World
Beyond Today
Jerusalem/JTA
A
crush of world leaders and their
security details mixed with
Buddhist monks, rabbis, novel-
ists and Internet entrepreneurs at Israel's
splashy 60th anniversary celebration hosted
by President Shimon Peres. Franklin's Jane
Sherman, co-chair of the Jewish Agency for
Israel's Israeli Committee and a member
of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Board of Governors, represented
Detroit Jewry.
The preponderance of so many dignitar-
ies and top thinkers — Jewish and non-
Jewish —under one roof in Jerusalem was
part of Israeli President Shimon Peres' vision
for his conference. It was meant to bring
together people of influence and know-how
for serious discussion and reflection about
how best to approach the world's most
pressing problems, particularly those of the
Jewish world and Israel.
"It was a tribute to the State of Israel
and to Shimon Peres that all these people
thought it was important enough to go there
and discuss everything from economics, to
ecology to peace to Jewish philanthropy,"
Sherman said.
It's about "generating new ideas at a time
when the world faces the paradoxes of both
opportunity and profound threats' said
Dennis Ross, a former U.S. Middle East
envoy and the founding president of the
Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, the
think tank that organized the conference.
The Jewish Agency for Israel launched the
Institute.
"People from all walks of life have come
Pool Photo/BPH Imag es
Detroiter elated by vision for tomorrow demonstrated at Peres' President's Conference.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with President Bush at Masada in Israel on May 14
here and enriched our curiosity and knowl-
edge,' Peres said to the conference.
Jane Sherman called Facing Tomorrow "a
real learning experience and the single most
exciting conference I have ever been to in the
last 50 years."
"It was thrilling to be part of it," said
Sherman, who has a special interest in serv-
ing children at risk and also philanthropic
endeavors.
She felt international relationship building
was the biggest benefit.
"Whether the discussion was about a
greener Israel or a greener China' she said,
"countries can now begin to work together.
Other countries saw that Israel has some
expertise, as do they. So it's now all about
nurturing relationships, whether it's busi-
ness, charity or the environment.
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Since the outbreak of Palestinian violence in 2000, Israelis have lost their taste for
peacemaking.
The Answer
While there is bitterness in Israel from the suicide bombings, it is the Palestinians
that continue to inculcate intolerance in their society. Palestinian schools and news
media are studded with anti-Israel misinformation, manipulation, omission of key
facts, oversimplification of complex issues, historical inaccuracy and lack of context.
Allan Gale, Jewish Community Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
(c) Jewish Renaissance Media, June 5, 2008
A24
June 5 • 2008
"It's all about how we can better world."
The celebration in Jerusalem included
a showy tribute to the U.S.-Israel relation-
ship featuring songs, effusive speeches
and standing ovations for guest of honor
President Bush.
The potential threat of a nuclear Iran was
among debate points of the Peres confer-
ence. Speakers said Iran's nuclear drive
should be approached as a global problem,
not just a problem for Israel.
Peres' gala was preceded by a pre-con-
ference summit of 120 top minds of the
Jewish world. Academics, former statesmen
and others mapped out coherent strategies
to challenges such as confronting radical
Islam and keeping young Jews in the fold.
The discussions were the continuation of a
similar effort held last year by the Planning
Institute. The summit issued several rec-
ommendations, including the creation of a
Jewish youth service corps modeled after the
Peace Corps, a Jewish leadership academy
in Jerusalem and the establishment of a
secretariat to implement key issues of Jewish
communal consensus.
The Peres conference attempted to
showcase the best of Israel, with Israeli
technology companies on display boasting
inventions from algae-produced bio-fuel to
insulin in a pill. Israel's accomplishments
in science and technology are among Peres'
favorite topics.
"I can tell all of you," Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert said, addressing
the Facing Tomorrow conference the day
before Bush's Knesset speech,"that President
George Bush is a great leader, is a great
friend, is a source of inspiration, and we are
very proud that we can celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the State of Israel with you
and your wife here in our capital, Jerusalem:'
Sitting next to Bush and Olmert was
U.S. billionaire and casino mogul Sheldon
Adelson, who covered half the $6 million bill
for Peres' conference. Adelson was among
those interviewed by Israeli police in the
investigation of whether Olmert took money
illegally from American Jewish supporters
while he was mayor of Jerusalem and later
the minister of industry, trade and labor.
Adelson called Bush "the most supportive
U.S. president in Israel's 60-year existence'
At the Knesset May 16, Bush described a
halcyon vision of peace for the region but
was short on the details of how to get there,
specifically sidestepping any discussion of
negotiations with the Palestinians:
"Israel will be celebrating its 120th anni-
versary as one of the world's great democra-
cies, a secure and flourishing homeland for
the Jewish people. The Palestinian people
will have the homeland they have long
dreamed of and deserved — a democratic
state that is governed by law, respects human
rights and rejects terror."
❑
JCRC Hosts Opinion Maker
Nolan Finley,
editorial page
editor of the
Detroit News,
will discuss "An
Editorial Look
at the Middle
Nolan Finley
East and Other
News that
Matters to Detroiters" at the Jewish
Community Relations Council's
annual meeting 7:15 p.m. Thursday,
June 12, at the Max M. Fisher
Building in Bloomfield Township.
Following Finley's presentation,
Council will conduct its election of
officers and board of directors. Todd
Mendel has been nominated to serve
his second year as Council president.
Vice-presidential candidates are
Beth Applebaum, Richard Nodel and
Judy Rosenberg. Jeanne Maxbauer
is nominated as secretary and Linda
Finkel as treasurer.
Reservations are requested.
For more information, contact the
Council office, (248) 642-5393.