Cuomo Urges Israel Support in L.A. Speech

New York Gov. Mario Cuomo may not have been the obvious choice to speak at a gathering of the Los Angeles Jewish community, but he was welcomed with open arms.

Cuomo spoke at the Unity ’89 dinner Sunday night at the Century Plaza, co-sponsored by the United Jewish Fund, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles and the State of Israel Bonds, Los Angeles Committee.

“Gov. Cuomo has always been someone who relates to American Jewish causes,” said Ed Sanders, dinner chairman. “He talks about America being a mosaic, and he has spoken about his immigrant parents. Everyone thinks (having him speak) is just right, which is unusual. We rarely speak in one voice. Israel is having difficult times, and it’s important for the Jewish community to demonstrate unity.”

Maintaining support and strong ties with Israel were the topics of Cuomo’s speech to about 1,800 people in the hotel’s ballroom.

Israel Under Fire

“Nowhere,” Cuomo said, “do we see the idea of commonality demonstrated more inspiringly than in the ties that bind Jews everywhere, in the United States in particular, to Israel. . . . Israel is threatened now in an even more fundamental way, as you know. And it is time for her friends to speak. . . . Now is clearly not a time for silence, because silence at this moment would make a wrong statement. . . . America has always and does today call herself Israel’s strongest friend. That being true, and I believe it is, it is then time for America to make itself heard in support of Israel more clearly than ever before.”

Cuomo added: “It has never been easy to be a friend of Israel--her enemies have seen to that. But it has always been, if not easy, then right for us as Americans. We’ve understood from the beginning that our obligation to the Israelis is based not on the shifting sands of geopolitical strategy, nor on a need to make shallow propaganda, but on the hard rock of moral obligation.”

Reliable Ally in Middle East

He also listed pragmatic reasons to continue support: “Israel remains the only reliable friend and ally of the United States and the democratic nations of the Western region of inescapable concern to us. . . . It is vital to our self-interest as a nation that we keep her strong--for our sake, for our benefit.”

Cuomo emphasized that while America should back Israel, “We need to be very clear that whatever solution is possible must come from the Israelis, who as a democracy have earned and deserve every right to speak for themselves.”

Applauding the governor were George Caplan, president of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles; William Belzberg, North American chairman of the State of Israel Bonds; Herbert Gelfand, general chairman of the United Jewish Fund and L.A. County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner.

Cuomo, who was given a standing ovation for his speech, made an impression on some before that. Said one woman after meeting him at a cocktail reception, “He should’ve run for President. He would’ve gotten my vote.”

The money raised at the event, an estimated $1 million, will go to State of Israel Bonds and the United Jewish Fund.