NEW ORLEANS — U.S. vice-president Joe Biden pledged that he and President Barack Obama would continue to support Israel and said they are committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Natan Sharansky at the General Assembly [Frances Kraft photo]
NEW ORLEANS — U.S. vice-president Joe Biden pledged that he and President Barack
Obama would continue to support Israel and said they are committed to
preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
David Engel and Linda Kislowicz at the General Assembly [Frances Kraft photo]
Biden spoke at the annual General Assembly (GA) of Jewish Federations of North America on Sunday. The keynote speaker at the GA’s opening plenary, he had just met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was scheduled to address delegates on Monday.
“This government will stand with Israel,” said Biden. “It’s in our own self-interest, beyond it being an absolute moral necessity.”
As well, he referred to the necessity for peace talks. “There is no substitute for direct face-to-face negotiations leading eventually to states for two people secured – the Jewish State of Israel and the viable independent state of Palestine,” he said.
“That is the only path to the Israeli people’s decades-long quest for security, and the only path to the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations for nationhood.”
The three-day event brought together more than 3,100 delegates – lay and professional leaders of the Jewish community, and 600 students and student leaders – representing 157 member federations and 400 affiliated Jewish communities. There were about 130 Canadians at the Nov. 7 to 9 GA and the concurrent Lion of Judah conference for women who donate at least $5,000 to their annual UJA campaign.
Linda Kislowicz, executive director of the United Israel Appeal Federations Canada (UIAFC), said that it’s “extremely valuable for Canadians to participate as part of a larger North American family of organizations. There’s a tremendous focus on the future and on youth [at this GA]. We share the same concerns as our American colleagues in encouraging and engaging the next generation of leaders.”
Shaun Bernstein, a Humber College journalism student, said he was there to learn to become a better reporter by focusing on Jewish ethics.
Joel Zimmerman, a second-year psychology student at Mount Royal University in Calgary, where he is president of Hillel — was attending his first GA.
“I thought it was an opportunity I should jump on,” he said. “I think it’s good to see the amount of connection the Jewish community has.”
Jewish Agency for Israel chair Natan Sharansky, speaking at a UIAFC reception, said it is important that young people are at the GA. Having visited several university campuses beleaguered by anti-Israel activity, he said he knows very well “how difficult it is to be a proud Jew in these universities, and how difficult it is to speak your mind.”
Andres Spokoiny, CEO of Montreal’s Federation CJA and a panellist at a workshop on “Finding Community in Difficult Economic Times,” told The CJN there is a lot of “cross-pollination between communities” at the GA.
Ted Sokolsky, president of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, was heartened that the American federation system “has come on board in fighting the delegitimization of Israel.”
Earlier, at the plenary, Biden had lauded the federations’ new Israel Action Network, launched for that purpose. Sokolsky and the Toronto federation played a key role in getting it off the ground.
The location of the meeting was significant, an apt place to include a half-day of community service for the first time. Delegates were scheduled to assist in ongoing projects, five years after New Orleans was devastated by hurricane Katrina. The city was selected so the federations could celebrate and build on the $28 million provided by federations following the hurricane, a news release stated.
Biden lauded the federations for their “daunting but worthy goal” of repairing the world, and said that policy-makers could learn a lesson from them: “To prevent poverty, make sure you’re out there doing what you’re doing.”
He spoke of the federations’ efforts both at home and in Israel, a country he said is close to his heart.
“My love for Israel was nurtured by my father, but was cemented after I made my first visit there in 1973 as a 30-year-old senator,” said Biden, who is Catholic. He said that Golda Meir, Israel’s prime minister at the time, told him that Israelis have a secret weapon: “We have nowhere else to go.
“All these years later, I find both alarm and solace in those words,” he said. “I feel so absolutely certain that our support of Israel must continue forever.”
He said any disagreements with Netanyahu, whom he referred to as his close friend, have been tactical but never fundamental. “The ties between our countries are literally unbreakable.”
As well, he said, “it must be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by unshakable opposition by the United States of America.”
Television producer David Simon, creator of HBO’s The Wire, who also spoke at the opening plenary, alluded to the significance of the location for this year’s conclave, recalling that convention organizers cancelled bookings after Katrina, and also noted that federations are now focusing on non-Jewish causes as well as Jewish ones. “We are all connected, and New Orleans is living proof of that.
“The need [in New Orleans] is unbelievable. It’s not just need. It’s desperation,” Simon said.
His speaking fee would go to help an organization that benefits musicians, he noted. “You might be shocked to know that the people who make New Orleans, New Orleans, are the ones with the least health care.”
