Max Fisher confers with Joel Tauber, left and Dr. Conrad Giles, center, at his birthday party at the DIA.

(

ation of the state, the airlift of
weapons to Israel during the 1973
war, the kinds of things where Max
has played a pivotal role.
"I don't believe you'll see the
emergence of another Jewish leader
who has as much influence in as
many places as Max has had."
Fisher is passionate about the
-ate of Israel, returning back again
and again to the idea that it is a
refuge for all Jews, that Israel still
faces the challenge of integrating
Russian and Ethiopian immigrants.
He figures he has visited the country
150 times.

0.•

"The position of the Jew in the
world is strengthened with a strong
Israel," Fisher said.
"They're a refuge for any Jew in
the world. When I was chairman of
the [Jewish Agency], we took in over
three-quarters of the Russian Jews in
a period of a couple of years. Where
in the world can you have that kind
of movement of people? You read in
the paper every day about Rwanda,
Nigeria, but here we have a state. If
Jews are in trouble anywhere in the
world, they have a homeland."
At the birthday party thrown by
his wife Marjorie at the Ritz on July

15, Kissinger, Nixon's Secretary of
State, reportedly quipped that in
talks with Fisher about Israel, Fisher
"made you feel guilty."
Fisher is often looked upon as the
linchpin in Israel's defeat of Jordan,
Egypt, Syria and Iraq during the Six-
Day War in 1967. He was able to
mobilize a national fund-raising
drive that raised $200 million for the
war effort within a few months.
Today, even without imminent
threat of war in the Middle East,
Fisher is as dedicated as ever. In fact,
he gives more money to Israel than
ever before.

"I feel now's the time they need us
more than anything else. Sure, we
have problems with [peace] negotia-
tions. But I'll tell you, they're still
surrounded by hundreds of millions
of Arabs, they have a de facto peace
with Egypt — that's a cold peace.
But they're still under tremendous
pressure. We have to help them bring
about what I consider a light unto
the nations.
"After all, the state's only 50 years
old. Fifty years is a short period of
time in history," Fisher said.
His position on the Oslo Accords
is to let the Israeli government and

7/ 2 4
1998

Detroit Jewish News

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