1. Public relations matters- Israel’s standing in international public opinion is of strategic significance to the State of Israel. Its ability to adopt policies that safeguard long term and vital interests are deeply impacted upon by international public opinion, particularly in the United States.

2. Moral equivalency must be refuted. All too often the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is depicted as “Palestinians rights versus Israeli power”. Palestinian terminology describing the West Bank as “occupied Palestinian territory” and not “disputed territory” has found its way into the main stream of political discussion and pre-judges any possibility of a territorial compromise that respects Israel’s security or national integrity. As a result, Israel has lost much of the moral high ground it once had in the discussion about legal or moral rights.

3. Israel’s moral legitimacy as a Jewish state and its right to secure borders must be established beyond all doubt.

4. The Palestinian Authority, since its inception, has educated its own people that permanent reconciliation with Israel would be a betrayal of Palestinian national ideals, and that ultimate victory over Israel will be achieved through violence. The creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, under the current leadership of the Palestinian Authority, constitutes a grave danger to the future of both Israeli and Palestinian peoples -- particularly without absolute guarantees of secure Israeli borders.

5. Despite the best efforts of both main stream American Jewish organizations and a new group of grass root efforts that protest the imbalance of the media, public opinion in critical sectors, has increasingly come down squarely on the side of those advocating a total withdrawal by Israel to the 48-67’ cease-fire line, irrespective of the actions, rhetoric and declared intentions of the Palestinian Authority or of the requirements of Israeli long-term security. These sectors include campuses, minority communities, liberal church movements, parts of the Jewish community, and growing numbers of mainstream political figures. In Europe this shift in public and political opinion is virtually universal.

6. Israeli government agencies are not always positioned to provide effective public relations, particularly in the context of a unity government that lacks a coherent and consistent policy. Noticeably absent from the public relations effort are Israeli speakers with native language skills who are independent, credible, eloquent, and knowledgeable. JPPC was created in order to fill this need.

7. Public policy and opinion makers, when presented with the evidence of the true nature of the Palestinian Authority in an effective and highly credible manner, generally treat Israel’s security needs with far more sympathy and support. Therefore JPPC also sees its objective as enlarging the freedom of action enjoyed by the Israeli government to develop policies that safeguard Israel’s vital interests.

JPPC Activities

In the last several months, JPPC has turned theory into practice. Using grassroots and organizational connections in the United States and Canada, JPPC sent speakers to key venues in both countries. Lecturers gave briefings to Congressional aides and at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., to newspaper editors and senior journalists (including the New York Times), network television producers, and to university students. We also appeared as expert commentators on American and Canadian national television news broadcasts and talk shows.

JPPC Structure

In order to accomplish its objectives, JCCP has set itself the primary tasks:

Recruiting, preparing and dispatching independent speakers to North America and Europe whose presentations are recognized for their expertise, credibility and effectiveness and

establishing grassroots and organizational support networks to arrange for lectures, meetings and briefings in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The JPPC research department insures that lecturers are equipped with up to date information, analysis, video and written materials and sponsors on going training seminars with experts from the intelligence, media and academic communities in Israel.

JPPC works closely with research organizations that have complementary goals, such as the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Shalom L’dorot (Peace for Generations), Isra TV, the Israel Resource News Agency, and the Israel Citizens Information Council, as well as with the Israeli Army, the Israeli Consulate of New York the Israel Center of the National Hillel Movement. Our speakers provide an effective delivery system for important material that otherwise might not reach the attention of key policy and public opinion makers. Working together with Isra TV, we will develop locally produced television news and feature stories that can be transmitted digitally and broadcast by network and local stations around the world. Isra TV has already initiated this project in France and the United States.

In the U.S. and Canada we have established grassroots support groups in NY, Boston, Toronto and Washington, and plans have been made to expand this network throughout North America. A temporary office in New York City is directed by Ms. Deborah Mark, one of the leading experts on Palestinian lobbying efforts in the United States. We welcome the active support of grassroots pro-Israel groups and invite their assistance in arranging lecture and meeting tours of our speakers as well as fund-raising activities.

The Jerusalem Public Policy Center is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a U.S. based tax-exempt non-profit and has an American based Board of Directors. Tax-deductible contributions can be made to JPPC and sent to us c/o:

Moshe Z. Mirsky, Esq.
9 East 40th St. 7th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10016
Tel: 212 686-2340

Type of Foundation status 509(a)(1) 501(c)(3) # 13-3985143 DLN: 319036009

Appendix 1: Interim Speaker Roster

Yitzhak Sokoloff

Founder of the Jerusalem Public Policy Center, Mr. Sokoloff is a fellow of the Rennert Center of Bar Ilan University, a consultant to the Israel Defense Forces and the Director of Keshet-The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel. Sokoloff served in the Golani Brigade in the IDF and in the Israeli Defense Ministry, and taught Political Science and Jewish Philosophy at Hebrew University. He is a graduate of Columbia University in Jewish History and International Relations and has lived in Israel since 1976. Mr. Sokoloff conducted a number of pilot programs of lecture tours on behalf of JPPC. He appeared on national and local television in Canada, delivered briefings on Palestinian incitement on Capitol Hill and at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and met with senior members of The New York Times, CBS and Time Magazine.

