Washington, D.C.- “The headline in the Greek newspaper Avriani regarding President-elect Barack Obamaʼs coming Administration and the Jewish community expresses, as the American Jewish Committee (AJC) pointed out, `the views of Avriani…not the [Greek] nationʼs,ʼ” said the leaders of the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH). “The Greek people distinguished themselves as heroes during the Nazi occupation with their protection of their Jewish community. As the Raul Wallenberg Foundation said, ʽduring the Holocaust, 10,000 [Greek Jews] survived, largely due to the Greek peopleʼs refusal to cooperate with German plans for deportation.ʼ”

The November 4, 2008 issue of Avriani ran a headline on the front page that read “The anticipated victory of Obama in the U.S. elections signals the end of Jewish domination. Everything changes in the USA and we hope that it will be more democratic and humane.”

“Hellenes value so highly the role that the Jewish community plays in matters relating to Hellenism and Orthodoxy that CEH created an award, 15 years ago, to honor them. It is awarded each year to the person from the Jewish community who is most helpful to Hellenic and Orthodox issues. This Mordohai Frizis Award is named after the first high-ranking Greek soldier to give his life fighting the Axis forces.”

“One former recipient is Richard Holbrooke who during the Clinton Administration got: (1) the Omonia five released from jail in Albania; (2) FYROM to remove from its constitution language that was threatening Greece; (3) Turkey to withdraw from Imia; (4) France and Germany to switch their EU position so that Cyprus could accede to the EU in the early group and without a settlement; and (5) played a major role in arranging the only visit by a sitting U.S. President (Bill Clinton) to the Ecumenical Patriarchate.”

Other prominent members of the Jewish community who have been helpful to Hellenic and Orthodox issues and honored with the Frizis Award include: then-National Security Advisor to the President of the United States Sandy Berger; then-Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman; then-Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA); then-Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Congressman Ben Gilman (R-NY); Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and candidate for Secretary of Defense in an Obama Administration, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI); Chairwoman of the crucial House Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY);

“Many Greek-Americans were pleased that President-elect Obama appointed to the powerful White House Chief of Staff position the first Jewish person to ever hold that position, Rahm Emanuel.”