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ON THE COVER

Teamster Connection from page A19

A Teamsters delegation visits a synagogue during the 1956 trip to Israel.

A farewell cake was presented to Jimmy Hoffa and the 25-person Teamsters delegation.

"Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters
provided critical support to a strug-
gling Jewish state rising from the ashes
of the Holocaust:' Davidson adds. "The
Teamsters Union has always stood firmly
beside Israel, a nation built on trade union
values, and it continues to do so today."

"Jews played a major role in the [U.S.]
labor movement;' Leebove adds. "Labor
unions were among the few institutions
that stood up for civil rights, opposed
anti-Semitism, opposed Communism and
supported democratic states like Israel:'

In The Beginning
Jimmy Hoffa's relationship with Israel
began when, as a rising young union
official from Detroit after World War II,
he helped the Teamsters transport food,
medical supplies and arms to Israeli free-
dom fighters, according to union officials,
archivists, Hoffa relatives and labor attor-
neys.
"My father thought
this cause was impor-
tant, no matter what the
risks during the early
years," Jim Hoffa says.
"Freedom is not free
His family says the
elder Hoffa's passion for
Jim Hoffa
Israel and the Jewish
people never wavered
during his remarkable life — from his rise
to the top of one of the largest, strongest
and most successful unions in American
history, through his legal problems that
plagued his later years, until his mysteri-
ous disappearance from a Bloomfield
Township restaurant in 1975.
"Dad joined the cause because of the
camaraderie," Jim Hoffa explains. "He was
fighting to establish unions. Israel was
fighting for statehood. It was a parallel
struggle
Teamsters senior adviser and Detroit
Jewish community member Richard
Leebove is optimistic that the honor from
the Rabin Center will help promote the

A20

January 24 2008

less known story of
Jimmy Hoffa as a zealot
for the common good,
a humanitarian and
one of Israel's earliest
friends from outside the
Jewish community.
"The rough and tum- Richard
ble Teamsters and a ris- Leebove
ing leader from Detroit
became unlikely allies to the young Jewish
state:' Leebove says. "The media caricature
of a crass and iron-fisted labor boss often
ignores the role he played in supporting
Israel and the other great social causes in
the United States and overseas.

For The Underdog
No one knows exactly how the relationship
between the union and Israel began, but
those who knew him say Jimmy Hoffa's
affections were genuine.
"[Jimmy] Hoffa had long admired the
Israelis for their values of survival, pride
and pioneering, which he likened to the
values of organized labor in the United

Bill Clinton
At Hoffa
Tribute

ormer President Bill Clinton is
scheduled to be the keynote
speaker during the Yitzhak
Rabin Center's Feb. 13 fundrais-
ing dinner honoring International
Brotherhood of Teamsters President
James P. "Jim" Hoffa.
The award, presented by the
American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin
Center, will be given during a cer-
emony at the Omni Shoreham Hotel
in Washington, D.C. Proceeds from the
event will support the completion of
the museum at the Rabin Center in Tel
Aviv.
The Yitzhak Rabin Center is the
presidential library established in
memory of the prime minister who

F

Bill Clinton

was assassinated in 1995. It was dedi-
cated in 2005. The museum, which will
showcase the history of Israel through
social change, will be the centerpiece.
It will be organized chronologically
through chapters. Rabin's life story
will be displayed on the walls next to
each chapter. The first chapter will be
named in recognition of Jim Hoffa's
father, former Teamsters President
James R. Hoffa, and his union for their
contributions to the founding and
development of the State of Israel.

States," writes Hoffa biographer Arthur
Sloane in Hoffa, the only comprehensive
biography published.
Jimmy Hoffa's associates say he had a
penchant for the underdog, compassion
for those less fortunate and zero tolerance
for injustice and mistreatment of workers.
They describe him as philanthropic and
blind to color, religion and race.
Hoffa cites an unnamed intimate
describing Jimmy as "a sucker for any
sad song or hard-luck guy." In the book,
Hoffa's daughter, Barbara Crancer, a circuit
court judge in St. Louis, describes her
father as a man "who would give anybody
anything."

In addition to the museum, the
center, located on 10 acres atop a hill
overlooking Tel Aviv-Jaffa, houses the
Rabin archives, a library and confer-
ence center and the Morton Bahr
Educational Wing that teaches toler-
ance and democratic values to both
Jewish and Arab communities.
The center was created by a procla-
mation of Israel's Knesset to perpetu-
ate the legacy of Rabin. All students
educated in Israel will visit the Rabin
Center as part of their civic studies.
The Rabin Center focuses on remem-
bering and promoting Yitzhak Rabin's
ideals of peace, democracy and toler-
ance.
The Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin
Center is a (501) c3 registered non-
profit organization. For information
on the event, contact Jeannie Gerzon,
(212) 616-6161 or
jgerzon@friendsofrabin.org .

- Kimberly Lifton