World

first annual

BUSINESS

LUNCHEON

An open house for businesses considering
sponsorship opportunities for

local businesses helped over 5,000
community members raise $440,000 for

special needs. Please loin us to learn about

sponsorship opportunities for

Walk4Friendship 2010.

Wednesday, May 5th
11:30aml:00pm

Friendship Circle
Meer Family Friendship Center
6892 West Maple Road
West Bloomfield, Michigan

Cornpimentruy kind) provided

Limited space available. Please RSVP by April 30th
to event0FriendshipCirdeorg or call 248-788-7878 ext. 202

Special Guest Speaker

Randy Lewis, Senior Vice President
Supply Chain and Logistics for Wa!greens

Randy will inspire you and your business with his innovative

concept of an integration-based workforce at Walgreen's

Distribution Centers.

Walk4Friendship 2010 Corporate Committee

Gabriella Burman Kaplan • Maff Egrin • Ron Hodess • Jason Longwell • David Lubin

Howard Morof • Reuben Rashly • Neil Weissman • Robert Wolfe

15865500

22

April 22 a 2010

ZOA hosts Israeli journalist's address
on Obama-Bibi possibilities.

Art Aisner
Special to the Jewish News

I

Last year 48

children with

'Obibi' Era

sraeli-American relations are as
tense as they have been at any
point in recent years under new
respective administrations. But the
potential for progress on key issues
impacting the Middle East still exists,
according to a long-time diplomatic
correspondent for the Jerusalem Post.
"Let's face it: For
eight years there was
a honeymoon with
[former President
Bill] Clinton and
there was another
eight under [former
President George
W] Bush',' said Herb
Herb Keinon
Keinon, a journalist
and columnist who
has covered Israeli
politics for the past 25 years. "But as
soon as the new administration came
in, it was clear the honeymoon is over."
From disagreements on settlements
to diplomatic overtures to sworn enemy
states, Keinon will share his unique
insights about the current relationship
between the two governments at 7 p.m.
Wednesday, April 28,
at Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Southfield.
The event is spon-
sored by the Zionist
Organization of
America/Michigan
Region, Akiva
and the Jewish
Community
Relations Council of
Metropolitan Detroit.
"He's not the
typical bureaucrat
or speaker we have
coming through;
plus a lot of people
already know him
and follow him," said
Pamela Lippitt, the
Bloomfield Township-based executive
director of the ZOAs Michigan Region.
The relationship between U.S.
President Barack Obama and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
which Keinon affectionately refers to as
the "Obibi" era, presents unique chal-
lenges and, for a columnist, an intrigu-

ing irony.
Each leader had a difficult initial year
in office, trying to push new foreign
and domestic initiatives while having to
navigate through policies set by previ-
ous administrations from opposing
parties.
Obama, swept into office on a theme
of change embraced by liberal vot-
ers, would have been a better fit for
dealing with former Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert, Keinon notes. Just as
Netanyahu's tough stance on national
defense and terrorism would have been
more in step with the philosophies of
the Bush administration.
Yet together, they are in position
to set bold new paths toward lasting,
meaningful peace, or stay the course
amid a process that has yielded little
results.

Different Lenses
Keinon, who took over the Post's diplo-
matic beat shortly after the failed Camp
David Summit in 2000, said the largest
conceptual gap between the two gov-
ernments is in what lasting peace will
actually bring.
American officials tend to believe
that solving the Israeli/Palestinian issue
will bring stability
to the region and
force terror-sup-
porting regimes in
Syria and Iran to
soften their stance
against the Jewish
state.
The Israeli diplo-
mats feel the oppo-
site, he said. Unless
Iran is first neutral-
ized as a nuclear
threat and enabler
of global terrorism,
there can be no
long-term progress
with Palestinians.
Netanyahu and
Obama embody
the polarizing views, but perhaps can
offer a balance that restarts the process
toward meaningful peace and neutral-
izing common enemies, Keinon said.
Signs of cooperation exist. The pres-
ident's unquestioned concerns over the

The relationship
between President
Obama and
Prime Minister
Netanyahu presents
unique challenges
and, for a
columnist, an
intriguing irony.

Obibi Era on page 24

