Miami congresswoman US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has urged PGA to drop German insurer Allianz, because they have refused to pay life insurance claims to the survivors of the Holocaust. The German insurer is sponsoring a professional golf tournament in Boca Raton.
In a series of letters written to the PGA, US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has taken the PGA to task for having joined forces with Allianz, which is one of the largest insurance providers in the world and also has a huge presence in the US. Allianz has been accused of refusal to pay billions in insurance claims to thousands of Jews who were killed in the Nazi death camps, but it had been spending huge sums of money on advertising events like the PGA Champions Tour, which was to begin on Monday.
Ros-Lehtinen took an aim at Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour Commissioner and wrote to him stating that they were pardoning Allianz’s shameful behavior by conducting business with Allianz and thereby associating themselves with the appalling treatment meted out to the Holocaust survivors. PGA tour officials claimed to be aware of the controversies surrounding this issue, but have decided to retain Allianz as the sponsor for the event because the profits are donated to the local charities.
In a statement to The Miami Herald, PGA officials stated that they were working really hard in order to create a huge event, so they, along with their sponsors can ensure that they continue to bring in benefits such as these to Boca Raton. The letter-writing campaign undertaken by the lawmaker has been designed to defame Allianz and all those who were associated with the German company. There was a similar offensive the previous year, where she tried to pressurize the National Public Radio stations and cable TV networks to stop airing the advertisements and sponsorships for Garrison Keillor’s – A Prairie Home Companion.
The Miami congresswoman has gone vocal about this issue and has tried to push the legislation through Congress that may allow thousands of Holocaust survivors in South Florida and other areas to sue Allianz as well as other European insurance providers, in the US courts for the unpaid life insurance claims. However, her legislation seems to have encountered problems with the European insurance providers, opposition from the Obama administration, as well as some of the major Jewish organizations that have been backing an ‘international Holocaust claims commission’ as well as other vehicles in order to resolve these issues amicably with the Holocaust survivors.
