For Jews, Israel is a Homeland

Whether you travel East or West

The Road to Home is Always Best

Saying on a Plaque at my boyhood home

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Wailing Wall

Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock

For Christians, this is a holy site because Jesus prayed here and challenged the corrupt practices talking place in the Temple

For Muslims, Temple Mount is third-holiest site in Islam because Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from this site.

Introduction

For many of us knowing that Jews after some 2000 years of inhospitality in almost every country now possess a homeland is a blessing. Since 1948, more than 3 million Jews have immigrated to Israel from such disparate countries as Burma, Afghanistan, India, China, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, USSR, Bolivia, Argentina, etc.

I recently returned from a delightful, stimulating two-week trip to Israel. Because this was my third trip to Israel, the last being twenty-five years ago, I chose to spend almost all of my time either in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem rather than visit Galilee, Masada, Golan Heights or Eilat.

For seven days I was part of an AIPAC  (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) mission that introduced us to a variety of activities—meeting leading Israeli and Palestinian politicians, visiting museums, hearing anecdotal information, and conversing with some 130 other AIPAC senate mission members. My fellow AIPAC members were a fantastic group—well educated, gracious, informed, and diversified along political lines. During the remaining time, I employed privately guides provided by Israel Seminar that enriched my trip immeasurably.

AIPAC is a highly successful lobbying group that advocates policies that promote the security of Israel and the United States. To accomplish its goal, AIPAC at great expense and effort takes certain steps: (1) AIPAC works extremely hard on a bi-partisan basis to educate legislators on issues relevant to Israel (2) AIPAC brings almost every member of Congress to Israel (3) Members of AIPAC meet with elected officials and their staff on a regular basis to discuss issues relevant to Israel and the U.S. (Because there is a 70% turnover rate in Congress every decade, AIPAC’s educational challenge is on-going. (4) AIPAC seeks out “future leaders” both Jewish and non-Jewish of all ethnic, demographic, and racial backgrounds in order to educate them on relevant Israel and Jewish issues. These “leaders” (some 4,000) generally attend AIPAC annual conference in Washington DC. In 2016, close to 18,000 people attended the annual AIPAC conference in Washington D.C.

Some of these leaders take mission trips to Israel.

AIPAC hosts some 50 missions annually to Israel.

AIPAC explicitly recognizes that the United States is a representative democracy where the role of minorities is increasingly important as a voting constituency. Conversely, the Jewish population in the United States has declined from over 5% of the population following World War II to about 2.5% today. Thus, to maintain a strong Israel-U.S. relationship, AIPAC works hard to obtain a broad-based constituency.

Dr. Kent Reynolds (Houston, Texas hometown)

Kent Reynolds, a former minister, is now part of the AIPAC staff. Kent’s role is to develop a Christian Leadership initiative within AIPAC. His role is to introduce Christians to AIPAC at the Senate Level. Kent has to date been most successful, bringing in some 40 non-Jews.

Background Information

Israel’s Jewish population has grown from 600,000 in 1948 to 6,400,000 today. Although there has been some population increase due to Israel’s high fertility (3.4 children per female), most of the increase is attributable to immigration. (Eastern Europe, Russia, North Africa, Mideast, South Africa, Latin America, and the United States). To absorb successfully close to 3 million immigrants has required a network of social services because many of the immigrants did not speak Hebrew, were impoverished, and unfamiliar with the appliances found in developed countries. That said, 75% of Israel’s current population is native born (Second, Third Generation). Because most Israeli’s serve in there arm services (men and women) Israel uses this experience to facilitate the assimilation process.

On a business level and personal level, Israelis are very tech savvy. 96% of Israelis own cell phones, which surpasses the US level of 90%. Israel ranks only behind China in the number of companies listed on NASDAQ.

Israel’s Gross Domestic Product per capita is approximately $35,000- (70% of U.S.)

Its overall GDP is $300 billion a year.

In 2010 Israel joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of the world’s most affluent countries

Israelis own 3 million cars and 90% have air conditioning

Highlights of AIPAC Mission

Memorable Moments

Meeting the Olympians

Listening to the panel that represented different aspects of the Israel Olympics was indeed a special, tear-filled moment

Meeting Ankie Spitzer, widow of Israeli Fencing Coach, Andre Spitzer, was memorable. Ms. Spitzer, who is a journalist, has tried for 44 years to get the Olympics to have a minute of silence to commemorate the 11 Israelis massacred in the 1972 Olympics. She was optimistic that at the upcoming Olympics in 2020 she will accomplish her goal.

