JULY 1 • 2021 | 33

Maccabi Games experience
than sports competitions
because of the limited num-
ber of sports, but that’s fine
because the experience is a
very important part of the
Maccabi Games,
” Gordon said.
Out-of-town athletes must
pay for their transportation to
San Antonio and hotel stay,
which is about $150 per room
per night. Each room can have
up to three people.
The JCC Association of
North America will cover uni-
forms and other ground costs.
Neither Gordon nor Silver
can attend the Texas Maccabi
Games because of family com-
mitments, but Gordon said
arrangements are being made
for Detroit to have a delegation
head.
“Franci and I will take care
of all the logistics on our local
end,
” Gordon said.
This is not the first time San
Antonio has hosted a Maccabi
Games. It also was a host in

2005 and 2009.
Having a regional Maccabi
Games is a throwback to
the early days of the annual
Olympic-style competition for
Jewish teens ages 13-16 that
has grown to feature large sites
and athletes from across the
world.
The Texas Maccabi Games
also may be a harbinger of
things to come against the
backdrop of a worldwide pan-
demic. And perhaps a positive
development, Gordon said.
“If we go back to having
regional events, maybe more
JCC’s can get hosting experi-
ence,
” Gordon said. “Toledo
or Akron could host a couple

hundred kids, or Columbus
can host 500 or 600.
“Not everyone can commit
to hosting 2,500 kids.
”
The Maccabi Games began
in 1982 when Memphis, Tenn.,
was the lone site. There were
multiple sites annually starting
in 1989.
Last year’s cancellation
was the first ever. San Diego,
Calif., and Pace University in
Westchester, N.Y., were sup-
posed to be the hosts in August
2020. About 70-75 Detroit ath-
letes and artists were expected
to participate last year in the
Maccabi Games and ArtsFest.
The cancellation was disap-
pointing, but not unexpected.
“
Am I surprised? Not at all,
”
Gordon told the Jewish News
after the JCC Association of
North America announced the
cancellation March 25, 2020,
in an email to delegation heads
and asked the delegation heads
to relay the word to their com-
munities.

“There’s so much uncer-
tainty in the world right now,
and many JCC’s are closed,
”
Gordon said after the cancel-
lation announcement. “It takes
a lot of work to put on the
Maccabi Games, and this is an
important time of the year for
planning and preparation.
”
Detroit has hosted the
Maccabi Games six times since
1984 — when it was the only
site — and most recently in
2019, when Atlanta also hosted.
No community has hosted
the Maccabi Games more often
than Detroit.

Please send sports news to
stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

“AT LEAST SOMETHING IS

HAPPENING THIS SUMMER.”

— MACCABI GAMES SUPPORTER KAREN GORDON

House Dems Seek
Shift in Israel Policy

RON KAMPEAS JTA
A

letter from 73 Democrats
in the U.S. House, includ-
ing several leaders, urged
President Joe Biden to reverse what
they call the Trump administration’s
“abandonment of longstanding,
bipartisan United States policy” on
Israeli-Palestinian relations.
The June 23 letter calls for Biden
to firmly consider Israeli settlements
illegal and the West Bank occupied,
two things the Trump administra-
tion stated that it would no longer do.
“Make clear that the United States
considers settlements to be incon-
sistent with international law by
reissuing relevant State Department
and U.S. customs guidance to that
effect,
” the letter states.
It also pushes for all “relevant offi-
cial U.S. documents and communi-
cations” to “once again consistently
refer to the status of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip as occupied.
”
The letter’s signatories include
seven committee chairs, among
them Reps. Rosa DeLauro,
D-Conn., who leads the powerful
Appropriations Committee, and
John Yarmuth, D-Ky., who heads the
Budget Committee, as well as the
assistant Speaker of the House, Rep.
Katherine Clarke of Massachusetts.
Seven Jewish Democrats signed
the letter, including Rep. Jan
Schakowsky, D-Ill., who initiat-
ed it. Amon the others are Reps.
Andy Levin of Michigan, Alan
Lowenthal of California, Sara Jacobs
of California and Steve Cohen, of
Tennessee.
Donald Trump changed decades
of U.S. policy in the region by rec-
ognizing the right of Israel to annex
parts of the West Bank, in addition
to agreeing to Israel’s claim to the
Golan Heights and moving the U.S.
embassy to Jerusalem.
Biden officials have been reluctant

to openly criticize Israel, preferring
to keep differences behind closed
doors. During last month’s conflict,
he rejected calls from the party’s left
to leverage assistance to Israel to
pressure it to end the conflict.
In a vague but significant line, the
letter calls for Biden to “consistent-
ly” condemn in public statements
any “specific actions that violate the
rights of either party or undermine
the prospects for peace.
” Open air-
ing of differences is a practice Israeli
leaders and the mainstream pro-Is-
rael community adamantly rejects.
But Biden favors some of the
eight specific recommendations in
the letter, including a resumption of
sending aid to the Palestinians and
reopening a separate consulate in
Jerusalem for Palestinian relations.
The letter also calls on Biden to
abandon Trump’s peace plan, which
envisioned Israeli annexation of
portions of the West Bank. It also
urges him to pressure Israel to stop
the planned eviction of Palestinian
families from eastern Jerusalem.
The document reflects growing
calls among Democrats to take a
tougher stance with Israel, mount-
ing against Biden’s continued close-
ness to the state.
The letter also comes as Israel’s
new government, led by Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett and
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, seeks
to repair relations with Democrats
eroded under former Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Notably, three progressive
“Squad” members did not sign:
Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New
York and Cori Bush of Missouri.
The letter emphasizes support for
the two-state outcome, something
that Tlaib rejects, favoring a bina-
tional state.

NATION