Rafael Harpaz, Minister Counselor of Public Affairs at the Embassy of Israel, and Shari Eshet, Director of NCJW's Israel Office, Briefing on NCJW's Response to the Crisis in Israel

On August 21, 2006, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) hosted a teleconference with Rafael Harpaz, minister counselor of public affairs at the Washington-based Embassy of Israel, and Shari Eshet, director of NCJW's Israel office. The following is an edited excerpt from that conversation.

JUDY MINTZ (NCJW vice president): As we all know, this summer has been one of crisis in Israel. And though the war has recently ended, the rebuilding has only started. In the aftermath of this trauma, Israel's women, children, and families, and the most at-risk populations in the northern and southern regions of the country will be even more vulnerable. NCJW is pleased to present this opportunity for our members and friends to learn more about the impact of the crisis in Israel, the war and its aftermath, and Israel's socioeconomic landscape, and to find out how NCJW's response -- including our emergency grants -- has aided some of those most in need.

And now I would like to introduce our first speaker. In August 2005 Rafael Harpaz assumed the post of director of public affairs at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he heads the Office of Public Affairs and oversees its work with a wide range of constituencies. Mr. Harpaz most recently served as deputy director of the Regional Security Department and export control coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem. He has previously served as Israel's deputy chief of mission in Sweden, Switzerland, and the Ivory Coast, and the North Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please welcome Mr. Rafael Harpaz.

RAFAEL HARPAZ: Thank you very much. I want to say very officially that it's important to us [the Israeli Embassy] to reach out to you [NCJW] and to find areas of cooperation between you and the State of Israel. Personally, I have a lot of appreciation and admiration for the historical and important [work] that you are running in Israel.

What we are trying to do here in the United States is to push forward. I know it's very difficult. But Israel is much more than the political agenda and the conflict issues. We [also] have social issues, cultural issues, educational issues ... exactly the issues that you concentrate on.

First, I want to start by telling you, from my vantage point in Washington, DC, that the great support that we have received from Jewish organizations here in the United States during this war is something that we needed. It's highly appreciated. I think it reflects the great relationship that Israel has with the United States, and [the] bipartisan support [Israel has ] here in the United States. It's Republicans. It's Democrats. It's the administration. It's civil society.

I would like to add something. We are a very strong country, and I think we will recover. [We have] the energy go out from this conflict even stronger than we were before.... During this war, 3,500 olim moved to Israel; many of them were from the United States. It warms my heart, and it's highly appreciated.

I will move to what is happening now in Israel. What are the challenges that we are facing, and what is the government planning? First of all, yesterday the government decided to create a cabinet that will deal with the rehabilitation of the north. It will be headed by Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert. The goal is to have almost $1 billion, money that the government will give and money that will come from Jewish communities all over the world.

There will be a steering committee that will deal with specific areas. I'm speaking of the northern part of Israel, touching mainly on issues of education, families with specific problems, the health system, and reconstruction of schools. Vice Premier [Shimon] Peres will lead a public committee to enhance the cooperation between the public sector of the government and the private sector. And he will be in charge of allocation of the funds.

There is a tradition in Israel ... of all the schools starting on the same day: September 1st. This year, school will start on September 3rd, because we need more time to rebuild the schools.

The education system also will emphasize psychological support. There are 110 additional psychologists and educational advisers that will be headed to schools in the north. No school in the north will open without this support -- that would be impossible. Thirty schools were hit by rockets, direct rocket attacks during the war. All of them are in the process of renovation. One hundred and forty-four school rooms were hit; 11 kindergartens were hit. Now you have to know that it was summer vacation in Israel, so nobody was in those schools. But 11 kindergartens were attacked.

Now the minister of education has made it very clear that teachers who can't come back to the north because their homes have been damaged won't be at risk of losing their jobs. This is something that is justified.

I would like to say a bit about the property damage. There are estimates that 2,000 apartments were destroyed in Kiryat Shmona [on the Lebanese border]. Currently, we have 8,000 damage claims filed, but the estimate is that it will come to at least 16,000 houses. So the Israel Tax Authority is doing all it can to [reduce] red tape and to make processing these claims as fluid a process as possible. There is an estimate that at least 80,000 to 90,000 businesses will submit claims.

