|
AJC Trip Notes October 25-November 1, 2003 Madrid – Day 1 - October 26, 2003 After arriving in Madrid at 4 pm, I moderate a discussion with Pilar Rahola from Barcelona at the Westin Palace Hotel. Pilar is a fiery red headed Catholic who is a leftist political leader, a former journalist, an author and a well-known and outspoken defender of the oppressed; she has taken on anti-Semitism in Europe as well. She gave many examples of the overt anti-Semitism and covert support of Arafat and the Palestinians in Spanish newspapers and by the intelligencia. Many liken Sharon and Israel to the Nazis and every act of defense by Israel is considered an aggression. Terrorists are resistors. Pilar has been traveling some on behalf of AJC and she will be coming to America to speak with Spanish speaking groups to discuss the unfairness of the anti-Semitism that is rampant in Spain and the rest of Europe. Spain has about 15,000 Jews in a population of 40 million. A financially successful couple is also part of the group and has helped with the local arrangements. While in the meeting, a very large and happy bar mitzpha party was being celebrated in the ballroom. We concluded the meeting around 8 pm. Madrid - Day 2Our first stop of the day is to the American Embassy. The American Ambassador, George L. Argyros is an American businessman from California and the former owner of the Seattle Mariners. Luckily, I am seated next to him at the breakfast. We are served a formal, elegant breakfast with his senior staff. The table, resplendent with yellow roses and freesia, three courses and magnificent service, is more like a formal dinner. In spite of the formality, Argyros is a charming and affable man who loves his assignment. He loves being in Spain, “where the residents really love life and know how to live.” Although he confesses that he doesn’t believe that they ever sleep. Spain has become a major supporter of the U.S. and everyone goes to great pains to explain that President Arzan and President Bush have become close friends; 1300 professional Spanish soldiers are serving in Iraq; and Madrid just hosted the Donor’s Conference, the meeting of the European nations to contribute to the rebuilding of Iraq. While the European contributions were less than hoped for and the Germans and French contributed nothing, there is general agreement that Spain is doing a terrific job of supporting the American and British efforts. There is also frank discussion about the recent visit of King Juan Carlos to Syria and we will learn more about that directly from the King in our private audience. Around 9:30 am we left the Ambassador’s residence for a private tour of the Prado. We left the Prado around 12:30 and headed for the House of Parliament for a conversation with four members of parliament. We discussed the recurrent themes of anti-Zionism in the local press and among the populace and they confirmed that our observations were true, but that the anti-Zionism among the press and some of the public is closely aligned with anti-American sentiment against the war in Iraq and did not represent anti-Semitism. Several of the members acknowledged that they spoke out occasionally on these issues; but the former mayor of Seville, now a deputy in parliament, indicated that her constituents sympathized with Arafat. This was to become a steady current of discussion throughout the day. She admitted that Sharon was despised and seen as bad as the Nazi’s and that Israel consistently overreacted to the terrorist attacks. She believed that until Sharon demonstrated restraint, there would be no sympathy for Israel’s position. When I asked her how she would respond, if she were in the same position, she had no answer. One of the more moderate members suggested that the best insurance policy for Israel was the strength of democracy. He also indicated that there needed to be a greater respect for human rights and better understanding among the religious groups. David Harris indicated to them that we were concerned about three things: Israel’s search for peace and security; the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the world and international terrorism with weapons of mass destruction. This would be David’s mantra for the rest of the trip. As Pilar had told us earlier, the Spanish press and many citizens regard Arafat as a champion of the underdog; the David against Goliath. However, one of the other members of the parliament who also had been to Israel several times and represents Spain in the EU disagreed with her analysis. He also acknowledged that the EU could no longer ignore Arafat’s thievery and misuse of funds. Through all of our discussions with Spanish officials, their own experience with terrorism from the Eta faction of the Basque colors their opinions. For about 30 years, the Basque area of Spain, which is in the north and borders France, has tried to achieve statehood. Militant, terrorist factions have targeted specific politicians including President Aznar and one of the parliament members we met. After our visit with the Parliament officials we headed to lunch around 2:30 pm with members of the Jewish community. There are about 5,000 Jews in Madrid and around 15-20,000 throughout the rest of the 40 million people in Spain, a tiny factor in the country. They say that they have not experienced anti-Semitism but are keenly aware of the anti-Zionism and worry that feeling could lead to anti-Semitism. Also, because of their small numbers, they are not eager to make waves. In short, they are living a nice life, aren’t persecuted and aren’t particularly organized. While they recognize the growing Muslim population, now close to a million, could cause trouble in the future, they didn’t seem particularly concerned for their welfare. In fact, one of the men told me that this was a terrific place to live and that the