 |
in this issue
|
This edition of Strictly Conferential covers highlights of Conference of Presidents activities from November 16 through December 14.
Please visit the new Conference website, featuring the latest events, publications, and statements, including talking points on the Iranian Holocaust Denial conference, President Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid , action items on making a difference now for Israel, and information on the three abducted Israeli soldiers: Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev, and Gilad Shalit. .
Also visit the websites of:
|
|
Indicting Ahmadinejad and Iran's Holocaust Denial Conference |
|
(L-R) Prof. Ruth Wedgwood, Justus Reid Weiner, Prof. Alan Dershowitz, Conference Chairman Harold Tanner, past Chairman Ken Bialkin, Amb. Meir Rosenne, Prof. Martin Peretz, Amb. Dore Gold, MK Danny Naveh, Amb. Eitan Ben Tzur, MP Irwin Cotler, Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.
International law experts, diplomats, and other leaders met on Thursday, December 14, for a special symposium, convened by the Conference of Presidents and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, to discuss legal options to bring President Ahmadinejad of Iran to justice for incitement to genocide against the Jewish people. Addressing a standing-room-only crowd of over 150 people at the offices of the New York Country Lawyers Association, a number of significant recommendations were presented in the first major international effort to prosecute President Ahmadinejad for violation of the Genocide Convention.
Participating in the symposium were US Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amb. John Bolton, former Canadian Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, former Israeli Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amb. Dore Gold, Congressman Charles Rangel, Member of Knesset Danny Naveh, Prof. Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins University and member of the UN Human Rights Committee, former Israeli Ambassador to the US and France Amb. Meir Rosenne, Prof. Martin Peretz, Editor-in-Chief of The New Republic and Professor at Harvard University, Amb. Eitan Ben Tzur, former Director-General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents.
Ahmadinejad’s threat to “wipe Israel off the map” and other comments constitute “direct and public incitement to commit genocide," a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, which defines genocide as the intent or actual destruction, in whole or in part, of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
The participants discussed the potential roles of the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the UN Security Council, domestic courts, and the UN Secretary-General. For more information on the recommendations and quotes from the participants, please click here.
Speaking Out Against Iran's Holocaust Denial Conference
On the same day that Iran’s Foreign Ministry opened a state-sponsored Holocaust denial conference, New York political, communal and religious leaders gathered outside the Iranian Mission to the United Nations to denounce it and to call upon the international community to join in the condemnation. The press conference was convened by the Ad Hoc Leadership Coalition for Justice with the Conference of Presidents and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.
Speakers included Congressman Anthony Weiner and New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Holocaust survivors, and other communal leaders of different faiths.
Photo: At podium, Rep. Anthony Weiner with Conference of Presidents Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein (partially obscured). Below, left to right, NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Surivors Executive Director Sam Bloch (partially obscured), Mr. Mark Weitzman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Surivors President Roman Kent, and Mr. Ibrahim Kurtulis, Advisor to the President of the Federation of Turkish American Associations.
Chairman Harold Tanner said, “The free world must tell Ahmadinejad that this conference cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged. We appreciate the words of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the German government and all those who are standing up to denounce the stupid and vicious Iranian conference.”
Mr. Matthew Maryles, President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York: “The Iranian government continues to try to undermine the existence and legitimacy of the State of Israel and threatens the lives of the millions of Jews who live in the State of Israel. Ironically, this conference – ostensibly to deny the Holocaust – is being hosted by a government that would like to perpetrate another holocaust.”
Also represented were the offices of Senator Hillary Clinton, Governor George Pataki, NY City Council President Christine Quinn, NY City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and Germany’s Consul-General in New York, Amb. Hans-Juergen Heimsoeth. Britain’s Acting Consul-General Jon Benjamin attended. Also speaking was Mr. Ibrahim Kurtulis, Advisor to the President of the Federation of Turkish American Associations. For quotes from the speakers and messages from Senator Clinton and the German Government, please click here. Also, see the Conference’s talking points on Iran’s Holocaust Denial conference here. (PDF file)
|
|
New United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon |
|
|
Conference of Presidents leaders recently met with incoming UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who recently made clear his strong opposition to Iran's threats against Israel and Holocaust denial: “Denying historical facts especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust is just not acceptable. Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of states or people. I would like to see this fundamental principle respected in both rhetoric and practice by all the members of the international community.”
