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Brief Encounter
David Horovitz
Stephen Hoffman, chief executive officer of the United Jewish Communities, came to Israel on April 9 with other American Jewish leaders, for a 48-hour solidarity mission, at the height of Israel�s Operation Defensive Shield. This brief conversation with The Report was squeezed in between meetings with Prime Minister Sharon, army and intelligence chiefs, and visits to the sites of bombings, bereaved families and hospitalized victims.
The Jerusalem Report: How are American Jews responding to Israel�s crisis?
Stephen Hoffman: They are anxious. The Netanyah blast was like a bomb going off at every Seder in America. There was a spontaneous decision to start a special fundraising campaign. And Jewish leaders are coming to Israel on solidarity missions. Thirty-six people are here right now who didn�t ask any questions, just came, and another 50 coming next week, even though their families are telling them not to.
What do Israelis expect? I find this so annoying. Where�s the fighting? Jenin? What�s that, 40 minutes from here? Would Israelis get on a plane to come visit me if there was fighting going on 40 minutes from Cleveland (where Hoffman was Federation president)? Probably not.
As the conflict escalates, we�re seeing a wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. Is that reaching the U.S. as well?
No. The Jewish community feels very strong. Empowered. There are security worries, though. You never know. Some crazy skinhead� Many institutions have beefed up security.
A friend told me her father, in Manhattan, tries not to talk about Israel when he�s in a cab these days.
Well, that depends on who your driver is. And, yes, I do check the driver�s name.
How supportive are U.S. Jews of Israel�s government?
Are there Jews who are critical of Israeli government policy? Yes. But no more than before. Are 95 percent of the Jews supporting Israel? I�d say that�s a little low. I have yet to run into somebody who doesn�t say Israel has the right to hunt down terrorists. When they put that Adam Shapiro on the news (a Jew from Brooklyn who spent time with Yasser Arafat in his besieged Ramallah compound and compared Israeli army actions to Nazi activities), which of course they did all the time, and then they put on his family, complaining about death threats, well, what do they expect? An avalanche of goodwill? He�s a mamzer. But it really is a minority. We Jews take excessive pride when a Jew does any good, and get excessively depressed when a few bad apples pop up.
Now that doesn�t mean that the government�s policy on settlements receives the same support. Most people now say, aren�t any of the settlements in play? Barak offered, after all � It�s not like there�s no justice in the Palestinian cause. There�s no justice in their methods. But something will have to change down the road.
Hasn�t the Bush administration let Israel down by calling on it to withdraw?
The Administration is trying to position short-term tactics against long-term strategy. One can assume it is in Israel�s long-term interests to prevent meltdown in the Arab world.
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(May 6, 2002)
Jewish World
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