Insight
Ideas & Issues
Activism Begins With You
Hadassah Mideast expert Amy Goldstein offers
insight and suggestions for Israel advocacy.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Staff Writer
IV
hen Amy Goldstein arrived in Detroit last
week, she spent the day with pro-Israel
activists at the University of Michigan.
"Anti-Israel demonstrators target campuses because they
know that this population is very liberal and doesn't have a
lot of background — it can be manipulated," says
Goldstein, 35, Hadassah's New York City-based director of
Israel, Zionist and International Affairs Department.
_ While in Ann Arbor, she says, she talked with students
who faced intimidation tactics by pro-Palestinian sympa-
thizers. "One girl was punched; a Jewish leader had a rock
thrown at him ... Those screaming at the Jewish students
were not interested in answers [to their accusations], but in
trying to make speeches," Goldstein said.
Her first suggestion to Jewish students: Unify.
Secondly, Goldstein says, people have to remain calm in
these emotional interactions. Don't get into a fight, and
know your target audience.
"You're not going to make a Zionist out of [Palestinian
spokeswoman] Hanan Ashwari," Goldstein says, but you
can be an information resource for that audience.
Former Detroiter Goldstein was in town to do programs
for Hadassah, Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit and Temple Kol Ami, where she gave a program on
Israel activism April 14. A graduate of Southfield High
School, Goldstein earned a bachelor's degree in Mideast
history and politics at the University of Michigan and a
master's degree in Judaica at the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York. She is proficient in seven lan-
guages, including Arabic and Hebrew.
"Twenty percent of the American population is never
going to like the Jews. Three percent of the population is
Jewish, while roughly 73 percent can be swayed and are
usually on our side," she told those at Kol Ami.
"We need to help our friends help us [Israel]," says
Goldstein. Those friends include President George W.
Bush, members of Congress, the media and members of
our community, she said.
For example, if you see inaccuracies about Israel in the
press, Goldstein says, write and correct them. Educate
yourself and talk to friends, she says, adding that her fanta-
sy is getting public relations materials about Israel to all
dinner parties in the country.
"Yes, Palestinians are suffering," she says. "They're upset
and have reason to be. Their leaders are not providing for
them — they didn't accept a peace deal, they haven't estab-
lished adequate medical or infrastructure facilities, like
plumbing — while Israelis are under siege daily."
Amy Goldstein speaks about Israel advocacy activism at
Temple Kol Ami.
When TV News Isn't Enough
One question people often ask Goldstein is why Israel did-
n't allow ambulances [to hospitals] out of the West Bank.
Her answer comes partly from information gleaned from
Israeli government and White House briefings and from
reading 15 daily newspapers, including the Arab press.
"[Israel] waited for the Red Cross, an independent third
party, to certify that the Palestinians had been using ambu-
lances to ferry bombs as well as patients across the Israeli
border [before making the information public]," she says.
But many people only heard the first part of the story.
Rabbi Norman Roman of Temple Kol Ami added his
personal experience in Israel a month ago. 'A 19-year-old
Israeli soldier posed his dilemma," says the rabbi. "What
do I do when I see an ambulance is coming at me, making
no attempt to stop? My Jewish values say I'm supposed to
help save lives, but I also know that yesterday my comrades
in a similar situation found explosive belts under the seat."
Goldstein's solutions for Israel's survival range from the
creation of a Palestinian state to a decent energy policy that
breaks U.S dependence on Saudi oil, much as Canada did,
she says, adding that this country might consider becoming
OPEC-free.
To Detroiters, she advises, "Don't be intimidated by a
large Arab population. There's a lot of Jews here. Speak out
calmly and become a resource for the majority, the non-
invested population." ❑
Find Goldstein's reports on Israel by selecting "Hot
News and Topics" on Hadassah's Web site:
http//www.hadassah.org/IZAIA
Remember
When • •
From the Jewish News pages for this
week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
Nine-year old Rivka Huffstutter of
Akiva Hebrew Day School in Lathrup
Village wins first place in the WKBD
Fox 50 kids Newsbreak contest at her
school and will read her essay on TV
The World Jewish Congress
reports 100 gravesites were vandal-
ized in the southern Chile town of
Temuco.
Congregation Beth Shalom, the only
synagogue in Alaska, commissions an
artist to paint water colors in Israel,
and on his return, use them to raise
funds for the heavily used synagogue.
Jewish Family Services has
received a four-year certificate of
accreditation from the Council on
Accrediation for Services for
Families and Children.
vg§1
A coin found in an archaeological
dig on the shore of the Danube
River have been identified as one of
the Bar Kochba coins, issued dur-
ing the revolt of 132-135 C. E.
The English version of the prize-
winning Israeli musical Only Fools
are Sad comes to Detroit at the
Jewish Community Center.
1902eatt „
,xM
Dr. Solomon Grayzel, lecturer and
historian, will deliver three major
addresses at the Metropolitan
Detroit B'nai B'rith Men's and
Women's Council.
Detroit attorney Irwin I. Cohn
presents a gift of $25,000 towards
the completeion of the new campus
of the University of Givat Ram.
Israel's first Reform Synagogue is
dedicated.
lativan
'MOMS
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt joins in the
farewell tribute to Golda Myerson,
Israel's Minister of Labor, at a din-
ner in New York.
Detroiter Dr. Norman Drachler,
assistant principal of Roosevelt School,
addresses the Center Open Forum in
celebration of Jewish History Week
— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Rabbi Leo M Franklin
Archives at Temple Beth El
1 4719
2002
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