economy was strong. Their biggest need, said Jack Loredo, a community leader, was money for Jewish education and to develop an organization of Jewish communities throughout the country. One of the other Jewish men said that they were attempting to obtain government funding for these activities, as the government supports the Catholic Church. Israel’s ambassador to Spain, Victor Horel also joined us. He said that Spain was a great friend to Israel in spite of the press and he was doubtful that anything could be done to improve Israel’s image. Some of us left lunch for a quick walk back to the hotel to prepare for our meeting with King Juan Carlos. We left for the Palace around 4:30 pm. About a half hour outside the city, we entered a 30,000-acre compound to meet with the King. After various security checks, briefings by aides and general sitting and waiting, the King greeted us. The ceremonial palace is a small modern brick building outfitted with antiques. We did not see his residence. About 65 years old, the King is an avid athlete and warm person. He has no control of the government, but serves as unofficial ambassador, performs ceremonies and supporter much like Queen Elizabeth of England. He had a great deal to do with the successful Olympic Games in Barcelona, and recently traveled to Syria to encourage President Bashar Assad and others to play a more constructive role in the resolution of the Middle East crisis. He greeted each of us individually and we stood with him for about 30 minutes while David expressed concern on our three subjects. He seemed genuinely attentive and concerned and agreed that he would continue to be a voice for peace. On our way back to the city, we stopped at a department store where a few of us disembarked to shop and look around. The stores and streets were mobbed, as Spaniards really do take siestas and businesses close at 8 pm and retailers stay open until 10 pm. At dinner we met with four prominent journalists and “intellectuals” who basically confirmed that the press was anti-Israel, anti-Sharon, anti-Bush and the war in Iraq. Even though they spoke out occasionally, that they were helpless to change the views of their editors. One particularly poignant story related to Jenin, when a reporter called his editor as he was witnessing events and said that a massacre had not taken place and that there was no genocide, but was told by his editor that they would keep massacre in the headline, regardless of what he saw. While the official line of Spain, and its government actions reflect a deep support for America and President Bush, the public does not seem to feel that way, which indicates that many of these leaders are taking some personal risk to support policies that their constituents do not favor. I left Spain feeling a bit confused but grateful for the intelligence of the leadership and anxious to return to Madrid when I could actually have time to enjoy the city. Berlin—Day 3Our first meeting in Berlin began at 1 p.m. at the AJC offices with Ambassador Shimon Stein from Israel. Stein has a long and impressive history in Foreign Service and admonished us to stay engaged in spite of the very difficult times we are in. He agrees that Israel’s public relations are poor and that our press persona is terrible, but still we must continue to work for better relations. He is particularly interested in resurrecting student exchanges, especially sending German students to Israel, which has slowed considerably due to lack of funding. He is also unable to bring in many speakers or afford printed material and he has eight diplomats to cover a country of 82 million. Germany is critical of the security fence and other actions. Our lunch ended about 3:30 pm and then we took a two-hour tour of the city. We saw an enormous amount of rebuilding and construction. Berlin has some simply remarkable architecture and the city is abuzz with reconstruction. The division between East and West now is hardly discernable, and the new government buildings, museums and the transcontinental train station are making considerable progress. Unfortunately, we had no time to enter the newly built Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Liebeskind. Our tour ended at the Scusi restaurant where we had a private briefing with Karsten Voight, the German American coordinator of the federal government. In excellent English he fielded our questions. He explained that Germans reacted quite strongly to 9/11 and understood our feelings of being bombed on our own soil. He was frank in his criticism of Israel’s building of the security fence within the borders established in 1967 and the settlements. Around 7 pm we walked across the street to the Ministry of the Interior for a meeting with its director Otto Schily, the Federal Minister of the Interior. This office governs the equivalent of the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security and the Justice Department. His daughter attends American University in Washington and his wife is Jewish; accordingly we found him to be friendly, tough on terrorism and anxious for good relations with America. Five aides joined him. He also seemed proud of the large FSU immigration, and positive about the way the community was integrating these immigrants into the country. Right now, about 100,000 have immigrated from the FSU. He stressed that he is hopeful that the future will be more secure for everyone in the world and that he was cooperating closely with both Israel and USA on the capture and conviction of terrorists. He was also very proud to inform us that he had recently been told by General Ball, head of US European operations, that the highest number of reenlistments came from Germany; meaning that US soldiers were finding Germany a comfortable place to be. Berlin - Day 5The day began with a meeting of the Turkish Union in