‘This is New York. This is the moment’ (IDF benefit dinner)

by on March 3, 2010 11
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Next Tuesday night at the Waldorf, there’s a $1000-a-plate dinner to support the Israel Defense Forces. The video above, by a coalition of protest groups, says that 1,200 tickets have been sold. Their demo begins at 5 pm at 53d and Lex. They are urging demonstrators to wear black.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine

{ 11 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. potsherd says:
    March 3, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    Do we have $1000 plate dinners supporting the US Army?

  2. Pamela Olson says:
    March 3, 2010 at 3:39 pm

    Yeesh. The propaganda-style presentation was a little disturbing, but I certainly support the march. Enjoy the smoked salman, rich old chickenhawks. God/karma/the human race is watching, and so is your own stunted conscience.

  3. Richard Congress says:
    March 3, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Besides the 5pm silent march against the Friends of the IDF dinner, there is another demonstration Mondoweiss readers should know about. There is a protest rally in front of the Waldorf Astoria at 6pm which will have a sound system. It’s organized by Al Awda a Palestinian led organization. So don’t slight one action for the other. One could actually participate in both.

  4. Jeffrey Blankfort says:
    March 3, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    The New York Friends of the Israeli Wehrmacht will have to go some way to top the success of a similar dinner held in Beverly Hills last December in which $5.2 million was raised, all of which was tax-exempt.

    That more than doubled the take of a similar dinner held a week before Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in which only $2. 1 million had been raised. Obviously, by more than doubling the previous year’s haul, LA’s wealthy Jews wanted to send a message of support to Israel while extending their middle fingers to Judge Goldstone. Here’s how Orit Arfa of the LA Jewish Journal reported on it:

    link to jewishjournal.com
    circuit/article/stars_shine_on_friends_of_idf_gala_fundraiser_20100105/

    The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) Western Region gala,
    held Dec. 17, 2009, at the Beverly Hilton, raised more than $5.2 million
    to benefit IDF soldiers through the various FIDF programs. Paul Guerin,
    president of the Western Region group, began the evening’s program with
    the announcement that he and his wife, Vera, would give $1 million, half
    of which will be dedicated to supporting FIDF’s IMPACT! scholarship
    program that provides college scholarships to former combat soldiers
    with limited financial means.

    At the sold-out gala, event chairs Cheryl and Haim Saban then said they would match the $1.6 million already raised, followed by two additional $500,000 pledges by Victoria and Ron Simms, and Erika Glazer.

    The ceremony opened with 29 IDF soldiers who had lost a sibling or
    parent to Israel’s wars saluting the American and Israeli flags, along
    with four U.S. Marines who had served in Iraq. Rabbi Isaac Jeret of
    Congregation Ner Tamid and FIDF Los Angeles Chapter Vice President led
    the 1,000 audience members in the blessings over the bread and gave an
    invocation comparing the lights of Chanukah to Israel’s military defenders.

    Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld” fame volunteered his time to serve as
    emcee for a crowd consisting of the “who’s who” of local Israeli
    American and American Jewish philanthropic society. Gala co-chairs also
    included: Adele and Beny Alagem; Joyce and Avi Arad; Steve Bing; Joyce
    and Stanley Black; Ruth and Leo David; Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer and Mel
    Keefer; Erika Glazer; the Guerins; Sue and Larry J. Hochberg; Israeli
    Leadership Council; Jena and Michael King; Avi Lerner and Danny Dimbort;
    Nathalie and Maurice Marciano; Katherine Merage; Soraya and Younes
    Nazarian; Fela and David Shapell; Victoria and Ron Simms; Adi and Philip
    Werthman; and Lila and David Wiener.

    Other dignitaries, city officials and celebrities present included
    former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky; L.A. Consul
    General of Israel Jacob Dayan; Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca; and
    Sylvester Stallone. Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi sent
    his support via telecast.

    But those who received the real “star” treatment were Israel’s finest,
    who addressed the audience. They included Lt. Daniel Sahalo, an
    Ethiopian immigrant who received an IMPACT! scholarship upon completing
    his service as a paratrooper; an Israeli Air Force sergeant whose father
    had been killed in a terrorist attack; and a female Apache combat
    helicopter pilot who elicited the most cheers for her rare and coveted
    status.

    In his remarks, entertainment and media mogul Saban credited Israel’s
    economic achievements and technological innovations to the IDF, saying,
    “Israel’s many successes, including in the world of technology, [have
    their] roots in the military. These young men and women learn what
    teamwork, leadership, mission-oriented skills and experience really
    mean. If you mix these lessons they learn in the military with the
    abrasive individualism — or in other words, Israeli chutzpah — you would
    better understand why Israel, a tiny nation of immigrants torn by war,
    has in fact become the first technology nation in the world.”

    He concluded with a message to Israel’s would-be destroyers, saying,
    “You better find a different dream, because this one isn’t coming true.”

    The evening was capped with a performance by 12-year-old Shaheen
    Jafargholi, a finalist in “Britain’s Got Talent” who had performed at
    Michael Jackson’s televised public memorial service, and the Four Tops
    singing classics including “Baby, I Need Your Lovin’.”

    * © Copyright 2010 The Jewish Journal and JewishJournal.com
    All rights reserved.

  5. Jeffrey Blankfort says:
    March 5, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    There were no protests of which I was aware or that were reported in the Jewish or mainstream media of the Beverly Hills events. Since most pro-Palestinian activists in California don’t bother to read the Jewish press, unlike their Zionist mirror opposites who monitor everything everywhere that criticizes or even mentions Israel, they probably didn’t even know it was happening, preferring useless protests at Israeli consulates.

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