Special emphasis will be given to families that need help for children at risk, for single mothers and families. The government has decided to cut budgets, but not when it comes to those areas. And there will be special allocations going to the north.
This is where things stand. Again, I want to thank you for your support to Israel. I give you the floor.

CAROLE LEVINE (NCJW board member): I would like a little more detail on your mention of budget cuts, which of course we anticipated, given the expense of deploying troops and fighting this war. But our concern, both for the north and for the rest of Israel in terms of social service cuts, is for those who can least afford them. Can you say a little more about where those cuts might come, who they are going to affect, and what they may involve?

RAFAEL HARPAZ: Well, as I told you, the decision is actually to aid budgets to the north. But the budget ... there is a decision ... a cut of five percent this year. It will go across the board, meaning it will affect all of the ministries except, I think, the Ministry of Defense. And so each ministry will have to decide where it's going to cut. But again, the intention is not to touch the education system and the weaker parts of the society.

I would like to add [a few words about] this new government of Olmert. The agenda of this government -- and Olmert said it when he was here in Washington three months ago -- is to change the priorities, the order of priorities, and to correct what was done before, which means to put social issues and inequality high on the Israeli agenda.

JUDY MINTZ: You had mentioned a little bit about psychological counseling available in the schools. Is there any plan for the families of the soldiers -- to also reach out to those populations?

RAFAEL HARPAZ: This issue of psychological support both to the military and to schools, it's something very important. So we will give as much support as needed. Schools won't be open in the north without having the right staff to take care of those issues. This is something vital. It's equal to medical treatment.

JUDY MINTZ: Thank you so much.

RAFAEL HARPAZ: Thank you very much. It's my pleasure. We will continue working with you and thank you again for your support to Israel.

JUDY MINTZ: Our second speaker is Shari Eshet. Shari is the director of NCJW's Israel office in Jerusalem. In that capacity, she has been NCJW's eyes and ears in Israel for over 10 years. We're so fortunate to have Shari representing NCJW. She brings the mission and spirit of NCJW to our Israeli grantees and coalition partners, and brings her experience, expertise, and passion to all of us here in the United States. Shari, we welcome you.

SHARI ESHET: Thank you, Judy. I wanted to divide my report into three sections. First, I want to give you an update on what NCJW has been doing. The other thing that I wanted to do is talk about what we're planning on doing. I also wanted to comment on some of the issues that Rafi spoke about.

So maybe I'll start with some of the issues that Rafi spoke about. First of all: the budget cuts. The Cabinet met yesterday. The decision was for a five percent across-the-board cut in all ministries. This has not passed in the Knesset yet. And the nonprofit organizations here, the grassroots and advocacy organizations, are very much against that [cut]. The issue is now being taken up with the Ministry of Treasury. Last year, the State of Israel actually closed its budget with close to a billion dollars remaining, and the feeling is that that is the money that should be used to pay for this war, not the five percent that's going to be taken from the ministries.

About the psychological help. This country has come very far in recognizing that soldiers have feelings, soldiers have families, and soldiers cry. And I think the effect of the NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program [at Tel Aviv University], the idea of introducing feminine language and reaching out to the feminine side has really come to be accepted in this country.

A few years ago when the newspapers started to publish pictures of soldiers, male soldiers, crying at funerals, there was a great public outcry. And today it's considered acceptable and understandable. The issue of trauma, both for children and for soldiers, and for male soldiers, unfortunately has become an issue in the past few years. We, through our Yad B' Yad grants, have actually funded two programs that work with victims of terror. And that was as a result of the reluctance of the government to recognize post-traumatic stress syndrome as an issue.

Israelis tend to want to see themselves as resilient, which they are. Strong, which they are. But there is a human side and an emotional side, too. There will be a lot of money put into psychological and emotional help for the children, the teachers, the soldiers, and anyone and everyone who has been affected by this.

