Chelsea owner pledges £3.9m for new Robert Kraft antisemitism foundation

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has pledged £3.9m for a new foundation set up by US businessman Robert Kraft to tackle antisemitism.

New England Patriots owner Kraft announced the establishment of the Foundation for Social Media Messaging Against Antisemitism as he accepted the Genesis Prize award in Jerusalem on Thursday.

Alongside the £3.9m Genesis Prize, Kraft, 78, is putting £15.7m of his own money toward the project. “My vision is to work to end the violence against Jewish communities, ” Kraft said.

Kraft said his goal was to raise £39.5m for the foundation, which will target those aged 18 to 35 who are “most impacted by what they see on social media.”

“In combating the scourge of antisemitism, my solemn ambition is to counter all forms of intolerance in the spirit of the ancient Jewish value of tikkun olam – to heal and repair the world,” he said.

Some 600 people, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, attended the ceremony at the Jerusalem Theater.

Previous winners of the prestigious prize include artist Anish Kapoor, violinist Itzhak Perlman, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor-director Michael Douglas. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

Senior reform rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, who attended the gala, said: “All peoples have the right to self-determination, including the Jewish people. It is our duty to combat the pernicious narrative that robs the Jewish people of this right.”