Production and distribution of City Club forums and ideastream public media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc.. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, December 8th.

And I'm Erika Rubin Luria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

It's my honor to be here today to introduce my friend and colleague Eric Fingerhut, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America.

JFNA and as we know them, represents 146 different independent federations across the continents of which the Jewish Federation of Cleveland is one.

JFNA formed out of two other organizations dating back to the 1930s United Jewish Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations, both of which work to support Jewish communities around the world, particularly in Europe.

During the Second World War.

The mission of JFNA is to protect and enhance the well-being of Jews throughout the world through meaningful contributions to community, Israel and civil society.

Today, that work could not be more important.

Prior to the terrorist attack and on sense of the war on October 7th, some of JFNAs core priorities included mental health supports to Jewish youth, caring for Holocaust survivors and those with disabilities, communities, security and combating antisemitism.

Today, despite the many miles between Cleveland and Israel, the October seven terrorist attack, the war and rise in antisemitism in our country and around the world dominate everything.

Jewish federations across the country have mobilized their communities to respond to support victims of terror, to respond to the dramatic rise in antisemitism and more.

Our Jewish Federation of Cleveland, one of the largest of these independent federations, continues to play a leadership role in this response.

We gather here today, on the first day of Hanukkah, two months after the most horrific attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

We stand here horrified by the loss of moral compass within many of our most lauded universities, and recognize that October 7th exposed public hate against the Jewish people throughout the world at a level unseen since 1930s Germany.

It is for all of these reasons that Eric's role, his work and his leadership are so important here in Cleveland.

So many of us have known Eric Fingerhut for a long time.

For some, he was our congressman, our state senator.

He served the entire state as the Chancellor of Higher Education from 2007 to 2011.

And most recently, prior to his current role, he was CEO of Hillel International, the largest and most inclusive Jewish campus organization in the world.

If you have a question for our speaker, you can text it to 3305415794.

That's 3305415794.

And City Club staff will try to work it into the second half of the program.

Members and Friends of the City Club of Cleveland please join me in welcoming a great friend of our community and a friends of the City Club.

Eric Fingerhut Thank you, Eric.

It's wonderful to be back.

I can't tell you how honored I was to be invited to return to the City Club of Cleveland, and I knew my topic instantly.

I wanted to talk about the power of community to do good.

Now I learned about the power of community growing up in this great city.

I learned it by watching business leaders and religious leaders and political leaders reach out beyond their specific constituencies to build partnerships and coalitions on a wide range of issues.

I watched and I learned as these diverse leaders, many of whom are here in this room today, inspired each other to undertake big projects and challenges.

I also learned about the power of community while I was campaigning across the city, in the suburbs, for myself, for other candidates, and for ballot issues.

Whether we were building stadiums to keep our home teams from leaving town, increasing funding for schools, libraries and community colleges, or providing public funding for the arts.

I wanted to share with you how I've been able to apply the lessons I learned in Cleveland in the role I am now privileged to fill with the Jewish Federations of North America.

As Erika said, 146 Jewish communal organizations in the United States and Canada who care for their own Jewish communities and are committed to the well-being of the broader communities in which we live.

And I plan to tell you how proud you should be of your own Cleveland Jewish community and the remarkable Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

The federation right here in Cleveland has historically and continues to lead the way locally, nationally and globally.

Anywhere I go in the world.

The fact that I am a communal leader, raised and trained in Cleveland, Ohio, is a key section of my resume.

It's what we Jews call good.

Yes.

Which loosely translates as a good bloodline.

But then came October 7th.

And now I find that I must use my precious, limited time at this podium to appeal to the greater Cleveland community and through you to any others that are listening to tackle the project.

The greatest urgency and the highest moral responsibility.

My appeal to you has two parts.

First, I urge that we speak plainly and without equivocation about what happened in our world on October 7th, and that we acknowledge equally plainly what must be done in response.

Second, I call on us to unite against a clear and undeniable rise in anti-Semitism, which threatens to undermine the very foundations on which our communal enterprise in America is built.

A society which is surely the most open, welcoming and inclusive civic enterprise in world history.

Now it is largely accurate to compare what happened to Israel on October 7th to 911 after 911.

Americans quickly understood that Al Qaeda had meticulously organized and executed a plan to murder thousands of innocent civilians as they went about their daily lives simply because they were Americans.

And we were forever changed by this understanding.