Tomer Fulman CEO of ISDS, an Israeli company that won the rights to provide security at the 2016 Olympics. Fulman needed to overcome strong anti-Semitic bias to receive this assignment.

Ori Sasson, Bronze Medal Judo Champion. Sadly, after beating an Egyptian to win the Bronze Medal the Egyptian refused to shake his hands. Interestingly enough the Arab press was mixed on reporting this issue rather than praising Sasson’s opponent.

Moran Samuel, Bronze Medal Rowing Champion Paralympics. Ms. Samuel, until becoming paralyzed, was a basketball star. In February 2016 she had a baby!

In 2012 after she won the gold medal at the Paralympics in Rome, the Italian authorities had not prepared for this eventuality and thus had not recorded the Hatikvah. Ms. Samuel took the microphone and sang the lyrics. (You can see this on YouTube)

Operation Entebbe

The man on the right was paralyzed as part of the Entebbe rescue operation

We met three people who were involved in the successful rescue of some 100 Israelis held hostage in Entebbe, Uganda on July 4, 1976.

Two were Israeli soldiers and one was a passenger who was 17 at the time of the rescue. One of the Israeli soldiers that we met was paralyzed from wounds suffered during the raid.

To quickly recount the event, some 8 terrorists (supporters of the PLO) hijacked the plane after it departed from Athens Greece. The plane initially landed in Libya and then Uganda. Ida Amin, the dictator of Uganda, supported the terrorists by providing hundreds of troops at the Uganda Airport to keep the Israelis hostage.

The rescue mission required incredible ingenuity and daring. That is, the Israel Defense Force landed some four planes at night without lights in Uganda, some 2000 miles from Israel. In order to refuel, Israel required assistance from Kenya—a country that Israel did not have diplomatic relations with.

Bebe Natanyahu’s Brother, Yonatan, was the only Israeli soldier killed. 3 Israeli hostages also died.

As a result of the Entebbe operation, the United States developed rescue teams modeled on the unit employed in the Entebbe rescue.

In retaliation for Kenya’s support, Amin purportedly killed over 100 Kenyan residents of Uganda.

UN Ranks IDF Emergency Medical Team as No. 1 in the world

Israel  became the first country to earn World Health Organizations  highest ranking for its field hospital unit.

The UN World Health Organization recognized Israeli Army’s field hospital as the number 1 in the world to provide aid at natural disaster sites.

We met Dr. Ofer Merin who heads the team. The World Health Organization has sent a team to Israel to understand why the Israeli’s are so effective. Oren said that in 12 hours they can set advanced permanent hospital. Because of its unique designation Israeli teams will be the first team allowed into disaster areas.

Yad Vashem—First Holocaust Museum

 Shoes of Victims

I visited Yad Vashem twice for some five hours during this trip to Israel. Yad Vashem has tastefully taken efforts to remember and help educate further generations on ways to avoid genocide.

Yad Vashem is Israel’s Official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It was created in 1953 for the purpose of commemorating and researching the single largest act of genocide in human history. It comprises 55 million pages of documents, nearly 100,000 photographs, film footage, and the videotaped testimonies of survivors.

The approach to the Hall of Remembrance is lined with trees planed in honor of the 26,000 non-Jewish men and women “Righteous Among the Nations” who at the risk of their own lives attempted to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.

Crystal Night Survivor November 9-10, 1938

Crystal Night (the Night of the Broken Glass) was the first “official pogrom” organized by the Nazis against Jews in Austria and Germany and considered the first step in the holocaust. 91 Jews were murdered; 30,000 Jews were arrested, 1000 synagogues and 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed or damaged.

To pay for the damage instigated by the Nazis, the Jews were fined 1 billion marks.

Paul Simco is a Crystal night survivor.  He is approaching 90 and shared with me some of his fascinating life story. From Paul, I learned that aside from Shanghai, Bolivia was the only other country that offered unlimited asylum to the Jews during the pre World War II period. Paul was one of 15,000 Jews who immigrated to Bolivia.

Adolph Eichmann

After World War II, Paul immigrated to Argentina. While in Argentina, Paul had business dealings with the infamous Adolph Eichmann who was operating under the pseudonym, Richard Klement. Paul recognized that although Eichmann tried to pass himself off as Spanish, he had an Austrian accent. They then conversed in German; however, Eichmann was very aloof, and kept the conversation “strictly business.” I believe at the time Eichmann was a bookkeeper for Mercedes Benz, Argentina.

