Olympic Loss

Israel's tough rules keep skater
from Vancouver.

Marcy Oster

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jerusalem

T

wo weeks before the
European Figure Skating
Championships in Tallinn,
Estonia, in mid-January, Israeli
skater Tamar Katz was sick in bed
and going crazy.
Though she had already quali-
fied in international competition
for the 2010 Winter Olympics,
the tougher standards of Israel's
Olympic Committee required that
Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky will represent Israel
Katz finish in the top 14 in Europe in ice dancing.
to punch her ticket to the Winter
Games in Vancouver. Katz said that
while she felt weak before leaving for Estonia, dards — among the top 50 to qualify — he
was forced to stay home.
she felt good when she took the ice.
Efraim Zinger, secretary general of Israel's
But Katz made a mistake in her perfor-
Olympic Committee, argues that while some
mance, missing her triple lutz-double loop
Israeli athletes are left behind, the policy
combination, the highest scoring element
— which applies to the Summer Games,
in her program. She finished 21st — half
too — has enabled Israel to invest the lion's
a point away from qualifying for the finals,
where her free-skate routine might have pro- share of its resources into the athletes the
committee thinks have a chance at medals.
pelled her into the top 14.
Until the late 1980s, Israel was sending
As a result, Israel is not sending Katz to
teams
"just to participate': Zinger said. Now,
Vancouver.
he
says,
"We decided that we are going to
About 15 years ago, Israel began apply-
win."
ing demanding new standards to limit its
Glickstein says the notion that the policy is
Olympics delegation to athletes with a legiti-
about
saving money is absurd, maintaining
mate shot at a medal. Consequently, only
that
it
takes just a few thousand extra dollars
three Israeli athletes will be competing in
to
send
an athlete to the Olympics — most
Vancouver — downhill skier Mikail Renzhin
of
which
is paid by sponsors.
and the brother-and-sister ice-dancing duo
Rather,
Glickstein says of committee mem-
of Alexandra and Roman Zaretsky.
bers,"They
don't want to be ashamed."
It is Israel's smallest delegation to the
Israel
picked
up its first two medals in the
Winter Games since 1998, when the nation
1992
Summer
Games,
a silver and a bronze
also sent three athletes. Israel sent five ath-
in
judo,
and
has
won
five
since, including a
letes to each of the last two Winter Games.
gold
in
sailing
in
2004.
All
have come in the
Israel's first-ever appearance in the Winter
Summer
Games.
Games was in 1994 in Lillehammer, France,
Israel supports about 80 top-caliber ath-
when one Israeli athlete participated.
letes
in several sports. The support includes
The policy of the Israeli Olympic
training,
expenses to attend international
Committee has proven controversial.
competitions,
hiring coaches and providing
"I think the Israel Olympic Committee
full
medical
coverage
and treatments not
should not be harder on the athletes than
covered
by
regular
Israeli
national health care
the International Olympics Committee': said
as
well
as
stipends
and
performance-based
Shlomo Glickstein, professional director
incentives.
of the Israel Tennis Association. "It's tough
Many athletes argue that merely appear-
enough to get into the Olympics."
ing
in the Olympics, even without winning
In the lead-up to the Summer Games in
anything,
is a good way for younger athletes
Beijing two years ago, Israeli tennis star Dudi
to gain experience for the next Olympics. But
Sela was ranked 71st in the world — well
Zinger says Israeli athletes can get the same
within the top 100 required internationally
experience from appearing in other interna-
to qualify for the Olympics. But because Sela
fell short of Israel's Olympic Committee stan- tional competitions.

Letter Seeks Gaza Relief

T

hree members of the Michigan
delegation were among 54 U.S.
representatives who signed a
letter to President Obama expressing
great concern about the ongoing crisis
in Gaza." The three are Democratic
Reps. John Dingell, Dearborn; and
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and John
Conyers, both of Detroit.
The letter thanked Obama for work-
ing to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and for his commitment of $300
million in U.S. aid to rebuild the Gaza
Strip. But it added that the people of
Gaza have suffered enormously since
the blockade imposed by Israel and
Egypt following Hamas' coup, and par-
ticularly following Operation Cast Lead."
It continued, "We also sympathize
deeply with the people of southern
Israel who have suffered from abhorrent
rocket and mortar attacks. We recognize
that the Israeli government has imposed
restrictions on Gaza out of a legitimate
and keenly felt fear of continued terror-
ist action by Hamas and other militant

((

groups. This concern must be addressed
without resulting in the de facto col-
lective punishment of the Palestinian
residents of the Gaza Strip."
The letter was introduced by Rep.
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who in 2006
became the first Muslim elected to the
U.S. Congress.
The letter stated that "fulfilling the
needs of civilians in Israel and Gaza
are mutually reinforcing goals" and
that "the unabated suffering of Gazan
civilians highlights the urgency of
reaching a resolution to the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict." It asks Obama to
press for relief for Gazans as part of
his broader Mideast peace efforts.
In response, the New York-based
Zionist Organization of America stat-
ed,"The members of Congress would
have done better to urge Hamas to
rescind its murderous charter and to
renounce terrorism in word and deed.
If Hamas did so, the restrictions on
supplies entering Gaza would in time
cease to be necessary." D.

Youth Differ On Heritage

Ramat Gan, Israel — A new survey
of U.S. Reform, Conservative and
Orthodox Jewish youth reveals sharp
differences in their perception of
Jewish identity.
More than 700 youth attending
Jewish summer camps around
the United States were
surveyed by Dr. Erik
Cohen of Bar-Ilan
University's School of
Education.
The survey listed
132 symbols devel-
oped by Dr. Cohen, ranging
from the Talmud to Woody Allen.
Respondents were asked to rate
which symbols expressed an aspect
of their personal Jewish identity,
and which were most important to
them.
Over 75 percent linked God,
bar/bat mitzvah and religion with
Judaism. This finding is in line with
the observation that American Jews,
even those who are non-religious,
tend to emphasize the religious
aspect of Jewish identity.
Dr. Cohen found those attending
Orthodox camps were significantly
more likely to select symbols related
to Jewish religious practice, to the

Holocaust, to Israel and to dis-
crimination, while participants in
Conservative camps were most likely
to select universal values such as
democracy, co-existence, tolerance,
ecology, humanism and peace.
Participants in Reform camps
were more likely to select
Imp, items related to Jews'
V accomplishments in the
non-Jewish world (such as
A wealth and success).
"Interestingly, those
AIM
at the Reform camps
were also most likely to select the
symbol of Anne Frank, indicat-
ing a somewhat different attitude
towards the Holocaust than that of
the Orthodox campers, who were
more likely to select Auschwitz as
symbolic of their Jewish identity:'
said Cohen.
"Similarly, the religious symbols
of the Star of David and Chanukah
were most likely to be selected by
those at the Reform camps, again
indicating a different approach to
the Jewish religion in comparison
to those at the Orthodox camps,
who were more likely to select
symbols such as the Talmud and
Torah study." II

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