It didn't matter what particular grievance may have been advanced by the perpetrators, nothing could rationalize nor justify such a heinous and murderous terrorist act.

I was served in the Ohio Senate on September 11th, 2001, and my wife, Amy, who's here with me today, was seven months pregnant with our first child.

I remember wondering what would become of our world when such unbridled evil could be unleashed?

On a sunny, cloudless September morning?

The ways in which the attack by Hamas on October 7th exceed even the moral depravity of al Qaeda's attack on 911 are hard to address in this or any other form, but address it.

We must.

The Hamas terrorists did not commit suicide as they murdered others on October 7th, but rather were vicious rapists and murderers who burned babies alive, raped and beheaded women, slaughtered entire families in their homes, threw hand grenades into shelters crowded with teenagers fleeing from a concert where hundreds of others were murdered and committed other atrocities too numerous to recount.

In the time I have available.

They killed more than 1200 Jews that day, as Erika noted, more than any in a single day since the Holocaust.

And, of course, these rapists and murderers took hostages, including infants, children and women, many of whom remain in captivity today, more than two months later, without having been seen by the Red Cross or any other international aid organization.

At least 152 Americans were held hostage in Iran for 444 days, beginning in 1979.

We knew where they were in the United States Embassy.

Hamas is holding these hostages captive in tunnels and cages underground.

Last weekend, I was with an Israeli soldier who was among the first to arrive at a kibbutz near Gaza attacked by Hamas on October 7th.

Here are his words.

Honestly, he said, I have no way to describe it.

Destruction, fire, shooting and the smell of death everywhere.

In the first house, I saw a woman on the floor naked and tied because she was raped.

Her head was cut off.

Her baby, whose body is charred and his head is cut off.

In the third house, a room with the bodies of the members of one family father, mother and three children lying on top of each other in a huge pool of blood.

And I'll stop there.

Now, there's yet another difference between 911 and October 7th.

Unlike 911, October 7th was planned not from a faraway land, but from literally across the street.

Gaza stretches 25 miles along the coast of the Mediterranean, surrounded by Israel and Egypt.

And the three sides, the size and location of Gaza is the equivalent of carving out a strip of land along the coast of Lake Erie, from Lakewood to Eastlake.

Imagine if an organization funded by America's enemies build military bases along the lakefront, dug underground tunnels and command centers under the MetroHealth Medical Center.

Armed the tunnels with missiles and rockets, booby traps and assault rifles, and then launched an attack across West 117th Street into Lakewood, killing more than 1200 people and kidnaping more than 240 others.

Imagine if they thought if they shot thousands of rockets at Parma, Shaker Heights, Medina, Strongsville, Westlake and communities all across northeast Ohio.

Imagine that they launched missiles at the Cleveland Clinic so that those who were injured by other rockets couldn't be evacuated to the hospital.

I was personally at a hospital in Ashkelon, which is not ten kilometers from Gaza.

Three days into this war where missiles from Gaza were aimed at a maternity ward, missing it by feet, and instead destroying a walkway the connected the maternity ward to the rest of the hospital.

Imagine if they slaughtered hundreds of our children attending a rock concert at Blossom Music Center.

Imagine if they systematically raped and tortured women in every northeast Ohio suburb.

Your mothers and sisters and daughters.

As Peggy Noonan writes in today's Wall Street Journal, The rape, torture and utilization and mutilation of women looks as if it was part of the battle plan.

Hamas used sexual violence as a weapon.

What would we do if all this happened to us?

Would we allow this organization to maintain its capacity to destroy?

Not in a million years.

There is no room for equivocation or explanations, only clarity.

The war Israel is waging in Gaza is to accomplish one goal and one goal only to eliminate the military terrorist infrastructure that planned and executed the attacks on October 7th.

They are doing this so that another October 7th can never happen again.

That war is proceeding on pace with careful planning, with extraordinary care for innocent civilian life, and with unbelievable courage.

It will be completed successfully.

Contrary to the accusations and false claims being circulated on the Internet, the protection of innocent lives is a constant goal of Israel's war strategy.

Now, to be clear, I'm not a military expert, but frankly, neither are most of the political figures in and out of government who are trying to instruct Israel on how to prosecute this war.

It does not take military expertize, however, to understand that this war could be over already if Israel was not taking extraordinary measures to protect the lives of innocent civilians.

Israel has the capability to level the centers of Hamas terrorist infrastructure with bombs and drones.

Including the hospitals, schools and refugee camps that Hamas uses as its bases of operation.

