metro
Making An Impact
AIPAC conference brings activists and politicians together over Israel.
Ryan Fishman
Special to the Jewish News
A
group of more than 200
Michigan residents joined some
13,000 delegates at the American
Israel Public Affair Committee's (AIPAC)
Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.,
March 3-6 for what the organization calls
"the three most important days affecting
Israel's security."
The annual conference brings together
American citizens from all 50 states,
Jewish and non-Jewish alike, to strengthen
the strategic relationship between Israel
and America, to stress a need for bipar-
tisan support for the Jewish state and to
lobby members of Congress on its behalf.
This year, AIPAC delegates met with all
535 members of the House and Senate for
the first time in the conference's history,
including Michigan Senators Carl Levin
and Debbie Stabenow, and the state's 14
members of the House. Delegates stressed
the importance of a strong alliance and
asked their representatives in Washington
for support on several issues.
Congress was asked to renew the foreign
aid bill, which includes more than $3 bil-
lion for Israel, 75 percent of which is spent
back in the United States. Iran's nuclear
weapons program was addressed, with
delegates raising the importance of con-
tinuing sanctions with full implementation
and pressing for prevention of develop-
ment, rather than containment of a nucle-
ar Iran. Delegates also asked members of
Congress to co-sponsor their respective
versions of a forthcoming bill, the "United
States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act:'
placing further emphasis on the impor-
tance of the partnership to focus on coop-
eration in the military, trade, energy and
homeland security sectors.
Impactful Conference
"In all these years, I've yet to meet one
person who regretted coming to the policy
conference, and I've been to 25 of them:'
said AIPAC President Emeritus David
Victor of Birmingham. "It is a spectacu-
lar three days you never forget and never
regret. Does it actually make a difference?
Thirteen thousand pro-Israel activists meet
with every single member of Congress or
their staff in one day. It's overwhelming:'
The conference's plenary sessions
featured Israeli and American leaders,
including Vice President Joe Biden, Israeli
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel
Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren
and, by satellite, Prime Minister Benjamin
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March 14 • 2013
Members of the Michigan delegation: Brandon Yellen, Brandon Pomish, Jordan Dizik,
Jordan Yellen, Josh Kaplan and Ryan Fishman.
110.0
Michigan AIPAC President David Handleman, AIPAC Michigan Area Director Yossi
Held and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) during a meeting with Michigan conference
delegates
Netanyahu. Attendees also heard from
soldiers, students, entertainers and clergy,
who all spoke about the importance of
Americans stepping forward to lobby
on Israel's behalf and ask for support in
Washington.
The conference also highlighted Israeli
technology and innovation, from ground-
breaking developments in the global
fight against AIDS to military technology,
including the Iron Dome.
Delegates heard firsthand how Iron
Dome is changing the lives of Israeli citi-
zens living near Gaza, and learned from its
inventor, Dr. Danny Gold, that the ground-
breaking technology almost didn't see the
light of day. Gold thanked AIPAC and its
members for securing funding for Iron
Dome last year ahead of Operation Pillar
of Defense and stressed the importance of
strengthening the countries' strategic mili-
tary alliance.
"The 2013 AIPAC Policy Conference was
the best organized, most comprehensively
informative ever:' said AIPAC President
Emeritus Ed Levy of Birmingham. "The
blend of input about Israeli security and
diplomatic challenges, together with sto-
ries of Israeli human services and techno-
logical development helped make every
hour broadly interesting and attractive to
delegates of all ages and outlooks:'
Democracy In Action
This year's conference also marked two
significant anniversaries: the 65th anniver-
sary of Israel's statehood, but also the 70th
anniversary of the 1943 Rabbis' March.
That October, 400 rabbis marched from
the Capitol to the White House to ask
the President to proactively intervene in
Europe, but FDR slipped out the rear exit,
avoiding a meeting.
Today, members of the executive and
legislative branches come to America's
Jewish community by attending much of
the conference, touting Israel as one of the
only issues in Washington today where
both parties can agree.
Though the relationship between
America's Jews and its leaders is sig-
nificantly different, the regional threats
to Israel's existence persist these seven
decades later. The conference highlighted
the tumultuous state of the region, includ-
ing the ongoing war in Syria, questions of
leadership in Egypt and the danger of a
nuclear Iran.
AIPAC Michigan President David
Handleman of Bloomfield Hills stresses
the need for delegates to head to
Washington to learn about these issues
and then educate their leaders.
"With so many changes occurring with-
in Congress, AIPAC has never been more
important in developing relationships with
incoming members who have no signifi-
cant interest in foreign affairs and Israel in
particular. The ability of citizen activists to
influence our policies makes it necessary
to belong to AIPAC," Handleman said.
This year, the Michigan delegation
included a growing number of young
adults, excited by the opportunity to
engage their leaders and learn more about
the issues affecting Israel.
"This was an experience I'll never
forget:' said 26-year-old attorney Jordan
Dizik of Birmingham, a first-time delegate.
"It was educational, exciting and empow-
ering and, as a young adult, I see the need
for people like myself to step up and lead
this organization and its goals into the
future. I'm sure this is the start of a new
tradition for me:'
Josh Kaplan, 26, an attorney from
Birmingham, said, "As a young Jewish
activist, I am amazed by how many people
take time from their busy lives for such
an amazing cause. At Policy Conference
you're able to have a personal conversation
with your elected officials, and they really
do ask for your opinion and want to learn
more. This is democracy in action, the way
our founding fathers envisioned it, and
that's just one of the reasons I'm already
signed up for next year:'
A $200 discounted rate is available for
those interested in attending the conference
in 2014, but only if booked by March 18.
The cost is $399 for general attendees; the
organization's club members are offered
a rate of $299. Registration information
is available online at www.aipac.org/pc,
or by contacting Michigan Area Director
Yossi Held at yheld@aipac.org or Michigan
Leadership Management Director Avi
Davidoff at adavidoff@aipac.org .
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