Special Report
DETROIT RESPONDS
Supporting Israel from page 10
Neil Cantor
It was eye-opening. You look around and
everyone is either a soldier or and ex-
soldier. They knew what to do. They deal
with this all the time. We take our safety
for granted. I felt very safe there:'
Neil Cantor, director of Jewish Student
Life for Hillel of Metro Detroit, and Rabbi
Daniel Schwartz from Temple Shir Shalom
in West Bloomfield staffed the Birthright
trip.
"The eight Israelis traveling with us
from the Central Galilee put it in perspec-
tive for the students," Cantor said. "It was
very educational for them to see how
the Israeli media portrayed it versus the
American media — something very inter-
esting for our students to learn."
Supporting Family
When the lethal confrontation at sea
erupted, Federation's Partnership 2000
(P2K) Steering Committee members
reached out to friends in the Central
Galilee. The 15-year partnership has fos-
tered a relationship through the years that
has grown from the leadership level to
Teen Mission participants to local fami-
lies touched by Israeli teens that come
each year to attend sessions at Tamarack
Camps in Ortonville with local campers.
The ties are strong.
P2K chairmen Michael Horowitz, Jeff
Schlussel and Mark Adler sent e-mails
to their counterparts in Israel expressing
support.
"We heard that three [of the seven]
injured soldiers were from our region,
so we are now connected to this tragedy
`through our family:" the initial e-mail
states. "Please let them know we care and
Israel peacefully intercepts
Gaza-bound ship
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel peacefully
intercepted a seventh Gaza-bound ship
and brought it to Ashdod port.
Israeli Navy forces boarded the Irish-
owned ship named the Rachel Corrie, in
memory of an American pro-Palestinian
activist who was killed by an Israeli
military bulldozer in Gaza in 2003, on
Saturday 22 miles off the coast of Gaza.
They boarded the ship from the sea rath-
er than by helicopters, as six flotilla ships
12
Michael Horowitz
Jeff Schiussel
Mark Adler
give them a refuah shlemah (prayer of
healing). We are all frustrated that we can't
be there to show our support and we are
all anguished by the human, moral and
political impact of [last] week's events.
"Many people have asked us what they
can to do help. We told them to just make
sure they are letting you know that we are
with you, we love you and we know you
are there:'
Estie Bar-Sadeh, co-chair of the Central
Galilee P2K steering committee, respond-
ed: "Thanks for caring and sending us
your support and empathy. These are dif-
ficult and confusing times. It is scary to
watch on TV the scale of opposition and
hatred towards Israel. Once again, we feel
isolated and that the legitimization of
Israel as a Jewish state is put in question.
"I feel that the reaction around the
world is out of proportion and might
signify a dangerous movement of find-
ing a new object for hatred and blame.
Unfortunately, as history has taught us,
it is always in times of economical crises
and global political changes that there is a
scapegoat who carries the blame.
"We will certainly let all our 'partnership'
family know that you sent your love and
support:' she wrote. "Please let our family in
Detroit know that we are strengthened by
the message that you have sent."
Jack Jacoby, the other co-chair of the
Central Galilee P2K steering committee, is
a recently retired general in the Israeli Air
Force. He sent this response: "It was very
moving to receive your e-mail, and I want
you to know that I thought of all of you a
lot this week, and wondered what you feel
and what you think.
"I want you to let everybody know that
we are not going to let go, we are going to
keep on this war by the moral values of
the Jewish tradition, even though terror
fights back with no value and no respect
at all, to human life. What I would ask
from you is only one thing — to believe in
us and make others believe in our way!"
A later e-mail from Jacoby drove that
home. He related how his son, Yotam, had
chatted for two hours with a friend from
the Tamarack Camps exchange program,
trying to convince him that the "peace"
activists were armed and their actions
premeditated. The Detroit friend believed
the activists were innocents armed with
kitchen knives and tools from the ship.
"Yotam was so upset because after two
hours he understood he will not be able to
convince his friend that the story is totally
different:' Jacoby wrote. "That made me
understand again how important what I
asked from you was, and that we should
start with the Jewish community! It
appears, some of us to, need it very much."
were last week when nine activists on a
Turkish-owned ship were killed during
clashes with Navy commandos.
The 19 activists on the boat, includ-
ing Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead
Corrigan Maguire and a Malaysian law-
maker, all agreed to be deported and were
set to leave the country by Sunday evening,
according to the Israeli Interior Ministry.
The ship had hundreds of tons of con-
crete and tons of paper and wheelchairs.
Israel began calling to the ship last
Friday asking that it go to the Ashdod
port and allow a nongovernmental agency
to inspect its contacts and take its cargo,
including the cement, to Gaza. Cement has
been barred from Gaza by Israel's blockade
out of fear that it would be used to build
bunkers for Hamas terrorists.
"It has been brought to my attention
that should it result in the way I pro-
posed, of you coining into Ashdod under
escort and offloading the cargo in Ashdod
port, the cement that you said is the
bulk of your cargo will be transferred to
Gaza," a Navy officer said during a radio
What We Can Do
Federation has created an e-mail address
— MIpartnership2000@jfmd.org — so
Detroiters can send their own messages of
support to the wounded soldiers and our
"family" in the Central Galilee. The mes-
sages will be collected and forwarded.
The P2K steering committee also has
reached out to Frankel Jewish Academy
in West Bloomfield, Hillel Day School in
Farmington Hills and Akiva Hebrew Day
School in Southfield where students will
send their own messages to the soldiers
through the Federation address.
Estie Bar-Sadeh
"Certainly anyone is welcome to send a
message to those wounded soldiers at the
JFMD e-mail address:' said Jeff Schiussel
of the P2K steering committee, "but I
would strongly encourage anyone in the
community with friends, acquaintances
or family in Israel to contact them and let
them know that we are thinking of them
during these very difficult days.
"Over the last 15 years, the Partnership
has created opportunities for people in
Detroit to interact with Israelis from the
Region. Through our exchanges, Region
visits during missions, home hospitality
during those visits, local families hosting
Israeli campers at Tamarack and more,
many people from Detroit have friends or
contacts there and it would be a wonderful
gesture to reach out to those people, even if
they haven't been in contact for some time.
"The Israelis need to know that there
are others outside of Israel who stand by
them during these difficult times."
A rally at Maple and Orchard Lake
roads organized by local organizations
was planned for Tuesday afternoon as a
show of support. And a community con-
ference call Monday featuring a briefing
by Orli Gil, Counsel General of Israel to
the Midwestern United States, was orga-
nized by the Jewish Community Relations
Council and other local organizations.
Go to the bottom of the www.detroitjcrc.
org home page to learn how to send letters
of support about Israel to local media out-
lets and elected officials.
❑
Look for continuing coverage of local events
in support of Israel in the community forums
section of www.thejewishnews.com .
exchange on Saturday.
"That's the assurance I have just been
given by my superiors. To the best of my
knowledge that would be precedent set-
ting. It would something you could take
back to your supporters, to your fellow
passengers, to the people you say you
want to support and to the government
you say you are rebuking for not doing
more for Gaza':
The Rachel Corrie suggested to the offi-
cer that his boat "stop, have a cup of tea
and we'll continue on to Gaza."