It could do so without ever putting a single Israeli soldier at risk in hand to hand combat.

The fact that Israel instead does put its soldiers at risk and has lost so many.

Is all the evidence to the contrary that we need?

The American people support Israel's war against Hamas because we understand that Israel's fight against Hamas is no different than America's fight against al Qaeda or ISIS.

The same people who beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who shout Death to America and burn American flags.

We do the same and worse to us as Hamas did to Israelis on October 7th.

If given the chance, they must not be given that chance.

Ever.

Never.

And is there any doubt what America would do if we were the victims of an attack such as occurred on October 7th?

Not in my mind there isn't.

To the Jewish community, Israel's fight against Hamas is nothing less than the fight against the Nazis of today.

All who live in community with us in every corner of America must understand this.

After October 7th, Hamas is to Jews everywhere the 21st century version of the Nazis hellbent on exterminating Jews in Israel and everywhere.

Which brings me to our current situation here at home.

As someone who actively and proudly participated in the political life of this community, I have never seen or expected you to unanimity on any subject.

I understand the role of protected speech and debate like that in which we are engaged at the City Club here today.

But protected speech and debate is not what the Jewish community in America is experiencing today.

I hesitate to give examples because there are so many.

And the problem is everywhere.

But it helps to give you a picture a picture of a teacher in a public high school in Queens, New York, who's chased down the halls by 400 students.

She gets locked in a room and has to be protected and rescued by police.

Why?

Because she posted on her personal Facebook page.

I stand with Israel.

A picture of a well-known falafel restaurant in Philadelphia attacked in a program like demonstration.

Why?

Because its owner is Israeli.

And a picture of a Jewish student at Ohio State who was assaulted for well, for being Jewish.

Again, clarity is needed.

Lawbreaking must be met with immediate and serious consequences.

We must send the strongest message of deterrence.

Each and every time.

Not just for the most serious hate crimes.

Just as tolerating small acts of shoplifting or drug sales on street corners leads to an epidemic of lawlessness and the decimation of our urban environment.

So too, will the failure to punish threatening behavior lead to the demise of our civil society?

If we look the other way.

But a successful community does not merely draw a line at what is legal.

Successful community has a higher standard, a standard of respect and a personal conduct that knows the difference between right and wrong.

Here's a real example a major public university has a long tradition of political protests being held in a designated area on the college green in full view of anyone who wishes to listen or learn.

These protests occur almost daily on a wide range of subjects.

But instead of using this forum, the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protesters move their protest to the public sidewalk in front of the Hillel building on that campus.

From that vantage point, they proceed to scream invectives at the Jewish students entering the Hillel building and those trying to meet or study inside.

Is this legal?

Most likely it was a public sidewalk.

Is this how we want university students to behave?

I hope the answer to that is a resounding no.

If we don't have any effective mechanisms as a society to condemn and discourage such behavior, or worse yet, we defend it as an exercise of free speech.

Then we have given up every tool besides law enforcement that make a community function.

College campuses are perhaps the most troubling sector of our society.

Seeing the dramatic rise in anti-Semitism.

And of course, this is a subject that is deeply personal to me.

I'm proud of my tenure as chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents and then as CEO of the Hillel International System on college campuses.

I came to truly love our public and private colleges and universities and to appreciate their role in building and sustaining a vital civil society, both the public sector, through our state and federal tax dollars and our charitable deductions, and millions of families, including every one of you through tuition payments and donations, are deeply invested in the success of America's colleges and universities.

How do we impact uniquely complex environment of higher education?

Is it university presidents who must lead, contrary to the examples we witnessed in a congressional hearing this week?

Is it trustees, donors?

What about legislators and governors who would help who helped direct higher education funding?

Well, the answer, of course, is all of the above.

Everyone must insist that higher education contribute positively to building and sustaining civil society and not be allowed to ignore destructive behaviors.

I'm well aware of the pressures that many students and parents feel about going to the right school.

I have two children in college myself.

Our oldest is a proud Ohio State Buckeye.

But as someone who has spent time on hundreds of campuses and with the students and graduates of nearly every college and university in America, allow me to let you in on the dirty little secret of higher education.

There are many, many places where your child can get a terrific education and there is no one right school for anyone.

It's time that we base our decisions about the colleges and universities we attend and support not just on the academics or sports teams or the physical facilities, but also on the manner in which faculty and students treat one another and contribute to building our civic culture.