Photo: (L-R) Conference past Chairman Amb. Ronald S. Lauder, Chairman Harold Tanner, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Permanent Representative to the UN Amb. John Bolton, past Chairman James S. Tisch, and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.
|
|
Visiting Israeli Cabinet Ministers |
|
Over the course of four weeks, five Israeli ministers visited the Conference. Israel's Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee Shimon Peres addressed a special luncheon of the Conference of Presidents. Minister Peres spoke about the growth of the Israeli economy, attributing a large part of the success to Israel’s flourishing high-tech industry, which is due to the initiatives of individual citizens and not the government. With regard to the development of the Negev and Galilee regions, Minister Peres thanked the American Jewish community for contributing over $400 million to the project. He said that over the next ten years, Israel will spend 15 billion shekels towards the development of businesses, industry,
| Minister Peres with past Chairman Lester Pollack |
education and housing in the Negev, including the expansion of |
Israel’s largest Bedouin city, Rahat. For more information about Minister Peres’ remarks on Israel’s economic development, relations with the Palestinians, and on Iran, please click here.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman addressed the Conference in an off-the-record session and spoke about Iran, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and the Israeli Arab community. The Iranian threat is directed not only towards Israel, but to the international community as a whole. Comparing Ahmadinejad to Hitler, Minister Lieberman said that should Iran acquire nuclear weapon capacity, this would lead to a regional nuclear arms race.
He also spoke about the Oslo Accords, and said that the process was based on three misconceptions:
1) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the main cause of violence in the Middle East; 2) The conflict is a dispute over territory; and 3) The conflict is limited to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. In fact, he said, it includes the Israeli-Arab community as well.
He advocated an exchange between Israel and the Palestinian Authority of territory with Jewish and Arab populations, which he referred to as the Cyprus model. There is a clash of civilizations - a conflict of values - between Jews and Arabs, and there can only be peace if there is separation between them.
At an off-the-record meeting on November 16, Israel’s Minister of Transport, and former Defense Minister and IDF Chief of Staff, Shaul Mofaz, provided a tour d’horizon from an Israeli national security perspective. He addressed the Iranian nuclear threat, the political calculations of Hamas and its rocket attacks, recent signals from the Syrian regime, the war in Lebanon and its aftermath, and the situation in Iraq.
 Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Eli Yishai, Minister of Finance Avraham Hirchson, and Director-General of the Ministry of Finance Yossi Bachar addressed a large gathering of the Conference of Presidents regarding recent economic developments in Israel. Minister Yishai thanked the American Jewish community for its financial support during the war, and said that despite the many difficulties Israel faced during the conflict, its economy remains strong. Israel is investing billions of shekels to help rebuild cities in the north of the country, which had sustained rocket and missile damage. With regard to the infrastructure in Sderot, he said that he and his ministry were working with Minister Hirchson and the Finance Ministry to strengthen the buildings in the city against Kassam rocket attacks.
Minister Eli Yishai
 Minister Hirchson said that since the end of the war, 95 percent of residential damage claims filed by citizens from the north had been answered by the Israeli government. Additionally, people who were unable to make it to work because of the war were fully compensated by their employers. He added that in 2006 foreign investments in Israel reached an all-time high of $20 billion, with an increase expected for 2007. Director-General Bachar said that a recent International Monetary Fund report found that the state of the Israeli economy is very strong with a 5% growth rate. The total cost of the war, he said, including compensation for the citizens of the North, was $2.8 billion. (L-R) Past Chairman Ken Bialkin, Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein, Minister Hirchson, Chairman Harold Tanner.
|
|
Israel's New US Ambassador, Sallai Meridor |
| 
Israel's newly appointed Ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor met with the Conference of Presidents to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, which he termed “the challenge of our generation.” The meeting was Amb. Meridor's first with American Jewish leaders, since presenting his credentials to President George W. Bush. Speaking of Iran's global ambitions, radical ideology, nuclear aspirations, long-range missile development, and strategic location,he said, “World orderis in the balance, as are the lives of our children and grandchildren. Nothing less. It is the challenge of our generation and we owe it to them not to fail.”
L-R: Chairman Harold Tanner, Amb. Sallai Meridor, Executive Vice Chairman
Malcolm Hoenlein, Consul-General of Israel in New York Arye Mekel.
Amb. Meridor also elaborated on the shared values and strategic interests that underlie the US-Israel special relationship. He referred to the US National Security Strategy document and highlighted the long list of common strategic interests with Israel, including the war on terror, nuclear nonproliferation, and global free trade. Amb. Meridor also underscored the willingness of Israel to negotiate with a Palestinian government that accepts the international community's three conditions: recognition of Israel's right to exist, renunciation of violence, and acceptance of past agreements. He discussed the shift in Israeli opinion over the past 15 years that has resulted in the majority of Israelis accepting a two-state solution, and the need for the Palestinians to undergo the same transformation.
