This year, Kristallnacht will take place on Shabbat, November 9. On that Shabbat, The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (the Bayit) is offering two opportunities to learn more about antisemitism in the world today.
On Shabbat morning, David F. Siegel will be speaking at the Bayit. He is the president of the European Leadership Network (ELNET-US), which is a pro-Israel advocacy organization in Europe. Jay Haberman, the chief development officer of ELNET-US, will be speaking at both the Bayit and The Riverdale Minyan that same Shabbat.
ELNET was established in 2007 by American and European Jews who observed that Europe seemed to be turning against Israel, and saw the need to strengthen Israeli-European relations. ELNET has become the most influential advocacy organization in Europe, with offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.
Siegel joined ELNET-US in 2016 after working as the Israeli consul general to the Southwestern US, and as chief of staff to three Israeli ambassadors to the US for 20 years in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Siegel shared that ELNET has grown significantly in the last decade.
“The world we all know is changing rapidly and is much more dangerous than any other time in history. The United States has a role that is not the same as it was years ago. … Even though the U.S. is Israel’s most important ally, we need more allies. These countries in Europe are important because they are close to Israel geographically and because they are liberal democracies: an inherent part of the Western world. Israel needs to be part of that camp.”
Siegel continued: “Everything we are seeing in Israel now—the struggle against Iran and the attempts to create a better future with Lebanon and Gaza—the work to help close these events is going to involve Europe: diplomatically, politically, and sometimes militarily. Part of the regional missile defense system that the U.S. and Israel built together (which we saw come into play on April 13 when Iran attacked Israel directly) was provided by the UK and France. They are part of the coalition, so we will continue to see their aid. Our goal is to expand that and to make sure that politicians and members of parliament are aware of it.”
Siegel explained that the best way to achieve these goals is to bring European politicians to Israel in delegations to see the situation on the ground. “They need to understand what their stake is in this, because sometimes it’s hard to connect the dots when you are focused in your own world. The Houthis are affecting shipping to Europe, and Iran is involved in the Russian war with Ukraine and could be involved in future wars in Europe. It’s important that they understand that we’re all in this struggle together.” ELNET arranges delegations, resources and dialogues all over Europe with high-level officials to help them understand what is at stake.
Jay Haberman joined ELNET-US just over a year ago, on October 1, after working as a senior director of development for AIPAC for 20 years. He shared that one of his main objectives is to expand the reach of the organization; 80% of the funding is provided by pro-Israel supporters in America. Haberman’s role is focused primarily in the northeast, to build leadership. ELNET has recently named Laurent Morali (president of Kushner companies in New York) as the chair of the New York advisory board.
“Germany stands as the second most important ally to Israel in the world,” continued Siegel. “It provides Israel with nuclear submarines and battleships and munitions. These are important alliances that we see for the future.”
Haberman added: “The metaphor that we have been using is the iceberg. Above the surface of the water you see a small portion of the larger body of the iceberg itself—that’s what we see from the U.N. and statements made by politicians. But beneath the surface, where the bulk of the relationship exists—it’s economic cooperation and of course military and intelligence sharing—that doesn’t make the headlines…”
When asked how many delegations ELNET has brought to Israel since October 7, Siegel said that they have brought 34—an average of one every second week. They have had over 300 members of Parliament visiting Israel, both the North and the South, from 26 European countries. Their first delegation was literally under fire, on the border, observing the situation, filming it, and sharing it. Three weeks ago, they had a senior delegation headed by senior former military officials that went into Gaza and spent four hours on the Philadelphi Corridor, on the border with Egypt, seeing the tunnels and the situation. “They came back to their countries stating that they have now seen that the IDF is a moral army, dealing with situations much more complicated than they have seen in NATO or in Western countries battling Iraq or Afghanistan. These missions are very important in fighting public opinion and working with governments on the justice of the cause.
“If you look at the arc of the last 10 years,” said Siegel, “Europe used to be much less friendly to Israel. When October 7 happened, every single country in Europe supported Israel and condemned Hamas. We see more and more that despite the grassroots pressure against Israel, Europe is standing side by side with Israel.”
To learn more about ELNET or to donate, please visit: https://elnetwork.eu/affiliates/united-states/
