asked what his position was on some aspect or other of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. "Oh, my position is whatever Mark [Leibler] and Colin [Rubenstein] is", he answered.” | Tony Abbott | 2013 |
| Kevin Rudd | “Rudd attended a dinner on the 3rd of June with Jewish community leaders to repair the strained relationship. According to Rudd, Mark Leibler, leader of AIJAC berated him for committing the "hostile act" of expelling the Israeli diplomat. Rudd told Leibler that it was the second time Israel had used false passports, wherupon Leibler responded "I don't believe you". When Rudd offered a meeting with ASIO chief Richardson, "Leibler still stared at me in disbelief. And then disbelief turned to anger. Apropos of nothing, he said, 'Julia is looking very good in the public eye these days, Prime Minister. She's performing very strongly. She's a great friend of Israel. But you shouldn't be anxious about her, should you, Prime Minister?' It was Leibler at his menacing worst."” | Kevin Rudd | 2018 |
| Kevin Rudd | “In his memoirs, Prime Minster Rudd told how in the National Security Committee of the Cabinet after the second Israeli passport incident, Dennis Richardson, chief of ASIO, stated that "unless Australia wished to be seen as a 'soft touch' by the Israelis, we had to act firmly and decisively. Everyone nodded in agreement except Julia Gillard. "I asked her explicitly whether she supported the recommendations. She grunted her assent. I knew for a fact that Julia had been cultivated by the Israeli Lobby in Australia".” | Kevin Rudd | 2018 |
References
- ↑ https://www.unz.com/article/mark-leibler-powerbroker-for-australias-jewish-plutocracy/
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 2, ISBN 1925835804
- ↑ https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/isi-leibler-key-advocate-for-jewish-refuseniks-dies-in-israel-20210413-p57ivd.html
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 2 ISBN 1925835804
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 243 ISBN 1925835804
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 145
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 145 ISBN 1925835804
- ↑ Michael Gawena The Powerbroker, page 145 ISBN 1925835804