Amb. Meridor thanked the Jewish leaders for their efforts on behalf of Israel, and, noting the primacy of the American Jewish community among the Jewish Diaspora communities, encouraged continued cooperation on “the shared responsibility of Israel and the American Jewish community for the future of the Jewish people.”
|
|
High-Level Consultations by the Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman |
|
Chairman Harold Tanner and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein visited Washington and held high-level consultations at the White House and State Department before participating in the annual White House Chanukah party, hosted by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. At the invitation of the President, Malcolm Hoenlein attended the ceremony marking the presentation of the Medal of Freedom to ten outstanding recipients, including Natan Sharansky, William Safire, Dr. Joshua Lederberg, David McCullough, and Paul Johnson.
Harold Tanner and Malcolm Hoenlein visited Israel for a whirlwind three-day marathon of meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Mossad director Meir Dagan, Minister of Internal Security Avi Dichter, Minister of Tourism Isaac Herzog, Deputy Minister of Defense Ephraim Sneh, Foreign Ministry officials, including Director-General Aaron Abramovich, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, top IDF officials, National Security Advisor Ilan Mizrachi, experts on Iran, media analysts, and leading Knesset members.
Malcolm Hoenlein and other Conference member organization leaders participated in an international video-conference meeting of the Global Forum on anti-Semitism. The meeting was chaired by Israel's Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni and will re-launch international coordinating efforts on this vital issue.
|
|
Analyzing the War in Lebanon |
|
 On December 6, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former deputy head of Military Intelligence, presented his analysis on the major successes and failures of this summer’s war in Lebanon. While cautioning that “it is still too early to judge,” he said that the predominant feeling within the Israeli military is that “an opportunity was missed” to deliver a crushing defeat to Hezbollah. Among the failures of the campaign, he listed: 1) the war ended with Hezbollah in possession of over 200 missiles; 2) Hezbollah’s command and control systems remained intact; 3) Almost all of Hezbollah’s leaders are alive; 4)
| Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror with past Chairman Mel Salberg |
Hezbollah survived after 30 days of attack by |
the IDF; and 5) the two abducted soldiers are still in Hezbollah hands.
Maj.-Gen. Amirdror also listed five successes: 1) Hezbollah’s Zelzal and Fajr medium-range missiles were eliminated in the first hours of the war; 2) Every missile-launcher was destroyed within five minutes of use, changing Hezbollah’s consideration of them from re-deployable assets to “disposable” equipment; 3) Hezbollah lost from 500-600 fighters, more than they have ever cumulatively lost since their founding; 4) Hezbollah’s domestic legitimacy was strongly hurt by the large number of casualties and the massive destruction. The current demonstrations are an attempt to change that political situation; and 5) The IDF won every battle of the war.
He also addressed the broader strategic consequences of the war in relation to Israel’s decision-making progress, Israel’s deterrence posture, the West’s war on terror, Iran’s loss of Hezbollah’s combat readiness as a strategic asset, and the US government’s and US military’s perception of the situation in Iraq.
|
|
Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey |
|
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with a Conference delegation for an off-the-record discussion that lasted for 90 minutes, well past its scheduled time. The dialogue covered mutual concerns regarding Iran, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Hamas, US-Turkish relations, and the Turkish Jewish community. The discussion was characterized by frank and honest exchanges in the context of a friendly relationship, with many points of agreement and some differences of opinion. The Conference of Presidents and the American Jewish community have had a long-standing interest in Turkey, a NATO ally, with a moderate Muslim population and a secular Constitution that has important and friendly relations with Israel.
|
|
Ukrainian and Russian Leaders |
|
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych welcomed a Conference delegation on December 6 to discuss Ukrainian-US relations, the government’s actions against anti-Semitism, and to promote Ukraine for foreign investment. The Conference delegation also raised the issues of Iran’s threats against Israel and Ukraine’s economic relations with Iran, Ukraine’s improved voting record at the UN on Israel-related resolutions, and the need for stronger actions against MAUP, the large private university that is a leading purveyor of anti-Semitic propaganda..
Photo: Past Chairman James S. Tisch presenting a menorah to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yanukovych.
