April 4 • 2019 39
jn
he pronounced correctly, I have to
admit).
The warmest, loudest and longest
reception went to Nikki Haley, the
former U.N. ambassador. She was
clearly the darling of this crowd.
She launched into a pointed critique
of the U.N. and the anti-Israel bias
(hatred) among so many of its mem-
bers, and often provided “inside”
information on what’
s happening
there. She explained that many
ambassadors of anti-Israel countries
“know better,” but they “have to
cater to their people.” She noted that
at the U.N., “It was like everyone
was bullying the kid in the corner”
(Israel) and she “just had to stand up
and fight.”
Later in the long day, the roster
featured a full range of political
speakers, from Secretary of State
Michael Pompeo to Sen. Schumer to
a British member of parliament, all
eloquently expressing their support
for Israel. Pompeo asked why none
of the other 192 countries in the
U.N. have their right to exist ques-
tioned. “Israel should be emulated,”
he said, “not ostracized.”
It was a long, emotional day. I
ended the night trying to recall
everything I learned, but my
thoughts lingered with the people of
Israel on this sad day.
MARCH 26
We started with a large gener-
al session that included Speaker
Pelosi, Ambassador to Israel David
Friedman, Sen. McConnell, Sen.
Bob Menendez and Prime Minister
Netanyahu via live video — he cut
short his visit in the aftermath of the
Hamas rocket incident. And then,
around 11 a.m., the real work began
— we headed over to Congress to
lobby.
That word “lobby” is so misun-
derstood in the context of AIPAC.
Critics like to advance a false narra-
tive that the organization is a behe-
moth, and all it has to do is snap
its fingers and lawmakers shiver
in their boots. In reality, it gets its
work done through a lot of effort, a
commitment to bipartisanship and
an American public that is decidedly
pro-Israel.
We headed to Capitol Hill to
attend prearranged meetings with
members of Congress and their
staffs. There’
s a key Israel-related
bill pending (aid to Israel, anti-BDS)
that the AIPAC attendees had been
prepped on, and we were ready to
get to work. I won’
t detail the discus-
sions at Congress other than to say
our reception was extremely warm
and positive. I saw the irreplaceable
importance of person-to-person
contact.
With the conference concluded,
attendees returned home, including
to Detroit, making a collective state-
ment that the US-Israel relationship
must remain rock solid.
Tomorrow, the work continues. ■
Mark Jacobs is the AIPAC Michigan chair for
African American Outreach, a co-director
of the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity,
a board member of the Jewish Community
Relations Council-AJC and the director
of Jewish Family Service’
s Legal Referral
Committee.
Norma Dorman, Rabbi Rachel Shere and Julie Wiener
Celebrating the 2019 Honorees
SUNDAY
, MAY 19
Luncheon 11:30am
visit www.jslmi.org
or contact Beth Tryon at
248-592-5026 or btryon@jslmi.org
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