March 12th, 2010 by Shana Goldberg
Add a comment The Holocaust. Economic growth. Hezbollah. Iran. Sanctions. UN. Settlement freeze. These were some of the topics discussed a roundtable event here in Zurich as part of a Keren Hayessod 90th anniversary celebration. The participants included former US ambassador Stuart Eizenstat and Ronen Bergmann, a Cambridge-educated Israeli journalist.
Now Eizenstat is sort of infamous in Switzerland. He’s the guy that in the 1990s took on the case of Holocaust era Jewish-owned Swiss bank accounts and was pivotal in making restitution a reality. He’s also served as domestic policy adviser to Carter, secretary of treasury and under secretary of commerce under Clinton and US ambassador to the EU.
A couple of points stood out from a discussion that included US policy on Iran, the possibility of sanctions, the difficulty of getting China and Russian on board with said sanctions (subsequently proved to be accurate), the settlement freeze
“Never Again”
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March 5th, 2010 by Shana Goldberg
1 Comment What’s the biggest difference between a Swiss and American benefit dinner?
Recently I saw an ad for an event honoring the 90th anniversary of Keren Hayesod/United Jewish Appeal. The event boasted a keynote address from Natan Sharansky and a roundtable discussion with participants such as Stuart Eizenstat. Of course I planned to attend, thinking this was a special, education-oriented event.
Question is, why did I not realize this was an annual benefit? The location should have clued me in: the Dolder Grand Hotel. Zurich’s most luxurious (read: expensive) hotel. Oh, and the ad did mention something about food being served.
So here’s the surprising thing about annual dinners in Zurich, and the answer to the question posed above: There is no plate charge. The event was completely donation-based, and there wasn’t even a suggested donation amount at that. Get this, there weren’t even donation forms on the table! These were only handed out later (although that may have been a mistake in organizational planning). [More...]
November 19th, 2009 by Shana Goldberg
1 Comment Last night Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, spoke to a mixed crowd here in Zurich. By mixed, I mean half hard-core Israel can do no wrong types and half Israel can only do wrong types. For Neuer, who regularly appears in front of the UN Human Rights Council, speaking to a hostile crowd is a regular day’s work. He’s adept at answering tough questions. He’s also quite capable of stopping purported question-askers from discoursing.
But to the main point: What to make of this Goldstone Report? With Israel, the Jewish community, and its usual suspects of supporters critical of the report, it’s easy to assume that this criticism is simply a knee-jerk, defend Israel against any detractors reaction. But, according to Neuer, that’s not the case at all. While “Israel should have to answer for its conduct in the Gaza conflict,” this report, based on a fact-finding mission, is flawed from its very inception. [More...]