Today, we are seeing too many universities failing that test.

Social media also offers a serious challenge to maintaining the cohesion of civil society.

Its omnipresence in our lives is indeed a phenomenon we haven't faced before.

I remember that while I was running campaigns in this community, we would occasionally see these anonymous fliers containing what we would today call fake news show up on the windshields of cars in shopping centers or church parking lots.

It was frustrating and it was hard to deal with, but we were safe in assuming that the impact of these fliers was limited.

Today, of course, fake news can reach close to 100% penetration, and the truth can never catch up to a lie.

While there are certainly legislative and market based strategies to impact social media companies, and they should be pursued vigorously.

The ultimate answer to the ubiquity of social media is the willingness of community leaders to use their resources, their reputations and social capital to be clear about what is right and wrong, no matter where the misinformation comes from or how prominent it might become.

I was a Clevelander.

I was raised to be an optimist, especially on opening day.

So I want to be clear that I am optimistic that both Israel and our American civil society will learn and apply important lessons from this moment.

When I flew into Cleveland yesterday, I went through the airport security procedures that we take for granted, and they finally seem to be getting smoother with new technology and screening tools.

Despite the fact that we've not had an airplane hijack since 911, I hear no one calling to dismantle these procedures.

Similarly, our Jewish communities, operating in the greatest tradition of public private partnerships, are working with law enforcement and government officials to strengthen the security of our institutions and to support our young people and our most vulnerable community members who are targets of antisemitism.

Security and fighting.

Antisemitism are permanent additions to the Cleveland Jewish Federation's portfolio, as they are every Jewish Federation in North America.

I have another source of optimism a November 14th.

Almost 300,000 people, including thousands from Cleveland, gathered on the National Mall in front of the Capitol to show support for Israel's fight against Hamas, to call for the release of the hostages and to fight back against the rise in anti-Semitism.

Speakers at the rally included Christians, Muslims and Jews.

The four top leaders of Congress, the Republicans, speaker of the House, the Democratic minority leader of the House, the Democratic Majority Leader of the Senate, and a top ranking Republican senator appeared on stage together, arms linked to one another on what day?

On what issue?

Have we seen such a high level bipartisan display in recent years?

I was one of the main organizers of the March, which was the largest ever for a Jewish cause in American history.

There are two other notes from that day that make me optimistic for the future.

First, when a large group of people converge on any single location, there is obviously the potential for some damage or disruption.

If 300,000 people came to Washington and not a single sign was torn down.

Not a single arrest was made.

The National Park Service that manages the National Mall had an area roped off in the middle of the rally where new grass and flower bulbs had been planted and not a single bulb was trampled on.

The Washington Metropolitan Transit System that operates the Metro tweeted afterward that it was their busiest day for ridership since the pandemic.

Yet everyone waited in line calmly and politely.

My favorite social media post from came from a policeman who was on duty that day saying he had been thanked for his service.

More in one day than in his entire career.

Political protest does not have to be violent or threatening.

This is how a civil society functions.

Communal leadership must stand with those who know how to exercise their democratic rights, not with those who harass and destroy to advance a cause.

Second, we came to Washington in the midst of the greatest rise of violent anti-Semitism in our nation's history.

And we didn't just gather a stadium or a convention center.

We came to the National Mall, our nation's front porch, the most open, visible place in the country and one of the most open in the world.

We are deeply grateful for the protection of law enforcement agencies who acted to guarantee the ability of all citizens to demonstrate in their nation's capital.

But the chosen location was also a statement, a statement that we will not be intimidated and we will not be afraid or backed down.

This is our country.

We helped build it.

We have served it.

We love it.

And we will not allow it to be overtaken by forces of hate.

The 300,000 people made that statement with just one week's notice, inspires me and gives me the confidence that the forces of good in our society will prevail.

Well, is there a convention?

Today is the first day of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights.

I've been asked the question this week by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and more.

The question is, will Jewish Americans be afraid to light their Hanukkah candles in public or has them visible in their windows?

But the reporters who asked me this question don't know is that they're actually asking a profound and important question of Jewish law.

The Talmud, which maybe knows that great compendium of Jewish law and tradition, specifically teaches that we should light the Hanukkah candles in places where the public can see them.

It's called pursuing mayonnaise or publicizing the miracle.

The miracle, of course, being the success of the Maccabees, who more than 2200 years ago saved the future of the Jewish people.

