In his swing through the Bay Area last year, Howard Kohr spoke to audiences at AIPAC membership events about Israel on the brink of peace.
This year, however, he spoke of Israel on the brink of pieces.
“Between the unfortunate resorting to violence of the Palestinians as well as the situations on Israel’s northern border and developments to the east, when you put it all together we have a very different picture from when I was last out in the Bay Area,” Kohr, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s executive director, told the Bulletin in a San Francisco interview. “When I came out here last year, we were very much in a hopeful mode, the peace process was moving forward.
“Now, we’re in a situation where the prospects of further conflict are greater than any breakthrough in the peace process,” continued Kohr, who spoke this week at packed AIPAC fund-raisers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento.
“Israel is at war now. Not an overwhelming war, but a limited war. We need to ensure that Israel comes out of this stronger, not weaker.”
Kohr said the efforts of America’s pro-Israel community are needed now more than ever. And to pull a silver lining out of the extraordinarily dark cloud of the past two violent months, it looks like that’s exactly what is happening.
“[My job] has gotten harder in some ways, but it’s also been easier, seeing the awakening of the Jewish community around the country,” said Kohr, who lives in Fairfax, Va., a stone’s throw from the nation’s capital. Over a 10-day period, he noted, “I was in Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Boston and Newark. The Jewish communities understand intuitively that something dramatic and important is going on and they have the responsibility to do something here. That, to me, has been heartening.”
The keynote speaker for the Northern California AIPAC events, Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, believes that not only are America’s Jewish communities coming together in support of Israel, but Congress is as well.
“Support for Israel is very strong in Congress; it is bipartisan and bicameral,” Durbin said during the Bulletin interview. “I think the terrible events of the last few weeks have increased that commitment. Whoever the next president is, I hope he’ll work as hard as President Clinton to bring the peace process to a good end.”
This week’s AIPAC events drew record crowds, as advance ticket sales for all four jumped dramatically from last year.
There were 600 advance ticket sales for the East Bay dinner on Sunday, in contrast with 370 a year ago, with the San Francisco event jumping from 710 to 950, Sacramento from 187 to 360 and San Jose from 650 to 750.
“This is not simply dinner as usual,” said Jerry Yanowitz, AIPAC’s Northern California chair. “We’re at a crucial point for the state of Israel. People want to express support and learn what more they can do.”
So what can members of the pro-Israel community do? For one, Durbin says he and his colleagues actually do read the gobs of mail sent their way.
“I get a lot of letters, almost 2,000 a week,” he said. “We do pay close attention to them. Telephone calls, letters and e-mails do make a difference when you’re considering issues.”
Whether contacting a congressional representative or a newspaper editor, members of the pro-Israel community should speak out, Kohr recommended.
“We need to make sure the local coverage of events is the kind they want to see happen,” he said. “If we see errors and distortions, we need to reply with a letter to the editor about those kinds of things.”
Kohr warned that America’s pro-Israel community must be ever vigilant toward media coverage portraying Israel as the aggressor in the conflict with the Palestinians.
“The conventional wisdom here is there’s this Goliath shooting upon innocent 12-year-olds. Obviously, it’s a far more complicated picture,” said Kohr. “Who are these children? Why are they there? Who’s standing behind them and what kind of firepower do they have? What is Israel trying to do to quell the riots? What’s behind the orchestrated nature of these riots?
“There needs to be some understanding of what has taken place here on religious sites, whether it be Joseph’s Tomb, Rachel’s Tomb, the synagogue in Jericho that was desecrated,” he continued. “It’s a far more complicated picture than just turning on CNN and seeing the image of a 12-year-old boy standing in front of a tank.”
Durbin also urged the American populace not to jump to conclusions based solely on media coverage.
“Some people are confused,” said the senator. “People need guidance to understand what created this violent situation,” continued Durbin, who served as a representative from 1982 to 1996 before his election to the Senate four years ago. “I believe that the Israelis have initiated the peace process as well as is possible since then, and have stepped forward in their withdrawal from Lebanon and efforts to try and establish safe havens for Palestinians. But I have not seen the same level of leadership on the Palestinian side.”
Kohr stressed that the most important thing the pro-Israel community can do is get organized and get mobilized.
“At the end of the day, action and lobbying are going to make the difference for Israel,” he said. “That will determine where the U.S. stands. It’s the single most important thing we can be doing here.”