Gene Kaufman got a call from his Israeli cousins on Monday morning. They could have been on the bus that was attacked by a suicide bomber in Haifa the day before, killing 15. Their mother was running late, so they missed it.
“I’m very happy to be with the Jewish community,” the San Rafael resident said just a few hours later. “My emotions are in flux at the moment. I’m angry.”
When Kaufman said he was glad to be among community, he wasn’t kidding. It was all around him, 1,000 people strong, at Monday’s West Bay lunch held by AIPAC, the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.
Kaufman went on to say that in light of the latest suicide bombings, he was completely behind Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s retaliatory measures against the Palestinian Authority.
“I might not have said it a week ago, but I’m saying it now,” he said.
Although the AIPAC luncheon was sold out before 26 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks over the weekend, those who attended said the current atmosphere in the Middle East was even greater reason to show solidarity with Israel.
“It gives me a tremendous lift to be here, with all these people who are supportive of Israel,” said Irwin Bear of Burlingame, who plans to go on a Jewish Community Federation-sponsored mission to Israel in March. “In view of the recent troubles, it makes it even more important.” Bear, too, said he favored retaliation.
“I was always in favor of it,” he said. “It’s the only way to show strength.” Bear added that he wanted peace, but believed the Palestinians were showing no signs of wanting to negotiate. “We can’t allow them to come in and kill without retaliation.”
Calling the Mideast crisis an “existential struggle for Jews and Israelis,” Michael Futterman, chair of the Middle East strategy committee of the Jewish Community Relations Council, said, “We desperately need a partner for peace and we don’t have one now.”
Similar themes were voiced by a number of different speakers, who, in effect, were preaching to the choir. Not a whisper of criticism of the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan or Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians — a complaint often heard in the Bay Area — was uttered.
And as each speaker introduced the next, all calling up the highest of accolades to describe the other’s pro-Israel activism, it became one big mutual admiration society.
The most recent Israeli victims were remembered twice, with the chairs of the lunch, Barbara and Jeff Farber, lighting a yahrzeit candle before their introductory remarks, and Rabbi Evan Goodman of San Francisco Congregation Beth Israel-Judea asking for a moment of silence before the HaMotzi blessing.
The Farbers emphasized that attending the lunch was important, but that it should only be the beginning. “Many people are asking, ‘What can I do?’ said Barbara Farber. “Coming here is not enough. By the end of this event, pledge to act by the end of this week.”
Cards sat at each place setting, with listings of local representatives and newspapers’ e-mail addresses. Although Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) was to deliver the keynote address, as he did at AIPAC’s Sacramento brunch and East Bay dinner the previous day, he returned to Washington. His remarks to San Francisco and AIPAC’s San Jose dinner Monday were shown on video. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-S.F.), who received a standing ovation, filled in.
Edwards said that at a time when we are struggling to find answers after Sept. 11, “Israel champions democracy in the face of terror.” Pelosi spoke fondly of the local AIPAC leadership, and called the founding of the state of Israel “the shining star of the 20th century.”
She reiterated a point made by almost every speaker, lest there be any doubt — that the U.S.-Israel relationship was not among the reasons for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
“If there had never been a state of Israel, Sept. 11 still would have happened,” she said.
Pelosi recalled meeting Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on a trip to the Middle East. She told him that he had lost credibility when he rejected former Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s generous proposal.
His answer: “There was no proposal,” she recalled, adding, “It takes your breath away. Now that’s really tragic that he would say such a thing.”
U.C. Berkeley senior Randy Barnes described the atmosphere on area campuses, where Jewish students sometimes tuck their Magen Davids into their shirts, because they feel such anti-Israel hostility.
Every day, he told the crowd, Jewish students must face signs that read “End Israeli Apartheid,” or “The Israeli Occupation=Terrorism,” and “Zionism=Racism.”
“They call us child-killers and racists because we support Israel,” he said.
Amy Friedkin, national president-elect of AIPAC, said, “Nobody knows how long the war on terrorism will last, but we must make sure our friends in Congress won’t stop until all terrorist forces are stopped.”
She said AIPAC activists must ensure that Israel is not held to a double standard in defending itself. “Israel has been working so hard for so many years toward peace,”added Friedkin, who lives in San Francisco. “The Palestinian Authority needs to prepare its people.”
Howard Kohr, AIPAC’s national executive director, opened his remarks with a reference to the weekend terrorist attacks. “Jerusalem and Haifa are a reminder of daily life in Israel today,” he said. “Mothers and fathers don’t know when they say goodbye to their children if they’ll see them again.”
Kohr called the Israeli shelling of police headquarters in Jenin “very targeted, measured and discreet. No democratic nation will stand still while terrorist activists kill people in the heart of its cities.”
Whenever Israel carries out such actions, Kohr said, it is vital that they are seen within the context of what took place before. All too often, he said, people hear “the occupation must end,” or “end the settlements,” which does not give the full story.
Kohr, too, made the point that U.S. support of Israel had nothing to do with Sept. 11. Quoting President Bush, who said, “It was for who we are, not what we do, it was for our values, not our relationships,” Kohr said this was one of AIPAC’s greatest challenges.
“Every foreign leader who comes to the U.S. now to talk about the war in Afghanistan asks, ‘What are you going to do about Israel and the conflict with the Palestinians?’ This is the dynamic we’re facing.”
Kohr listed the ways in which people could get involved and ended with a plea for them to go to Israel.
“Everyone understands this is a difficult moment for Israel,” he said. “It’s made more difficult when you feel alone.”
Pelosi, who spoke last, was interrupted by a fire alarm. An announcement came over the loudspeaker to slowly evacuate the building. As attendees made their way out of the dining room, an announcement came that it was a false alarm.
A veteran of numerous Jewish events who did not want to be identified was overheard asking, “Was that a ploy to get it to end on time?”