Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan	Ehud Barak of Israel
James Wolfensohn greeting Queen Rania Al Abdullah	Bono and Queen Rania Al Abdullah
Bernard J. Arnault and Mayor Michael Bloomberg	British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Henry Kissinger
James Wolfensohn and Bono	Muhtar Kent, Gordon Brown and Bernard J. Arnault
Queen Rania Al Abdullah and Rabbi Arthur Schneier and wife Elisabeth

APPEAL OF CONSCIENCE
Queen Of Jordan Glitters
At Waldorf-Astoria Gala

Story & Photos by Tim Boxer

S

HE’S utterly radiant and drop-dead gorgeous. Her Royal Highness Rania Al Abdullah, the charming queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, dazzled the 920 guests as she entered the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria for the 2009 annual awards dinner of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier of the Park East Synagogue organized the foundation in 1965 to promote religious freedom and global tolerance.

It was a week of frenzied traffic gridlock in Manhattan as one motorcade after another, escorted by wailing patrol cars packed with appropriate defensive gear, brought kings, queens, heads of state and unabashed dictators through the jammed streets of Midtown to the annual gabfest of the UN General Assembly.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain was one of three honorees at the Appeal of Conscience event. He came for the press conference but skipped the dinner – it was that kind of hectic night. He had dinner with leaders of the G-20 to discuss climate change.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also at the photo op but couldn’t stay to eat as he had three other appointments that night.

At the dinner, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, got up to present the British prime minister with the foundation’s World Statesman Award, and was flummoxed. He looked around but couldn’t find Brown.

Kissinger recalled last year’s dinner when he presented the award to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"I introduced Sarkozy—after he spoke. This time I’m introducing Brown who’s not even here."

Rabbi Schneier introduced the second honoree, Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, as the son of Necdet Kent, vice consul for Turkey in Marseilles during the Second World War, who saved a lot of Jewish lives by issuing visas to escape occupied France. "Turkey put out a stamp commemorating Kent’s hu7manitarian rescue," Schneier said.

"Our one million employees in over 200 countries," Kent said, "are deeply committed to our mission of refreshing the world."

He said that the last time he was in Paris he ordered an ice-cold Coca-Cola at a café and the waiter just smiled and said, "Ah, American Champagne."

The third honoree, Bernard J. Arnault, chairman and CEO of LVMH, was proud to follow in Sarkozy’s footsteps as recipient of an Appeal of Conscience Award.

Among the many notables who applauded the three honorees were Bono, former NYC Mayor Edward Koch, former NY Governor George Pataki, Wilbur L. Ross Jr., Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of America; Imam Yayha M. Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University; fashion designer Donna Karan; Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, president and CEO of ALCOA; media titan Rupert Murdoch of News Corporation; James D. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank; Dr. Srgjan Kerim, president of the General Assembly; Ehud Barak, defense minister of Israel; plus the prime minister of Hungary, foreign minister of Spain, intelligence chief of Morocco and so on.