At an off-the-record meeting on December 5, Russian National Security Advisor Igor Ivanov discussed with a Conference of Presidents delegation issues concerning the Iranian nuclear program, Russia’s diplomatic role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, Russian-US relations, Russian-Israeli relations, and concerns about anti-Semitism in Russia.
|
|
United Nations Activities |
|
The Conference’s Committee on the United Nations and Related Matters held two important meetings recently. On November 29, the UN Committee had its final meeting with Amb. John Bolton in his post as US Permanent Representative to the UN. Amb. Bolton not only briefed the Committee on current issues at the UN of particular concern to the American Jewish community, but also described his growing apprehension about the gradual usurpation of authority by the General Assembly on security issues, a prerogative of the Security Council according to the UN Charter. Also briefing the UN Committee were Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative Amb. Danny Carmon and Israel’s Naval Attache at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, Capt. Azarel Ram, who also informally advises the Israeli Mission to the UN on military issues.
| The UN Committee reconvened for a special meeting on |
Chairman Harold Tanner with Amb. John Bolton |
December 12 to discuss and vote on new policy guidelines, proposed by a subcommittee of the UN Committee that conducted several consultations over the past months. The guidelines were unanimously adopted, and included recommendations not to disengage from the UN due to the continuing discriminatory treatment of Israel, but to have a policy of "engaged criticism," particularly at the Human Rights Council; conduct regular consultations with UN ambassadors and UN officials; encourage member organizations to play active roles at the UN; and distribute more information about issues of concern at the UN.
Ms. Kimberly Mann, Chief of the Special Projects Unit of the UN’s Department of Public Information and project manager for the UN’s Holocaust Remembrance Outreach program, also briefed the UN Committee on her program’s activities to fulfill the UN’s mandate to promote Holocaust Rembrance and on preparations for the second annual UN International Day of Holocaust Remembrance, which will be held on January 29, 2007.
A delegation of the Conference's UN Committee also met with UN General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rasheed al-Khalifa of Bahrain. The event provided an opportunity for members of the UN Committee to engage in a frank, off-the-record exchange with an important leader at the United Nations and a leading reformer in the Arab world.
|
|
Responding to the Crisis in High Schools |
|
The Conference of Presidents and the Board of Jewish Education of New York convened a meeting of a wide range of high school representatives, youth group professionals, and Israel educators on December 12th. They gathered to review issues related to preparing today’s teenagers for the challenges they will face on college campuses. It has become increasingly clear that educating high school students about Israel is a critical priority.
With more than 30 organizations and 20 schools represented, including AIPAC, Hillel, the Jewish Student Union, the David Project, Israel HighWay, PANIM, CAJE, Write On for Israel, Caravan for Democracy, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Israel on Campus Coalition, a number of youth groups, and many member organizations of the Conference of Presidents, together with the leadership of select high schools, the discussion focused on the effectiveness of current formal and informal Israel-education initiatives. The programs were evaluated from the perspectives of those running them, teachers who see the short-term effects of such programs on their students, and campus leaders who can best gauge the long-term success of these programs.
Participants discussed ways to reach different segments of today’s teen population. Whereas educators of teens in Jewish day schools face certain challenges, those who work with Jewish teens attending non-Jewish schools have different concerns. Educators shared their experiences with these and other segments of the teen population.
Participants reviewed ways to better mobilize available resources for increased cooperative efforts. Plans were announced for the formation of a formal committee to explore the establishment of a National High School Network of those organizations that work with the pre-college community, similar to the successful college-level Israel on Campus Coalition. Other initiatives were suggested, including programs for increased teacher training, the establishment of a comprehensive website that would serve as a compilation of the various Israel education initiatives and curricula, categorized according to type of program and target population, and specific proposals to encourage teen involvement in Israel education and advocacy.
|
|
America's Voices in Israel |
|
On December 12, 2006 America’s Voices in Israel held its bi-annual board meeting at the office of its chairman George Rohr. Mr. Rohr provided an overview of recent developments in the radio industry, specifically highlighting the growing phenomena of satellite radio, internet radio and podcasting and described how America’s Voices will relate to this rapidly changing environment. He also introduced recent additions to the America’s Voices Advisory Board, Michael Harrison, Publisher of Talkers Magazine, and Heather Cohen, Director of Programming for Greenstone Media (the new radio network for the female market), who were both in attendance. Fern Oppenheim, Director of America’s Voices, spoke about recent participants in the program and highlighted the roles of the America’s Voices Fellows. They broadcast many interviews with top experts provided by America’s Voices, and participated in conference call briefings. The board reviewed plans for upcoming national and local visits, and new initiatives with ethnic, sports, media and Hollywood personalities. Also discussed was an initiative for public officials who visit Israel under various auspices, to use the America's Voices radio studio to broadcast back to their districts. Personalities can also use the studio to be interviewed by local broadcasters.
|
|
|