their offices with a gathering of journalists, politicians and an entertainer. They expressed their frustration with the slow process of integration into German society. There are an estimated 3.5 million Moslems who have emigrated from Turkey. Two Turks have been elected to the Federal parliament out of 600 and five Turks are in the Berlin parliament of 140; although none are a part of the conservative party; only the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Greens, who are the most liberal. The participants explained that the Turks were mostly storeowners, retailers and restaurant owners. The union has begun sponsoring seminars for start-ups to decrease the number of business failures. During the dialogue and lunch, we explained that their experience is very similar to those of many of our grandparents and that integration and assimilation is a process that takes generations. This seemed to be a new understanding for many of the hosts and I think made them feel less alone. It was an interesting meeting and although our religions are different, our communal experience is the same. Our next meeting was with Wolfgang Schauble, the deputy head of the CDU/CSU caucus of the German parliament in charge of foreign and defense policy. He spoke to us in English and told us about his recent visit to Israel where he was simply flabbergasted by the physical closeness of everything which gave him a much better understanding of the security issues. He said that he wanted the EU to become more critical of Arafat. He also indicated that Germany had become isolated in Europe and the UK has developed a stronger role. Shauble urged us to be more generous with France; in fact, he believed that France and the UK would be very important for stability in the EU and that some positions regarding Iraq could change. He also felt the German chancellor had made a mistake not sending a representative to Madrid for the Donors Conference. About 4:30 pm we returned to the AJC offices for a roundtable of Russian Jews and some representatives of the Berlin Jewish community. Michael May, the executive director of the Berlin Jewish community organization was highly critical of the Russian Jews and said they were not assimilating and really didn’t want to become Germans. He and others said that the large influx of Russians over the last 10-15 years was putting tremendous strain on the infrastructure and the social services. Right now the Russian community is estimated to be about 105,000 having grown from 25,000 and it is spread around the country so that no community is overburdened. While that makes sense from a federal benefits standpoint, the Jewish communities point out that it also keeps from developing a critical mass of Jews anywhere, which can be problematic for the Jewish social community structure. Like FSU immigration to Israel, a large percentage is elderly and need social services and welfare. Frankly the animosity was palpable and not dissimilar to what my Russian Jewish ancestors experienced when they arrived in Baltimore in 1908. Our final meeting of the day was a lovely dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel with members of the German community. We were seated at round tables of ten and really had an opportunity to talk with the guests. My companions were Alexander Brenner, the president of the Jewish community of Berlin and Volkmar Schultz, a former German parliament official with the German American portfolio. Both men fortunately spoke excellent English and we were able to get to know one another. Brenner, a former scientist also served as a German diplomat in Israel for many years. His son lives in Ashdod and manages the port there. Shultz is very knowledgeable about America and has been to Baltimore several times. He serves on the advisory board of the AJC Berlin office. I felt I made two friends that I will definitely see when I return to Berlin. The other interesting person I met was Gary Smith the founding director of The American Academy, funded by American corporations to bring accomplished Americans to Germany for a period of time. Former Ambassador Richard Holbrook serves as chair. Participants are selected by a panel and have included people like Arthur Miller and Richard Cohen. Fellowships last from a few weeks to a few months. Gary, a conservative Jew from Austin Texas, moved to Berlin 20 years ago after he met his German wife in Israel. At the close of dinner, we heard commentary from a variety of journalists. Petra Lidschreiber, editor in chief of the public television channel spoke forcefully about the anti-Semitism she observes, especially related to the portrayal of Israel. She asked why the IRA is called a terror group, ETA is a terror group but the Palestinians are activists, extremists and resistors. We also heard from Richard Bernstein of the New York Times, Esther Schapira a TV documentarian who produced the film Three Bullets and a Dead Child. While she originally went to produce the story about the child killed by Israeli soldiers, she discovered during the reporting of the story that it was more likely that the boy was killed by friendly fire from the Palestinians. She reported that she has received many personal threats as a result of the story and still sees plenty of anti-Semitism, and anti-Israel feeling. At the end of the evening Schultz was a bit upset because he wanted me to realize that these were generalities and that he did not believe that Germans were anti-Semitic and if they criticized Israel it didn’t mean that they were anti-Semitic. Berlin to Hamburg to Paris—Day 6 It is now 11 am and we are on a smooth European train, traveling 130 miles an hour for our visit to Hamburg and the German Military College. Representatives of the German Central Command College greeted us and transported us to their campus by military bus. AJC has been