What really concerns people is that he hasn't lain low and is playing this peculiar media game. An apology from him for the adverse publicity the party has suffered would be welcome London, Friday, December 6, 2007   David Abrahams gave in secret 'to quell conspiracy fears' By Leon Symons and the JC Reporting Team LABOUR donor David Abrahams (right) has made clear to the JC where he thinks the blame lies for the events that put him at the centre of a major political scandal alongside Jon Mendelsohn, a former colleague at Labour Friends of Israel and now Gordon Brown's fundraiser. From his £1 million apartment overlooking London's Regents Park, he lashed out at those he claimed had blackened his name simply for giving money to a cause close to his heart. He also claimed that he had made his donations secretly so as to avoid accusations of his being part of a "Jewish conspiracy". Of the row surrounding 19 anonymous donations made through third parties, Mr Abrahams told the JC: "A lot of this is character assassination, conjecture and speculation. The Daily Telegraph was saying that the money was not mine and that it came from Israel. That was patently untrue. My accountant has recently done my books and it was all there. The money was earned legitimately through hard work and it was totally wrong to say that it came from Israel. "Some of the things written about me have been terrible. Now they are saying there was a Jewish conspiracy, with Lord Levy, Jon Mendelsohn and me, and that is ridiculous. "The real reason I wanted to remain anonymous was that I didn't want Jewish money and the Labour Party being put together because this is what I feared would happen. People would say there's a Jewish conspiracy. I didn't come into Labour just to give them money. I give money to many good causes, to Jewish charities, not just to Labour." As for Jon Mendelsohn, the Prime Minister's chief fundraiser, the Newcastle-born property developer said: "The letter that Jon Mendelsohn sent [asking for a meeting with Mr Abrahams] was totally confidential. Mendelsohn was a fool and politically naïve to slag me off because he didn't want me in Labour Friends of Israel. I was the treasurer and I had been a member for some years. When he became chairman, he thought he might have opposition. "He tried to alienate me from my own organisation that I had helped to build up. He slagged me off over it and that's why I released the letter. If the government starts hammering me, then it might take one or two dirty turns there as well." Mr Abrahams and Mr Mendelsohn were both involved with LFI, Mr Mendelsohn as chairman and Mr Abrahams as a donor. Sources in the community have suggested that the pair did not get on because Mr Mendelsohn wanted to imbue LFI with a more modern approach to its lobbying role, whereas Mr Abrahams preferred more traditional methods. Mr Abrahams had been a regular visitor to LFI stands at Labour events and his family were said to have been long-standing supporters. The furore surrounding both men began when the Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Abrahams had used third parties to conceal donations amounting to more than £600,000. Mr Mendelsohn became embroiled after he admitted he had known of the arrangement, which broke electoral law, for at least two months. The JC has seen the letter to Mr Abrahams from Mr Mendelsohn praising him as "one of the party's strongest supporters". Mr Abrahams also had long-standing connections to Trade Union Friends of Israel and had been a supporter of, though not a donor to, the boycott-fighting Academic Friends of Israel. One Jewish Labour activist said this week of Mr Abrahams: "What really concerns people is that he hasn't lain low and is playing this peculiar media game. An apology from him for the adverse publicity the party has suffered would be welcome." But Lady Cocks, a past director of LFI, said: "I am always chasing people for money for charity, but it never occurred to me to ask David, because one would never have imagined he was rich, or seeking any interest for himself." Mr Abrahams has not shied away from publicity. On Tuesday night, he topped the guest list at the Anglo-Israel Association's fundraising dinner at the Savoy, arriving with a friend he introduced as Catherine Zalanowska. They spent the evening at Table Number 1, flanked by a clearly anxious Anglo-Israel official and the Israeli ambassador's Special Branch officer. Photographers who spent last Shabbat outside St John's Wood Synagogue were told by a warden to return next September -- Rosh Hashana. On Wednesday, Mr Abrahams's flat in Imperial Court in St John's Wood, overlooking London Zoo, was silent. Neighbours appeared surprised to learn that he lived there, and security guards said they had not been seen him for weeks. Mr Abrahams last week hired Martin Minns as his spokesman. Mr Minns has a long history in politics, which began with the Conservative Party, as an agent then assistant campaign director at Central Office. He left in 1992 to set up a PR company and, during the 1997 election, defected to the Eurosceptic Democracy Movement. In a stunt designed to warn of what he perceived as the horrors of the euro, he arranged in 1999 for five minimally dressed women to have a telephone number written on their buttocks. The number was for a phone line warning of the euro. He has worked as an adviser on numerous campaigns, most famously for the Paddington Survivors Group. This led to a huge political furore when the special adviser to then transport secretary, Stephen Byers, tried to research Mr Minns's background, suggesting there may have been political motivations behind the actions of the group.   IN the Commons on Wednesday, MP Andrew Dismore was somewhat taken aback at the response to a question he put to Gordon Brown during Prime Minister's Questions. Mr Dismore wanted the Prime Minister to acknowledge the contribution made by the British Jewish community, to mark Chanucah. [Website note: The non-monetary contributions include World War I, World War II, the war in Iraq, and other minor blessings]. But as he began his question, he said: "Some Tories shouted 'Lord Levy' and 'David Abrahams' when I said the word Jewish. There were a few of them heckling. It didn't get out of hand, it was brief and the Speaker didn't have to intervene. "When I carried on speaking they stopped. "This just feeds the problems we have in relations, in the way that this whole thing has been turned into an antisemitic attack. "It's neither here nor there that they [Lord Levy and Mr Abrahams] are Jewish, it's irrelevant. The Prime Minister rose above it."   David Irving's Books

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