Israel Launches Drive to Gain Support of American Jewry

The Israeli government is launching an effort to win the support of Diaspora Jewry — especially in the United States — for the diplomatic initiative for peace in the Middle East it plans to present the Bush administration.

Moshe Arad, Israel’s ambassador to Washington, said Tuesday that world Jewish leaders will not be presented with a finished “blueprint” but will be asked for their own ideas.

The forum for this will be the Prime Minister’s Conference on Jewish Solidarity with Israel, which Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has scheduled for Jerusalem March 20-22. More than 1,000 Jewish leaders from around the world are expected to attend.

The conference will be held several days after Foreign Minister Moshe Arens visits Washington, and several weeks before Shamir goes to Washington in mid-April.

Arad said Jewish leaders will be able to express the concerns of their communities and in turn hear the concerns of the Israelis.

Arens said that “the final decision is with Israel,” but repeatedly called the conference a dialogue in which the participants would not be asked to rubber stamp a position already decided upon.

Speaking at a meeting with reporters from the Jewish media at the Israel Embassy here, Arad indicated that Shamir would use the input of the Jewish leaders to help him develop the proposals he will make to the Bush administration when he goes to Washington.

Arad said Israel understands “that many American Jews — for understandable reasons — are clearly concerned with the image of Israel.”

The ambassador did not directly mention Israel’s handling of the Arab uprising on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but later he said, “our responsibility is to control violence on the West Bank.”

The theme of unity was stressed by Shamir in a letter he sent to Jewish leaders inviting them to join the steering committee for the conference.

Shamir noted that Israel now has a “government of unity,” which has the support of 95 of the 120 members of the Knesset.

“In view of the recent developments in the Middle East, there is an urgent need to strengthen the relationship of solidarity between Israel and all the Jews of the world,” Shamir said.

“The government of Israel expects the entire Jewish people to stand at Israel’s side in its quest for peace, security and prosperity, which are all vital to the very existence and development of the world’s one, and only, Jewish state,” the prime minister wrote.

Arad said that the Israeli government knows that one of the causes for dissension between the Diaspora and Israel was the controversy over the “Who Is a Jew” amendment.

He said in his recent travels around the United States he found this concern still exists among American Jews over an amendment which would have recognized only conversions performed by Orthodox rabbis.

” ‘Who is a Jew’ is no longer on the agenda of the leadership of the two major parties,” Arad said.