cultivating its relationship with the current and future leaders of the German military for the last 10 years. After a light lunch of soup and sandwiches, where we sat among different branches of the military we adjourned to an auditorium where David Harris delivered his excellent remarks on the importance of the transatlantic relationship. As each day unfolds, I am more and more impressed with the staff and the lay leadership of the organization. David’s convictions are deeply held, as he is a first generation American. He speaks easily and with passion, but without confrontation, yet he firmly makes his points with each group. He presses the importance of our communication with our friends in Western Europe while reminding them that AJC cares about three things: growing anti-Semitism in Western Europe, the breakdown of relations between America and other democratic friends and the importance of all of us aligning against the enemies of democracy. When we allow open persecution of any group that undermines the security of every democratic nation. We departed for the airport and boarded our brief flight to Paris. We were transported directly to Salon Kleber, a lovely and elegant kosher restaurant where members of the CRIF were waiting. At dinner, our hosts were seated among us and we learned about their concerns. The CRIF actually has political standing in France and the group represents all Jewish communities throughout the country. At this dinner we heard from several speakers about the tricky problem of anti-Zionism and the policies of Israel directly impacting French Jewish residents. Traveling with Valerie Hoffenberg, an attractive and passionate community leader, she explained the problems her family has faced. Indeed, several people we met had children living in Israel or other parts of the world and many admitted that they were not sure that they would be able to remain in France. Valerie told a poignant story of her daughter’s classmate. Valerie’s daughter attends an exclusive private school and they live in one of Paris’ toniest neighborhoods. One day during music class, her classmate was not playing the flute to her teacher’s standards. In front of the class, the teacher said, “it’s bad enough that you Jews are murdering the Palestinians, now you are murdering the music the way you play this flute.” Valerie and other parents went to meet with the principal and were unable to have the teacher fired. Unfortunately, as we were to learn the next day, this was not an isolated incident. For the next meeting we went to the American Embassy for a briefing with DCM Alex Wolff and his two top aides. I must tell you about our experience entering the Embassy. First of all, it is huge and very well guarded. I was shocked by the security scrutiny that we received. We were Americans, traveling with a high level group from America for a meeting with people that our trip leaders knew. We were held five at a time, our purses were searched and we were wanded and we passed through a security screen. Compared to how we have been treated throughout Europe, I found this treatment shocking and could only imagine how non-Americans must feel. It was humiliating and completely unnecessary. We had not received this treatment in Spain or Germany where we were also in secure buildings. It also shows the level of concern the embassy has in Paris. However, once we reached the second story conference room, we had a very intelligent and thorough briefing with Mr. Wolff and two of his aides. Although France has not given the US support in Iraq, Wolff was very positive on US/French relations on security, terrorism and law enforcement. He also indicated that the French often dissemble between their public and private discourse. Sometime they have to play for their public, but privately they tell the US all the right things. He told us that the French government has created an organization for the Moslem CFCM community like the CRIF and most were surprised at the radical leaders that were elected. Wolff indicated that the radical Moslems were creating enormous difficulty throughout France and views this as the biggest problem they face. Elizabeth Detterer, a young woman from Calvert County, Maryland, is serving as the aide for human rights and she meets regularly with members of the Jewish community and seemed sympathetic and concerned about the examples of anti-Semitism from the French Jewish community. The group then split up, and half went to visit the Minister of the Interior and I joined a group that went to meet with representatives of the northern Parisian suburbs at a synagogue in Le Raincy. The mayor of Le Raincy, Eric Raoult, is also a member of parliament and he and Valerie had arranged this meeting. In a small synagogue, we met with representatives of Jewish communities of around 1200 people each and in every case the story was the same. The situation is the worst in the poorest districts of Paris where there are many Moslems. Every time there is an action in the Mideast, people stone their synagogues, or spit on them entering and leaving Shul. In most cases, these assaults come from Moslems, but all noted that no one seemed to come to their aid. Every case gets reported to the police and their municipalities, but very little has come of the reports. Most of these men were between 60-80 and they all said people were now afraid to wear kippahs or any Jewish jewelry. However, they were quick to point out that they didn’t think that this was state anti-Semitism, but acts of hooligans and immigrants. They also said that if the Mayor was a member of the communist party, there was no help in their community. Unlike Raincy, which appears to be a beacon because the mayor is also interested in democracy, it appears that some of these people may have to leave hostile communities. When we boarded the bus, Valerie