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A Trip To Remember
JCCouncil introduces state legislators to the Israel experience.
HARRY KIRSBAUM
Staff Writer
T
he Cafe Hillel bombing in Jerusalem — which left seven dead and
more than 50 wounded on Sept. 9 — had an unexpected and powerful
effect on five Michigan state legislators who spent an evening at the
very same cafe exactly one week before the Palestinian suicide bombing.
"If our trip had been delayed a week, we might have been sitting there when the
bomb went off," said Rep. Chris Kolb, D-Ann Arbor. "The young man who was
working the door might have been the same man who fell on the bomber a week
later. For me, it brought everything home."
Kolb was joined by Sens. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City; and Buzz Thomas III, D-
Detroit; Reps. Marc Shulman, R-West Bloomfield; and Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy,
and his mother, Florence; and Dennis Bernard, former president of Southfield-
based JVS.
Sponsored by the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, the third
"Michigan Legislators Trip to Israel" lasted six days and included visits to recent
bus bombing sites in Jerusalem and terrorist bombing victims, a helicopter ride
over Israel's coast and meetings with Israeli government officials.
Although the bombing victims and sites were eye opening regarding the violence
of terrorism, House Speaker Johnson preferred to think on the positive side.
"We visited a hospital taking care of kids whose parents don't have the financial
ability to do that," he said. "We were at the Seeds of Peace where kids were getting
together to create good relationships. Instead of that 20-second sound bite that
sounds good and catches everybody's attention, maybe a one-minute sound bite
about the great things that are going on would be better."
Council's goals for the trip included forming strong ties between the legislators
and Israel, creating a better understanding of the Jewish community's commitment
to social services here and in Israel, and highlighting the Council's role in working
with legislators on behalf of Jewish social service agencies, said Eric Adelman, a
Council staff member who led the trip.
The trip's success is "not easy to measure," said Adelman. "Certainly we can look
back on the connections we made with them and, down the road, see what their
positions are on Israel. [U.S. Sen.] Debbie Stabenow has been a good friend of
Israel and we certainly feel that part of that is due to her trip to Israel a few years
ago."
A past Council trip included Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Adelman said the ideal scenario would be for a similar trip every couple of years,
"especially with term limits and the greater turnover in the state legislature."
"These trips are really important on many levels — on the Israel front, on the
social services front," he said. "The more people we can affect with trips of this
nature, the better for our community and the State of Israel." ❑
Above left: Knesset member Gilad Erdan makes a point to Rep. Chris Kolb, D-Ann Arbor.
Above right: Dennis Bernard, Rep. Marc Shulman, R-West Bloomfield, and Sen. Buzz Thomas III, D-Detroit, at Yad Vashem's Valley of the Communities in Jerusalem.
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2003
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