PM Olmert and six ministers of his government will show their solidarity with American Jewry when attending this week in Los Angeles the General Assembly, the flagship event of the United Jewish Communities in North America. These are good days: In the past, Israelis were used to leaders of the Jewish American community coming over here to show solidarity, yet now almost one third of the Israeli government fly away to provide their support to American Jews, as if there are no more any urgent matters here.

But apart of some snide remarks on the out of the way readiness of Israeli policymakers to mingle with potential donors, the General Assembly is hardly a matter of public attention in Israel, making its way to the back pages of our local newspapers. This is hardly surprising: A recent study sponsored by the Israeli/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee shows Israeli high-school students to be alarmingly ignorant about history and politics of the Jewish community in the United States.

This year’s GA convenes in the aftermath of the second Lebanon war, and deliberately the GA agenda focuses a great deal on its repercussions. The war provided Israelis with a vivid signal that the American Jewish community is still much needed - or rather, its financial and political resources. An unprecedented amount of USD 350 million has been raised in record time to help out a country in crisis. But the urgency had another effect: It brought to the surface challenging questions about differences of agendas between Americans and Israelis and about the nature of Jewish American solidarity with Israel.

to read the rest of the article from YNET website click here