and I spoke again and she said that she was going to continue working on these issues for five more years, when her last child graduated high school. She said that she and many others of her friends have been spending time in Israel and many have recently purchased apartments. We then traveled to the National Assembly for a very elegant lunch hosted by Mr. Raoult. The federal building is huge, ornate and gilded. The staff is dressed in black tie and tails and lunch was three courses and extremely elegant and delicious. My colleagues were swooning. Our meeting with French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, later that day was fascinating. First of all, when we arrived, who should be leaving but Shimon Peres and a small group of aides. Peres is traveling worldwide pressing his view that Israel should be focused on science by using nanotechnology. Coincidentally, I spent almost a half hour with Peres in the British Air lounge when leaving France. I concluded that it was no accident that Peres should be leaving as we were coming and de Villepin wanted us to run into each other. De Villepin has been in various Foreign Service positions since 1980. He spoke to us for about 45 minutes forcefully suggesting that now was the time for some bold new initiatives "Something needs to happen in the next 12 months,” he said “War is not the answer.” He pointed out that the terrorists aren’t afraid to die and that the Palestinians have lost hope. He said the Palestinians must have some incentives for peace and that the rest of the democratic world had to band together to develop solutions. “We are ready to spill French blood for peace in the Middle East,” he said. He said that we must change the logic and spend more energy on the peace process. David then spoke and thanked him for his remarks, but tried to press him on some tangible examples of exactly what he meant. He also reminded the minister that such a plan was once proffered and rejected. But deVillepin demurred. We were hosted for Shabbat by Jack and Arlette Garih in a large apartment in Paris. Again, Valerie had assembled a very interesting group of people and my dinner companions were no exception. Seated to my left was a very well known French journalist. Elizabeth Eschemel who gave up her high profile work in the mainstream press to begin a French website devoted to gathering the press about the Middle East www.proche-orient.info. She used to have an English version too, but it costs about $500,000 a year to produce and she had to stop it. To my right was a documentarian, Jacques Tarnero who had produced a film detailing the anti-Semitic coverage of the Middle East in France called “Decryptage.” Across from me was one of the young reporters of the website and Valerie Hoffenberg and two of my friends from the trip; one who was fluent in French. We spent the night conversing back and forth in English and French. The only American funder Elizabeth Eschemel has is Newt Becker who funds many of the web programs we fund. She is quite friendly with Yigal Carmon of MEMRI and we had a very engaging evening. As she, Valerie and I concluded, the power of the internet is unsurpassed and no matter how good a documentary was, the funding for the distribution becomes a major obstacle. Jack struggled to raise the funds to produce it. As I am familiar with the problems Pierre Rehov has had getting his work distributed I was not encouraging to Mr. Tarnero about finding funders in America. During dinner, some of the hosts spoke. A particularly moving speech came from Barbara Lefevre. A history teacher, she has written a book detailing the anti-Semitism taking place in the public schools by interviewing teachers, Jewish and non-Jewish. The book has caused a stir, but she is not encouraged that very much will change even though there is good documentation. Examples included teachers who want to eliminate teaching the holocaust and teachers who side with Palestinians and see Israel as the aggressor and students being asked to not wear Jewish jewelry of any kind. Unlike other stories, Barbara insisted that these types of things were happening in affluent public schools and in schools where there are no Jews at all. Frankly, I left the dinner and my visit in Paris with a growing sense of alarm. One of the things I have discovered while traveling in the last 12 months, is that we Americans are disliked around the world. European dislike of Bush’s policies and the war in Iraq translates to a dislike and distrust of America. We are no longer seen as the benevolent world power and an editorial in today’s International Herald Tribune was to that point. Furthermore, on an individual basis, many non-Americans experience us as arrogant and unwilling to learn from others. SUMMARY I am concerned for our future. I have learned that every country that is experiencing large Moslem emigration is experiencing serious problems and acts of anti-Semitism. I have learned that disagreement over Sharon’s policies often directly translate to local anti-Semitic acts. Bush’s support of the recreation of Iraq and his support of Israel are seen as part of some massive Jewish conspiracy and are also fueling anti-Semitism. As David Harris said at one of our meetings, he was worried that at some time in the future he might have to work for refugee status for French Jews in America. I was not alive during the Second World War. My great grandparents came to America in 1908 and I have lived a safe and secure life. I am not sure that I can promise that to my grandchildren. More than ever, we must be vigilant and work to keep Israel safe and secure and we must never be complacent about our freedoms. We must protect our freedoms or, as we are seeing throughout the world, they can quickly disappear. If governments do not assure every citizens’ safety, no citizen is secure. |