Commentary

Notebook from page 26

execute an overall secular commu-
nity-relations strategy that includes
these pillars:
• Regional economic development
and job creation;
•Social equity and justice, with spe-
cial focus on Detroit;
• Relationships with the myriad
religious and ethnic groups in Detroit
and Southeastern Michigan;
• Israel education and information;
and
• Political cultivation and engage-
ment in Detroit, Southeastern
Michigan and Lansing.
Part of this strategy must take into
account the complementary strengths
of the Michigan offices of the Anti-
Defamation League (ADL) and the
American Jewish Committee (AJC).
A few additional suggestions for
Federation consideration:
• Convene a workgroup represen-
tative of the community's interests
to inventory current initiatives and
develop an overall vision for relations
and interaction with the secular com-
munity;
• Test this community relations
vision through a series of town hall
meeting-style gatherings within the
Jewish community, inviting input,
ideas and comment;
• Solicit input, ideas and comment
from representatives of the secular
community about what quantity
and quality of Jewish communal
engagement THEY would want and
welcome;
• After identifying gaps between
what we are doing/want to be doing
and what we ought to be doing, revise
and finalize the vision; and
• Develop a strategy for implemen-
tation (including structure), secure
adequate funds and create a feedback
loop to measure results.
As a Jewish community with a
shrinking and aging population,
continuing outflow of young adults
and diminishing political clout, it is
essential that we develop a new, real-
istic 21st-century model for engage-
ment and interaction with the general
community.
Yes, the needs across the board in
the Jewish community are greater
than ever. This is always the case.
Yes, the Federation has many balls in
the air. This is always the case. But a
new, properly funded and supported
model for community engagement
and interaction is a can that can't be
kicked down the road anymore.

Why Israel Should Be A Jewish State

W

hen French Foreign
Minister Main Juppe
recently said "there will
be no solution to the conflict in the
Middle East without recognition of
two nation-states for two peoples,"
he was repeating a truism. But his
description of the two states raised
a storm — "the nation-state of Israel
for the Jewish people and the nation-
state of Palestine for the
Palestinian people."
Even though his view
is shared by President
Obama, German Chancellor
Merkel and many other
world leaders, it is anath-
ema to Palestinians, who
claim the right to a state
of their own as a matter
of historical justice, but
will not grant the Jewish
people the same right.
This refusal has
emerged as a major stumbling block
to a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks, as even those Palestinian
leaders who profess a willingness to

Historical Backdrop

Israel is the fruit of the
Zionist movement, launched
in the late-19th century to
end two millennia of Jewish
exile by restoring Jews to
their historical homeland.
The Balfour Declaration,
the 1917 British document
subsequently adopted by
the League of Nations — and
hence the first international
recognition of the Zionist
program — specified the goal
of "a national home for the Jewish
people" in Palestine. The U.N. parti-
tion plan of 1947 that provided the
legal basis for the creation of the
State of Israel
called for the
division of
Mandatory
Palestine into
two states,
one "Jewish"
and the other
NOU N WAS
"Arab."
CHANGED.
Israel's
Declaration of
Independence,
adopted May
14, 1948,
announced
"the natural
right of the
Jewish people
to be masters
of their own
fate, like all
other nations,
in their own
sovereign
state." And it
explicitly tied
the fledgling
state to the
Jewish past,
announcing:
"The Land of
Israel was the
birthplace of
the Jewish

Dry Bones

AND NOW FOR
NEWS ABOUT THE
MIDDLE EAST .. .

accept the reality of Israel cannot
bring themselves to call it Jewish.
As chief Palestinian negotiator Nabil
Shaath put it, "We will never recog-
nize Israel as a Jewish state."
Why won't the Palestinians come
to grips with a reality that has been
crystal clear to the rest of the world
for generations?

THE NEWS

DryBonesBlog.corn

people. Here their spiritual, religious
and political identity was shaped.
Here, they first attained statehood,
created cultural values of national and
universal significance, and gave to the
world the eternal Book of Books."
At the time, no one disputed the
obvious Jewish character of the
new state. Even the Soviet Union
supported its creation as an act of
justice to the Jewish people, and
when that country barred its Jews
from emigrating, it would make some
exceptions for those going to Israel,
since such migration could be defined
as repatriation to the Jewish national
homeland.

Modern Pillars

Today, the blue-and-white Star of
David flag, Hebrew as the official lan-
guage, Saturday as the official day of
rest, the annual holiday cycle and a
multitude of other cultural signifiers
clearly mark Israel as a Jewish state
— in fact, the world's only such state.

Commentary on page 28

standing
guard

For Israel
And Our Jewish
Community

iii

There is debate within some of
the national Jewish organizations
as to whether training advocates
for Israel needs to start with a solid
education on the topic before revealing
"effective" messages and talking points.
The CAMERA Israel advocacy group
trained students this summer using Israeli
government spokesman Mark Regev's tips:
1. Keep up on daily news from Israel and
read books related to the conflict. 2. Know
your audience so you can make arguments
that appeal specifically to them. 3. Project
confidence and joy in your advocacy or you
will not be persuasive.

Prepared by Allan Gale, Jewish
Community Relations Council of
Metropolitan Detroit

® Aug. 25, 2011, Jewish Renaissance Media

August 25 i 2011

27