Ethiopian Jews (Approximately 130,000 former Ethiopians live in Israel).

I visited a Jewelry manufacturing company that is training formerly Ethiopian Jews the trade of designing jewelry, giving them a vocation.

For the first time in history, Blacks were brought from Africa to a new country (Israel) not to be slaves. In this case, the Israeli government paid for the large-scale airlift of Ethiopian Jews under the Law of Return that gives Jews the right to return to live in Israel. While complicated, the Chief Rabbi of Israel recognized that the Ethiopian Jews were indeed Jews and deserved citizenship. Because their practice of Judaism dated from Before the Common Era (Before Christ), the Rabbi required that they “convert to Judaism upon their arrival.”

The Ethiopian Jews were worshipping a form of Judaism practiced before the time of Christ. They were an isolated, desperately poor community. Many of them made aliyah from Ethiopia in Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991). There is some speculation that The Beta Israel community (the name given to Ethiopian Jews)  are “descended from the tribe of Dan—one of the 10 lost tribes.” Today, there are some 130,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel.

Some of these Ethiopian Jews were airlifted from Ethiopia. Others from Somalia. About 25% of the Jews that migrated from Ethiopia to Somalia died during the 400-mile trip or during their refugee status.

At the time of their aliyah, these Ethiopians were uncivilized, not knowing about running water or electricity. Thus, absorbing them into Israel has been difficult. Almost all of the men do military service. Sadly, they do face racist prejudice and many of them remain impoverished.

On a side note, while walking near my hotel in Jerusalem, I witnessed the wedding of Coptic (Christian) Ethiopian Jews. In some cases, they have been in Israel since the 1870’s

Political Speakers

AIPAC provided us a wide spectrum of speakers, including Palestinian representatives. On balance, it was most exhilarating to hear their diverse viewpoints. There is a misperception that AIPAC provides only a monolithic viewpoint. I can attest that this is false.

This is part of our tradition!

One Jewish refrain is that “the only thing two Jews agree on, is what the third should pay to charity.”

David Horovitz, founder to The Times of Israel: “State of the Nation.” Interestingly enough, I am going to hear David again in Sarasota where he is speaking again for AIPAC. His late uncle was Abba Eban and his late father was Chaim Herzog, Israel’s president. While Horovitz is for a two-state solution, he also advocates keeping the Jewish nature of the Jewish state. Herzog rejects any coercive international attempts that undermine Israeli’s wellbeing and security. Herzog has grave misgivings about the Iran Nuclear Accord, given Iran’s widespread support for terrorism. Herzog highlighted the recent  $38 billion American Foreign Aid Package to Israel and cited that it underscores American commitment to Israel. Herzog’s biggest concern is that Israel loses its unique Jewish democratic nature. That is, Israel should remain both Jewish and Democratic

Dan Shapiro, Ambassador to Israel from the United States: “The View from Washington.” The most important item that Shapiro conveyed was a $38 billion in military aid that Israel is getting over a 10-year period. This amount represents an $800 million increase over earlier aid packages and represents a major commitment to Israel’s security, especially from missile terror attacks.

Lt. Col Igal Ostanovsky, Senior Assistant for Policy and Strategic Affairs Israeli Ministry of Defense

Amb. Sallai Meridor and David Siegel: “The State of the U.S.-Israel Relationship.”

Yair Lapid “Israel’s Battle Against BDS”: Lapid is a Former Minister and Former journalist who is Chairman of the Yest Atld Party. The centrist, Yesh Atld Party, which he founded, became the second largest party in the Knesset

“Bougie” Herzog “ The View from the opposition.” Herzog is Chairman of the Labor Party and has been the opposition leader in the Knesset. His father was the former President of Israel.

Rabbi Daniel Gordis “50 Years Since 1967. Reunification of Jerusalem.” Rabbi Gordis spoke eloquently about the pride that Jews now feel about having a Jewish nation and controlling Jerusalem

Dr. Gore Gold “Israel’s Emerging Relationship Across the Globe.” Former Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Major General Amos Yadlin “The JCPOA One Year Later.” Head of Israel Defense Force Military Intelligence Directorate

Dr. Air Sacher: “Israel’s Third Lebanon War: Securing the Home front” Ari Sacher is a Rocket Scientist and has worked in design and development of missiles for over 20 years. He is a senior scientist on the Israel Iron Dome Project