There have been times in Jewish history, times of pogroms and inquisitions, when the leaders of the Jewish communities advise Jews not to light the Hanukkah lights in public due to safety concerns.

But this is decidedly not one of those times.

Just as we did by showing up on the National Mall, we will be more visible this Hanukkah, not less.

We will light more candles, not fewer.

Now, I have spent some time thinking about how it is that I ended up back at the City Club, not speaking about Ohio politics or debating a political opponent, but rather addressing this most serious topic on behalf of the Jewish communities of North America.

My friends know that I'm not up on pop culture, but but I have been watching the new Apple Plus TV show called Lessons in Chemistry.

You've seen this.

So here's the spoiler alert for those who haven't.

The lead character played by the actress Brie Larson goes from being a lab chemist to hosting a cooking show along the way, becoming a single mother and a leading feminist in the workplace.

When Larson's character's ax asked how she ended up where she did, she responds, It's only when you look backwards that you see how it was all connected.

Well, I didn't plan this.

Not at all.

But when I look backward, I do see how it is all connected as a campaign manager and political candidate in this community.

I was welcomed into homes and churches and businesses that I would never have been exposed to otherwise.

I saw people oppose each other on Election Day and worked together the next.

I saw people protest without ever threatening their target or destroying property.

And most of all, I saw people proudly standing up for their own communities, ensuring that everyone had the opportunity to succeed.

While understanding that when one of us is at risk, we are all at risk.

And so I am here to stand up for my community, just as we stand up for others when they are attacked and at risk.

That's what I learned growing up in Cleveland.

What I now have the privilege of doing across North America.

Thank you.

We're about to begin the audience Q&A.

I'm Louis Chait, and I'm a member of the City Club Board of Directors and the co-chair of the programing committee, where Jordan joined, of course, by Eric Fingerhut, the president of the Jewish Federations of North America.

We welcome questions from everyone city club members, guests, students and those joining VR Live Stream at City Club Dawg and live radio broadcasts at 89.7 W KSU Ideastream Public Media.

If you'd like to text a question for our speaker, please text it to 3305415794.

That's 3305415794 and City Club staff will try to work it into the program.

May we have the first question, please?

Hi, my name is Joshua.

Right now, Republican.

Leadership is equating Israel's national security with our national security at our southern border and demanding to return to a Trump border policies as a quid pro quo for aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

What do you suggest for Congress to break through the current political impasse?

I know the members of Congress from Ohio are looking forward to my advice.

First, I want to reference what I said during my remarks.

The support of Congress on a bipartisan basis has truly been extraordinary, by the way, both for Israel and over the last few years for the war in Ukraine, which is also a matter of most urgent concern to us and should be to our community.

After the after the attacks of October 7th, the United States Senate passed a resolution of support for the war effort.

Israel's war against Hamas by 100 to 0.

The allow the US House of Representatives passed a similar resolution with only nine or ten out of 435 abstentions or negative votes.

It's a pretty extraordinary record of support.

I do believe that that the package of aid for both Ukraine and the Ukraine war effort, which is essential at this time, and Israel's war effort, which is also essential, have bipartisan majority support in both the House and the Senate, and I am confident it's going to be resolved.

As a former legislator, I can tell you that there are only certain moments in in in the legislative calendar when people who want to raise other issues have a chance to raise them.

The question is about one of those issues being raised, which is about border security.

It's appropriate to raise issues.

It's also appropriate to get this issue resolved.

We are doing everything we can, and we urge Congress to get this issue resolved so that the aid for Ukraine and Israel will will pass at the nearest possible opportunity.

We are going to continue to work to do everything we can to build and maintain bipartisan support for for Israel's necessary defense of itself, and also bipartisan support for protecting the civil society against this rise of anti-Semitic ism.

Please.

One real quick question, then, one of the quotes on your experience.

If it's Federation of North America, why not Mexico?

But there quick question.

You know, that's a quick question, but the question I had calling on your experience from politics.

How long do you think the Biden administration will permit Israel to continue unabated without a pause or unlimited cease fire, especially when many Muslim groups have said they would not vote for them?

And if you have a place like Michigan with a quarter of a million Muslim voters, you know, that's could change the election.

Well, now, having advised the members of Congress, I'll advise the president, the it's great being in this position.

Right.

The so first of all, President Biden's personal support for Israel both before October 7th and since has simply been extraordinary.

And and I will tell you that it is felt deeply and personally in Israel.

