Cameron Kerry,
left, brother of
Democratic
presidential can-
didate John
Kerry, receives
an explanation
from an AIPAC
representative
about the route
taken by Israel's
security fence.
Photos by
Brian Hendler/JTA
",!C
Cam Kerry Tours Israel
Visit moves candidate's Jewish brother and campaign adviser.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Staff Writer
1 31 ews visiting Israel these days
receive an exceptionally warm
welcome, but not everyone has
the ear of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
and past prime ministers Shimon Peres,
Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu.
An exception is Cameron "Cam"
Kerry, the younger brother of John
Kerry, the presumptive Democratic
nominee for president, who spent five
days in Israel this month on a trip spon-
sored by the American Israel Education
Foundation, an AIPAC (American Israel
Public Affairs Committee) affiliate.
While Cam Kerry maintains his visit
was personal and not political, he says,
"I did receive a lot of high-level atten-
tion from the government and the
media there. The-American election is
very important to the Israelis — and
they were interested in informing me
[about Israeli matters] as somebody close
.
7/23
2004
26
to John."
Kerry, who is taking a leave of absence
from his Boston law firm, is an adviser
to his brother's presidential campaign,
which has him very involved in Jewish
affairs, he says. He will also be a delegate
from Massachusetts to the Democratic
convention next week.
Though raised Catholic, Cam Kerry
converted to Judaism more than 20.
years ago when he married former
Detroiter Kathy Weinman, also an attor-
ney in the Boston area.
"I wanted to share my first trip to
Israel with Kathy. It was especially
meaningful to be there together," he
says, noting that she first saw Israel in
1976, after graduating from college.
Cam toured Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
—'where he traveled along the security
fence — and went north to the
Lebanese border where he saw security
systems and Hezbollah outposts.
He also visited a center for new Jewish
immigrants, mostly from Ethiopia.
"More than anything, seeing Israel
brings the history alive," says Cam, who
was especially impressed by the Kotel
and surrounding excavations.
He was particularly moved by Yad
Vashem.
"It brings home the Holocaust — but
also it was very personal to me," he says.
Cam's family learned a few months
ago about a great-uncle and great-aunt,
Otto and Jenny Lowe, both siblings of
his paternal grandmother, who perished
during the Holocaust. Both deaths are
documented in Yad Vashem's archives.
One died at the Theresienstadt concen-
tration camp, the other at Treblinka.
Cam is taking copies of the list with
their names, addresses, occupation and
deportation dates to his brother and
other relatives.
Echoes Of Kennedys
Though he says it is too early to say if he
would play a formal Middle East role if
his brother were elected, Cam Kerry's
influence is not lost on Israeli leadership.
He is reported to play a pivotal role in
older brother John's inner circle of advis-
ers, much like the late Robert E
Kennedy did with his older brother
President John E Kennedy.
In candid moments with government
officials before his meeting with Sharon,
Cam says, "They understood when
America is isolated, Israel is isolated.
There are threats to world and to Israeli
security;- and Iran, not Iraq, is the great-
est threat.
"And we've taken our eyes off that
ball," says Cam in a not-so-veiled criti-
cism of the Bush administration. "There
are greater threats from Iran and Syria,
and with money coming through Saudi
Arabia that supports this feeling of
hatred toward Israel and toward the
United States."
When asked what John Kerry would
do differently in Israel than the current
administration, Cam says, "He'd deal