The conference as a whole was very comfortable to a regular attendee of the AIPAC Policy Conference featuring speeches from President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Former Israeli Prime Minister and current Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Ambassador Michael Oren and Natan Sharansky. In addition to those notable political figures, Rabbi Dick Hirsch delivered an inspiring speech about the importance of Israel advocacy and Zionism in the Reform movement and both Rabbi Eric Yoffie and Rabbi Rick Jacobs noted the Reform movement’s strong support of Israel’s security while hoping that it is able to eventually achieve peace along with it.

The Religious Action Center (RAC) held a “Day with the RAC” program that included lunch at the Israeli Embassy and a discussion with Amb. Oren as well as visits by several Members of Congress who all noted the importance of strong support for Israel. The conference even featured performances by Israeli artists David Broza and Rami Kleinstein. To say that Israel and Israel advocacy were prominent at the Biennial would be a major understatement. AIPAC held a reception at the Biennial for the first time ever and it was well attended by rabbis and congregants alike.

Just yesterday, I received the following in an email from the Religious Action Center:

For the first time ever, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Religious Action Center will be hosting a Reform Movement reception during the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, D.C.

The Reform movement is now doing an excellent job of promoting Israel advocacy. Many of the signatories of the We Are For Israel mission statement, the organization of which I am President and founder, have played no little part in the increased attention paid to Israel in the Reform movement and in the strengthened dialogue about our need to support Israel as it pursues both security and peace.

The Israel advocacy sky isn’t falling in spite of what Peter Beinart seems to think. In fact, in the Reform movement support for Israel is increasing both qualitatively and quantitatively. There is both more advocacy going on and better advocacy going on. But there remain problems. First, the children of uninformed or worse–misinformed–parents are much more likely to be uninformed or misinformed themselves. Second, the lack of good information leads directly to apathy and misinformation may even lead to hostility.

We have a lot of work still to do, but we are making headway. Don’t give up! We Are For Israel and all of you who care about Israel advocacy are making a difference.

A similar article is crossposted at We Are For Israel

While I would encourage you to view it or read it in its entirety, here are some of the highlights:

Daniel Pipes, an academic known for his hard-line Middle East views, had it right when he said recently “that anyone concerned about the security and welfare of Israel is in the pro-Israel camp.”…

Attempting to delegitimize Israel, on too many college campuses and throughout much of Europe, critics try to portray Israel as though it is some apartheid-like state. It is an absurd assertion. Anyone who knows what apartheid was, and who knows Israel today, is well aware of that.

Critics cite assessments like the Goldstone Report to justify such contentions. When it was first issued I publicly challenged its fatal flaws. The Goldstone Report states that Israeli armed forces “carried out direct intentional strikes against civilians,” a contention, as you know, that Goldstone has now retracted. But the damage has been done, and we’re going to spend years trying to undo that damage. When Rabbi Eric Yoffie excoriated Richard Goldstone and his biased report at the first J Street Conference, some booed him. Rabbi Yoffie was unfazed and went on to say “Anyone who supports a peaceful two-state solution must consider the role of Hamas in destroying such a prospect-and yet, quite astonishingly, nothing of this is discussed in the Goldstone Report.” I applaud Rabbi Yoffie’s independent and clear voice in this and other crucial issues….

And just weeks ago David Saperstein had my full support when he gave his constructively critical keynote address to the second J Street Conference. I agree wholeheartedly with Rabbi Saperstein’s decision to speak at the conference, to assert again how vital movement towards a peace process is to Israel’s security and America’s interests, to offer thoughtful criticism of J Street’s policy making, but also to offer a strong critique of J Street’s stand opposing the recent US veto of the UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements.

Like my colleagues Eric and David, I am unafraid to challenge misguided views regardless of the source….

I also believe that Israel’s security and well-being require that Israel must become a more tolerant and pluralistic society. I have spent over 20 years working to strengthen the Israel envisioned in Israel’s Declaration of Independence:

“THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture…”

This week our congregation, like many of yours, will hold many events to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut. On Erev Shabbat, as we have for the past years, we will host five IDF officers who will share their diverse backgrounds and service in defense of Israel. Last year, our teens were privileged to host 25 elite IDF commanders. Following Operation Cast Lead, it is critically important for these remarkable young soldiers to know that we in America are with them. I know first hand as a senior rabbinic fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute the kind of ethics training these officers receive because they are taught by many of the same scholars with whom I study.

As I stand with the IDF soldiers this Friday night, I will let them know that my congregation stands in solidarity with them. We admire their courage; we support their abiding efforts to make Israel secure. I am confident that the IDF always aspires to conduct itself according to the highest ethical standards. There will always be lapses and errors in judgment especially in the new unprecedented ways of war confronting Israel, but I believe no other fighting force has more ethical rigor than the Israel Defense Forces….

Despite the expanding sanctions and the undermining of Iran’s technical abilities that U.S. and Israeli joint efforts have achieved, Iran remains determined to move its nuclear weapons program along as expeditiously as possible endangering Israel’s literal existence and U.S. interests throughout the region.

In the UN and around the world, Israel’s enemies have launched an offensive of economic attacks aimed at weakening and delegitimizing Israel that is taking hold in anti-Israel strongholds on and off campuses in Europe and North America. These Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions tactics are destructive and we must do everything in our power to combat these attacks through education, legislative advocacy and good, old-fashioned community organizing. The RAC and ARZA have played a key role in these efforts. But all of us, we’ve got to do our part. I know we can count on each other to get it done….

A very important part of my leadership as the URJ president will be to help all of our congregations become ohavei Tzion-lovers of Israel….

I will never back down from my commitment to a secure Israel.

I will never stop fighting for an Israel that grants all of its citizens, Arabs and Jews, fundamental human rights.

I will never stop working for an Israel that grants equal rights to Jews no matter their spiritual practice or belief.

I will never stop advocating for the US to remain Israel’s staunch ally.

I will not back away from my commitment to a two-state solution living side-by-side in peace and security.

As the leader of the largest Movement in Jewish life, I intend to work every single day to build up the ranks of those who share my Zionist passion. And I call upon everyone in the pro-Israel community to join me in this critical work.

When Israel gets into our hearts, then I know that we will never stop fighting for an Israel that is secure, religiously free, guided by justice and dwelling in peace.

Our hope is not lost-
The hope of two thousand years:
To be a free people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Ken yehi ratzon.