A two-day seminar in Israel Advocacy to train participants in the means to counter the lies and distortions faced by Israel in the press and other public forums will precede the Orthodox Union’s upcoming Biennial National Convention in Jerusalem.

The sessions will be held on Tuesday, November 23 and Wednesday, November 24 prior to the formal opening of the Thanksgiving Weekend Convention, Wednesday evening.

The goal of the program is ultimately to create a national grassroots Israel advocacy network in OU synagogues throughout North America, explained Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, OU Executive Director for Programming.

The Tuesday session will be led by Betty Ehrenberg, Director of International and Communal Affairs for the OU’s Institute for Public Affairs, who is the program coordinator; Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, will lead the Wednesday program.

Spaces are limited and are open only to those who are registered in the Convention. Space must be reserved in advance of the Convention. There will be a charge covering meals and travel.

“We are extremely fortunate to have arranged with Malcolm Hoenlein to lead our Wednesday program. He is perhaps the leading advocate on behalf of Israel in the entire American Jewish community and has earned enormous respect at the highest levels of the governments of both the United States and Israel because of his work,” declared Ms. Ehrenberg.

Among her own accomplishments, Ms. Ehrenberg represented the United States at the international conference on Anti-Semitism held in Berlin last spring; she recently returned from a follow-up conference in Warsaw.

“The OU chose to hold its Convention in Jerusalem as a show of support for Israel and its people,” declared Convention Co-Chair Stanley Weinstein of Miami Beach. “Every single one of the hundreds of participants coming to Israel from the United States and Canada is deeply concerned with the lies and abuse to which Israel is regularly subjected – in which the terror of the Palestinians is overlooked and excused and Israel’s proper responses to protect its people are demonized. The purpose of our two-day advocacy program is to give Convention participants the knowledge and skills to counteract these lies and to defend Israel, its government and its people.”

According to Ms. Ehrenberg, the program coordinator, “We will be meeting and speaking to all kinds of experts in their fields to learn as much as we can about the latest information concerning Israel and hasbara (public relations). The point is to learn how we can help defend Israel when it is attacked and unfairly portrayed in the media and elsewhere, from the United Nations to the college campus. This program will provide the tools to refute the vicious lies.”

The Tuesday program will be held at the Jerusalem headquarters for the Convention, the Renaissance Jerusalem Hotel.

Sessions include the following:

• Israel and the Media: How Fairly Is Israel Portrayed?
• Making the Case for Israel in the Public Arena
• Responding to the Media
• The U.S./Israel Relationship: At a Crossroads?
• What Lies Ahead for Settlers
• Anti-Semitism in Europe and the Arab World
• The Israeli Economy: Trends and Directions
• Israel: A Jewish and Democratic State.

On Wednesday, Mr. Hoenlein will lead participants to the Foreign Ministry of Israel and the Security Fence for the following sessions:

• Briefings at the Foreign Ministry with the Deputy Directors-General of Departments on Current Issues; Public Relations; Russia and the Former Soviet Union; Western Europe; and Policy Research.
• Strategic On-Site Briefing: Israel’s Security Fence – What Is its Impact on Jerusalem and Environs? The session will feature a tour of the Security Fence around Jerusalem with the Israel Defense Forces and Police. The day will include a visit to the training center at Beit Choron;
• 21st Century Threats Facing Israel – Briefings and analyses with senior IDF officials on threats Israel faces in the region.

“I encourage every Convention participant to sign up for one or both days to be able to participate in this extraordinary program,” Mr. Weinstein, the convention co-chair, declared. “If someone has not yet committed to attending the Convention, the opportunity to attend these sessions is one more excellent reason to spend Thanksgiving in Jerusalem with the OU.”

For further information on the program and costs, contact Betty Ehrenberg at 212-61308124, or ipa@ou.org. On-line registration for the Convention can be done at the OU website, www.ou.org. For further convention information, contact Frank Buchweitz, convention coordinator, at frank@ou.org.

Pre-Convention Program Details

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