NOTEBOOK
Join your family, friends
and community
Israel's
43rd
anniversary
celebration
WALK FOR ISRAEL
Sunday, May 5, 1991
Jewish Community Campus
Maple/Drake Roads, West Bloomfield
Registration: 10:45 a.m.
Walk: 11:30 a.m.
• Walk the entire 3.5-mile route. or take a mini-walk
RAIN or SHINE
• Bus transportation available for a small charge from
the Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish Community Center in
Oak Park Er United Hebrew Schools in Southfield
For information:
965-3939, Ext.1 110 or 149
Sponsored by
Come to Israel's
Independence Day
Celebration
at the
Center following
jorih. the Walk
Please detach and mail to: Marta Rosenthal 6- Robert Orley, Chairmen
Walk for Israel • 163 Madison Avenue • Detroit, MI 48226-2180
Eftwit. •1■1
Erfm.
e.Toc,ININ
a.6.•
Yes, I (we) will be happy to join you on the Walk for Israel.
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(Please print)
Address
Phone
Children's ages
Adults' ages
22
FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1991
Izzy's A Master At
Handling Israel's P.R.
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
Ever wonder
why Israelis are
always so quick
to agree when
fi American Jews
accuse them of
doing a lousy job
of hasbarah, the
Hebrew word combining
public relations and
propaganda?
You guys always put your
worst foot forward, we com-
plain, and they just nod and
smile and shrug their
shoulders.
It never made sense to me,
until I met Izzy.
I had heard that Israel was
paying some guy big bucks
to handle their public rela-
tions. So why does Jerusalem
always appear so defiant,
sticking it to the U.S. at the
worst possible times?
I was thinking about this
while reading of the most re-
cent example —Jerusalem
allowing a handful of Or-
thodox men and women to
establish a new Jewish set-
tlement on the West Bank
on the eve of Secretary of
State James Baker's visit
this past week.
Just when Israel was look-
ing better in the eyes of the
world, having endured 40
Scud attacks during the Gulf
war, Jerusalem flaunts its
independence in the ad-
ministration's face. "You
want us to provide 'con-
fidence-building' signs to
the Arabs?" Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir seemed to
be asking Mr. Baker. "Good.
Then we'll go ahead and build
new settlements."
"You got it all wrong,"
Izzy chuckled, when I finally
tracked him down for a rare
interview. "Everything is
according to our overall
game plan, and it's a beaut."
An impish, white-haired
little man of indiscriminate
age, Izzy-runs a slick, expen-
sive public relations plan for
the government — and the
new West Bank settlement
was but the latest in a
carefully orchestrated pro-
gram designed to make
Jerusalem appear obstinate.
"I'm the guy who convinc-
ed the settlers to take over
that building in the Chris-
tian Quarter just before
Easter last year," boasted
Izzy. "And I'm the one who
helped (Ariel) Sharon shlep
all of his stuff over to his
apartment in the Arab
Quarter when he moved in
there over a year ago."
In a phrase, Izzy's cam-
paign slogan for Israel, re-
ferring to occupied ter-
ritories, is: "If you've got it,
flaunt it."
"We want the world to
know not to mess with little
Israel," explained Izzy, who
left a top Madison Avenue
advertising post to settle in
Tel Aviv many years ago. _
While American Jews
think Israel is a failure at
public relations, he explain-
ed, the truth is that the
sophisticated campaign is
not directed toward these
shores but rather to the
Arab world. And the mes-
sage: that Israel is as stub-
born as she is strong.
"Israelis are. really gentle
pussycats," noted Izzy, "but
if that ever got out, it would
destroy our macho image."
During our interview, Izzy
was trying to convince a
group of ultra-Orthodox
Chasidim to stage a Friday
night protest at a Jerusalem
disco. They insisted that
they just wanted to go home
after Shabbat services and
have chicken soup. "Who are
we to stir up trouble?" they
insisted. Every Jew should
do what he wants.
But in the end, Izzy con-
vinced them that it was
more important to show the
Arabs that Israelis were
argumentative, and he
promised to provide the
stones for them to throw at
Shabbat violators.
I learned that it is the in-
defatigable Izzy who is sad-
dled with the monumental
task of making Yitzhak
Shamir, in truth a bubbly
and charismatic man, ap-
pear dull and bland. And it
is Izzy who tries to make the
Knesset seem cantankerous,
when in truth its 120 mem-
bers agree on virtually all
major issues and, in fact, get
along extremely well
together.
"There is enormous dig-
nity and mutual respect
among Knesset members,
but that would be bad for our
image," Izzy confesses.
Fascinated by this
brilliant man, I wanted to
talk about his early failures
during the heyday of ,G-olda
Meir, but he was off trying to
persuade secret best friends
Shimon Peres and Yitzhak
Rabin not to be photograph-
ed together when they at-
tend their daily racquetball
game.
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