Yossi Klein Halevi

Yossi Klein Halevi is the Israel correspondent of the New Republic Magazine, the senior writer of the Jerusalem Report and a regular commentator on Middle East affairs for the op-ed page of the Los Angeles Times. He has recently published a book, “The Entrance to the Garden of Eden” and speaks about Israeli politics and culture all over Israel and the United States.

Dr. Michael Oren

Dr. Oren is the Academic Director of the Shalem Institute in Jerusalem, a leading Israeli think tank, and recently completed a major book on the history of the Six Day War. Dr. Oren has published widely in academic and general publications, and has been invited to speak in numerous academic and general venues in Israel, the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Dr. Oren taught Middle East Political History at the Hebrew and Ben Gurion Universities, and served as a paratrooper in the IDF and as the spokesman for the Civilian Administration of Judea and Samaria with the rank of major. Dr. Oren completed his first degree in History and International Relations at Columbia University and earned his doctorate at Princeton University. He has lived in Israel since 1978.

Micah Halpern

Micah Halpern serves as the Israel correspondent of the America on Line (AOL) news service and the political commentator of WCBS in New York City. He is also the author of several books on European Jewish History and Jewish Women and prior to his aliya taught modern Jewish History at Yale University. Micah is also an ordained rabbi.

Daniel Diker

Daniel Diker is the business and economics reporter for Israeli’s IBA Channel One Television News. He is also the producer and host of The Bottom Line Business and Economics program of the On-Line Radio Station of the Jerusalem Post. Mr. Diker has lectured widely in the United States and Israel on the relationship of television media coverage in the Middle East and international public opinion. A graduate of Harvard College, Mr. Diker studied Business Management at the Harvard Business School before immigrating to Israel in 1990.

Dr. Peter Abelow

Dr. Abelow is a master teacher and tour guide, and has mesmerized thousands of people to whom he has taught Israel and Jewish History. He is also the Director of Keshet: The Center for Jewish Education in Israel. Dr. Abelow speaks frequently with groups visiting Israel and as a scholar in residence in synagogues and campuses around the United States. Dr. Abelow is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School.

Judy Lash Balint

Judy Lash Balint is a Jerusalem based journalist and writer. She is the author of a new book, Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times (Geffen). Her articles have appeared in papers and magazines in Israel and the US including: The N.Y Post, Christian Science Monitor, Jerusalem Post, Ha'aretz Magazine, The Forward, Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Moment Magazine, the Jerusalem Report, Midstream, Bnai Brith International Jewish Monthly, London Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Action, Emunah Magazine and numerous US Jewish weeklies. Ms. Balint is a contributing writer to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal. She is the Israel commentator for the Dave Ross Show on Seattle's CBS affiliate, KIRO Radio, and Israel representative of the New York based Coalition for Jewish Concerns-Amcha. Ms. Balint earned a master's degree in social work and a B.A. in sociology from the University of Washington.

Deborah Mark - Director, United States Office of the JPPC

Deborah Mark is an attorney, public policy consultant and a writer, most recently co-editor of "Two Jews, Three Opinions: A Collection of Twentieth Century American Jewish Quotations." From 1989 to 1999, she served as the Director for Public Policy and Planning for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). She traveled to former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union and throughout the United States for media and speaking engagements dealing with the United States refugee program, as it relates to foreign and domestic policy, multicultural and community relations issues, and the worldwide immigration and refugee crisis. As a speechwriter, Ms. Mark created both written and spoken testimonies to Congress subcommittees and has written several op-ed articles and book reviews for the Jewish and general press. She is a graduate of New York University and the Fordham University School of Law.

Rabbi Seth Mandell

Seth Mandell is a former Hillel Director at the University of Maryland and Penn State University and a resident of Tekoa in the Judean Desert. Tragically, the Mandell’s fourteen-year-old son Kobi was brutally murdered this past May near his Tekoa home. Rabbi Mandell is all too qualified to speak of the price of tolerating incitement to terror, and he does so in a manner that is humane, knowledgeable and compelling. He is the President of the Kobi Mandell Foundation, which initiates programs to improve the quality of life for victims of terror and their families.

Major Tenets

JPPC Activities

JPPC Structure

Appendix 1: Interim Speaker Roster