The last thing I wanted to say is about what Rafi mentioned about the resilience of the Israeli people. One of the things that keeps Israelis resilient is knowing that there are people out there on their side.

Let me just go briefly into what NCJW has been doing, and what we're planning on doing. We have close to $50,000 in an emergency fund, some of which was allocated by the board of NCJW and some came in through donors. What we decided to do was allocate about 50 percent of that money, up until now, with emergency help to a number of our [past grant] recipients. We're proud about the money we gave: We know who we gave it to; we know what it was spent on. And I actually spent a few days visiting with some of the people that we were able to bring out of Haifa and out of the south, and bring them to Jerusalem.

Then, we decided that we were going to stop and take a look at what was happening the morning after. This decision was made based on feelings that were coming from the north and from other organizations and colleagues that were working out in the field as well. And with school opening up soon and our not being sure of what the government was planning to do, we wanted to wait to see what would be the role of the nonprofit organizations and the philanthropic organizations. I would say that most of the emergency campaigns have now decided to stop and reassess this situation.

The feeling is that once the schools open and we can better assess the situation, we'll be able to direct the monies that we still have to the places where it would be used to best.

There is another issue that I think we need to look for and that I am very sure is going to be part of the public debate in Israel and within the American Jewish philanthropic world. That is the issue of the Israeli Arabs. NCJW has worked with and for Israeli Arabs for over 50 years now. This war has exacerbated the situation that they are in -- as Israelis, as citizens, as Muslims. There's going to be a lot of work that needs to be done in that area. NCJW is part of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues. So we're going to be following that closely to see what we can do to help there. I'm going to close here and open it for questions.

PATTY COHEN-HECHT (NCJW recording secretary): First of all, I wanted to know what can we do, because there's a sort of a groundswell locally of people wanting to do hands-on things as much as possible.

SHARI ESHET: The most important thing you can do now is to respond within your own communities and tell people about what NCJW has done. And, of course, stay involved as much as possible with our Israel programs and funding our Israel programs. I really have to stress again that our money, through our emergency funds, went as smoothly and as quickly as possible -- and directly to the people who really needed it.

NAOMI HOUMINER: I just wanted to ask you, was the [use of the] money successful?

SHARI ESHET: Let me just answer briefly. First of all, the Ethiopians that we brought from Haifa, their culture is very quiet and unassuming. But they called after they went home, and they are sending us a letter about the fact that they were more than just overwhelmed on the first day. [At home] they didn't have a bomb shelter in their building. So by the time they came to Jerusalem, which was about three weeks after, they were in a terrible state. During the three days in Jerusalem they had such a wonderful time. They went bowling. They went to the Western Wall. They went swimming. They just let their hair down a little bit.

The girls that we brought up from the south, they were difficult, at-risk girls to begin with, which is why we brought them up. At the dormitory they live in, they don't have a bomb shelter, and it's not protected against the Kassam missiles. So when they came to Jerusalem, it also took them a few days to calm down. When they went home, one of their coordinators called and told me it was the first and only time that the girls really opened up and spoke. She said, "They couldn't stop talking about the good times." They kept talking about how much they learned.

BARBARA RUSKIN (NCJW Los Angeles Section president): Rafi mentioned something about $1 billion that came in to be used for education and health. Is that money both from government and private sources? Or just from the US government?

SHARI ESHET: He said that the government announced that there was going to be $1 billion, of which 50 percent will come from the Israeli government. And they're hoping the other 50 percent will come from the American Jewish philanthropic world, and maybe the US government. I'm not quite sure. It's yet to be seen.

ADRIENNE LURIE (NCJW board member): Do you have any feeling on [the monies to be allocated the "morning after"] yet?

SHARI ESHET: I have a few ideas, but as I said it's going to take another week or two, and we'll decide then what to do with the additional monies.

JUDY MINTZ: I wanted to thank you all for your participation and your thoughtful questions. NCJW is alive and well in Israel, and we're doing all that we can to help -- especially during this next period of rebuilding. Thank you all.

SHARI ESHET: And thank you all for taking the time to be on this call. It's very supportive to know that there are a lot of people out there who care and are interested. So thank you all again.