Friday April 18 2025: Mayor of Jerusalem made Honorary Brother in the Order of Freemasons.
Moshe Leon, Mayor of Jerusalem receives Freemasonry title from Israels Grand Master Ilan Segev at a ceremony held March 11, 2025 at the Vert Hotel Jerusalem, in the presence of hundreds of Freemasons.
Freemasonry is a worldwide secret society. Israels Grand Master Ilan Segev: "Secrecy is necessary and we have a handshake only known among us. The moment there is such a handshake, I know exactly who stands in front of me".
"One time, "I arrived in New York and was at the airport's immigration department. I always have a Freemasonry symbol on my jacket. Suddenly, the immigration official stood up – he was a big, black guy – hugged me, and said, 'Brother, welcome to the US.' He was a Freemason like me".
"A friend of mine, who passed away at the age of 103, once told me that "after the signing of the peace agreement with Egypt, he travelled to the country and his suitcase was stolen. What did he do? He used the international Freemasonry distress signal. A police officer approached him, asked him what happened, and asked what hotel my friend was staying at, and lo and behold, the suitcase arrived there shortly after."
Lodges in Israel are run according to the rules of the Grand Lodge of Britain, which is considered 'the mother of all lodges.
In 2018 , Britain’s Guardian News reported that in London two Freemasons’ lodges set up more than 80 years ago for members of parliament and political journalists are continuing to operate, New Welcome Lodge, which set up to recruit MPs, peers and parliamentary staff, and Gallery Lodge, established for members of the political press corps known as the lobby, both remain active, according to Freemasonry records.
A third lodge called the Alfred Robbins Lodge, which was also set up for journalists, also continues to meet regularly in London. The identities of the members of these three lodges remain unknown outside the world of Freemasonry,
The disclosure that both journalists and politicians are Freemasons comes after the outgoing chair of the UK Police Federation said that Freemasons were blocking reforms in policing and thwarting the progress of women and officers from minority communities.
After three years as the chair of the British Police Federation, Steve White said: “I found that there were people who were fundamentally against any kind of change and any kind of progress, and they always happened to be Freemasons.”
At Westminster (the UK Parliament), MPs and peers are not obliged to declare their membership of the Freemasons, although the Commons authorities say they can disclose this information voluntarily on the registers of members’ and Lords’ financial interests. None currently do so.
Nor do any political journalists declare their membership of the Freemasons on the register of journalists’ interests, which is maintained by parliament. The Guardian understands past members of Gallery Lodge have included former journalists at the Times, the Daily Express, the Scotsman, and several Hansard reporters.
Jim Kerr, a past provincial senior grand warden Freemason, said contrary to popular belief there wasn't just one handshake, in fact, "several handshakes" exist. Mr Kerr explained there were specific handshakes "for each of the degrees (or ranks)" through which Freemasons pass.
Marcus Whereat, a past provincial grand steward Freemason: "We all wear an apron. Our aprons are different colours, depicting where you are within Freemasonry". At the front of the Freemason’s lodge room, on the wall, is the "all-seeing eye".
Famous Freemasons abound: American presidents, including George Washington and Gerald Ford; Mark Twain; and even Theodor Tobler, from Switzerland, the inventor of Toblerone, the chocolate bar brand, whose design is Masonic. Gustav Eiffel, engineer-builder, designed the Eiffel Tower to emulate the Masonic triangle.
In the UK famous Freemasons include Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Gilbert and Sullivan, Peter Sellers, TV magician Paul Daniels, John Entwistle of The Who, Sir Alf Ramsey and Rick Wakeman of the rock group Yes.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin joined the New York lodge of the Freemasons during his tenure as ambassador to the United States,
Martin Blackham Israel First TV Program wwww.israelfirst.org