Staff Notebook
Israel wants to learn about space; India has sent up
rockets. India wants a missile defense for protection;
Israel has a developed missile defense system.
Israel's relationship with India, the world's largest
democracy, sends a very powerful message to Yasser
Arafat and the Palestinians, Jacobs said.
Before the Oslo accords, Israel was a small, isolat-
ed country with few friends. Now, Israel has more
embassies around the world than any other country
except the United States.
"The world is not the same. Israel is not isolated
and the Palestinians better come to some kind of
agreement," he said. "Israel has a very modern econ-
omy and a very aggressive diplomacy that has made
Israel a real force on the world stage."
— Harry Kirsbaum
Barry Jacobs speaks about India and Israel.
A Mutual Advantage
Headed To Yale
Ari Caroline, director of operations for the Michigan
Jewish Institute, has been accepted in the masters of
business administration program at Yale University
School of Business.
He hopes to fashion a course of study merging
education, technology and business -- a more
advanced version of the curriculum offered in Oak
Park by MJI.
Dr. Hershel Gardin, vice president of institutional
advancement and dean of academic administration
at MJI, said, "We'll all miss him very much. But, as
I told him, 'If I got out of my role as dean of the
school, I have to tell you, you'd be foolish to turn
this down.'"
Caroline's post will be filled on an interim basis by
Naftali Gardin, Hershel Gardin's son.
A 24-year-old graduate of the University of
Michigan-Dearborn, the younger Gardin began a
career in marketing, consulting, advertising and pub-
lic relations while still in college.
MJI, the only accredited Jewish college in
Michigan, offers four-year bachelor of science degrees
in technology-related topics. College students may
also earn teaching degrees through a partnership with
Detroit-based Marygrove College, while high school
students are offered a selection of enrichment cours-
Although no one can say what will happen between
Israel and the Palestinians, Barry Jacobs of the
American Jewish Committee believes Israel's rela-
tionship with India will have an effect.
Jacobs, director of strategic studies in AJC's Office
of Government and International Affairs in
Washington, D.C., and a native Detroiter, told a
group of 50 that Israel's overall strategic place in the
world has very much changed in the last decade.
Jacobs spoke Monday at an Indian restaurant in
Farmington Hills about the very important and
longstanding relationship between Israel and India.
The event was co-sponsored by the Council of the
Organizations of Asian Indians in Michigan, based
in Westland.
The similarities began early. India declared inde-
pendence in 1947, Israel a year later. Both are
democracies surrounded by non-democratic and
hostile countries.
A trade office in Bombay, opened in the mid-
1950s began their relationship.
Still, official relations with Israel did not begin
until the early 1990s, when the Oslo accords were
signed, and allowed many coun-
tries to have full diplomatic rela-
tions with Israel.
The countries' strengths and
weaknesses complimented each
other. India needed foreign
investment and technological
improvements to help a stagnant
economy when their ally, the
Soviet Union, dissolved in the
early 1990s, Jacobs said. Israel
was and still is known for its
high-tech industry.
Meanwhile, Israel looks to India
as open to investment and travel.
India has a desperate need to
upgrade military arms by replac-
ing an aging air force fleet and
purchasing new tanks, said
Jacobs, who also served as a U.S.
Foreign Service diplomat in
Israel and India. Israel manufac-
Ari Caroline and Naftali Gardin at the MJI in Oak Park.
tures both.
es.
MJI will hold an open house at 5 p.m., Sunday,
Aug. 12. The college is located at 25401 Coolidge in
Oak Park.
— Diana Lieberman
A Jewish Seat?
Former Oakland County Republican Party chairman
Jim Alexander was appointed this week to fill a seat
on the county Circuit Court bench.
Alexander, an attorney and resident of Bloomfield
Township, was named by Gov. John Engler to fill
the position vacated by another Jew.
Judge Barry Howard resigned in April to go into
private practice with Honigman, Miller Schwartz &
Cohn's Bingham Farms office.
Alexander has been heading Gov. Engler's office
for southeast Michigan in Detroit. He joined
Engler's staff in 1999.
— Alan Hitsky
Blazing Speed
U.S. women's sprint great
Marion Jones was upset at
the world track and field
championships in
Edmonton this week by a
woman who is identified
as Jewish on many
Internet sites.
Zhanna Pintusevich-
Block, 28 and Ukrainian-
born, ended Jones' streak
of more than 60 consecu-
tive wins in the 100-
meter dash during a semi-
final heat on Monday.
She then led from start to
•
finish 90 minutes later in LI.,
Air
the finals to snap Jones'
Pintusevich-Block
42 straight wins in cham-
pionship heats over the
last four years.
Pintusevich-Block beat Jones by .03 seconds, run-
ning a personal best and a best in the world for
women this year of 10.82.
Pintusevich-Block is married to former Clemson
University assistant track coach Mike Block, who
serves as her agent.
❑
— Alan Hitsky
Correction
In "The Last Chapter" (Aug. 3, page 30), the
photograph of Rose Braiker of Huntington
Woods was incorrectly identified. Also, Eleanor
Roberts of Birmingham is a past member of a
presidium of the Greater Detroit Chapter of
Brandeis University National Women's
Committee. The current co-presidents are
Marcia Scarr of West Bloomfield and Harriet
Shogan of West Bloomfield.
8/10
2001
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