If you talk to friends and and colleagues in Israel, they feel it.

President Biden's trip to Israel after October seven to extend condolences and and to express support for Israel's response reminds me of remember seeing Tony Blair in the gallery of the of the US House after 911 when President Bush addressed the nation from the gallery.

It was it had that kind of dramatic symbolism and impact.

So so this and an understanding that America's support for what Israel is doing up until this point has been essential and critical in two ways.

One is simply being clear to the world that that what Israel's doing is what any nation would do after being attacked as it was.

And the United States has been clear about that.

And.

And secondly, there are two United States aircraft carriers in the region, one in the Mediterranean off the coast of Lebanon and one in the Persian Gulf.

The you can be assured that even though there have been skirmishes on the northern border of Israel, that that the Hezbollah and Iran, which controls Hezbollah, is well aware of the capability of the United States in that in that area, and that it's having an enormous effect.

And we as Americans should understand that that's America not protecting Israel alone.

That's America protecting America's interests in the Gulf, because America is also under attack from terrorist nations and terrorist organizations in that region.

So.

So the support till now has been has been very, very strong.

Now, in your question, you said how long will will the United States permit Israel to to continue its its efforts to eradicate the military infrastructure, the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza?

And so I'm going to respectfully suggest that that that is not that is not the nature of this relationship, especially at this time.

It is not a question of whether America will permit or not permit.

Israel is going to do what it needs to do to eradicate the military infrastructure that caused October 7th.

As I said in my remarks.

Well well, while we could discuss the various elements of Israeli of Israel's governance and politics prior to October 7th, there is a clear and strongly experienced group of leaders who formed the War Council who have a plan.

If you're following the news, you can see that that plan is being executed with with with great with great success to this.

To this point, they've obviously also been flexible and open to the cease fires when the opportunity to recover some of the hostages, some of the hostages occurred.

Israel is going to complete that plan with Israel to do everything it possibly can.

And we as Americans will do everything we possibly can to avoid there being dissension between you know, between the American government and and the and the Israeli government.

But it will not change the eventual with the plan to the execution of the plan.

The last thing I'll say about this, I see that, of course, the next thing I'll say is that the the the support in America is broad and clear.

Every poll we've do polling every poll shows broad support for what Israel must do and for America's support for Israel.

The former teacher in me cannot help but notice there are a number of high school students in the room, so this is really for them.

But what advice do you have for both, you know, in regard to social media and bias in the news, both right and left?

How can people pursue truth and knowing what's truly going on with Israel or with any other topic, what advice do you have for them.

So that best advices don't get your news from social media?

The but but in all seriousness and it's wonderful to see the students here today and I look forward to spending time together.

The the the reality is, is that you can't know the truth of information that is coming from sources that you can't verify or check yourself.

And that's why being in conversation with our teachers and parents and other community leaders is so important.

And if you'll allow me, I know you've directed me direct the answer to the students, but I really want to direct the answer to the adults in this room who have the moral and ethical responsibility, I believe, to call out these falsehoods and to provide, you know, countervailing moral authority and, of course, information.

We did just launch together with other organizations that was really pleased to see and I thank ADL and AJC for co-sponsoring this this program today with the Jewish Committee Federation of Cleveland and the Cleveland Jewish News.

By the way, you know, anything sponsored by the Jewish Federation is great.

We know that.

I've already told you that.

But but but but most of you also know that the Cleveland Jewish News has a special place in my heart.

My mother my mother was the receptionist there for over 30 years, answered the phones.

Good morning, Cleveland.

Jewish News was my mom.

And and I'm still convinced that I won my first state Senate election because she put my bumper sticker against all rules right by the front door.

And if you wanted if you wanted your bar mitzvah notice or your wedding notice in a good place, you had to pass by my bumper sticker.

So that's that's the secret to my political career has now been revealed.

The officers look at me and say that's how that happened.

The I, I do I feel very, very strong.

So I mentioned to other organizations because the Jewish federations, together with ADL, together with the you see the Conference of Presidents, which represents a lot of the smaller of the other organizations, as well as the large organizations and and AIPAC just announced something we're calling the ten seven Project to October 7th, the goal of which is to seek to disseminate accurate information through the through the media, particularly aimed at decision makers in in Washington.

But obviously, we hope it will have resonance outside.

But but it really is the responsibility of each of us.

And and I and I make this point because we can't it's not something we can take for granted.

We cannot take for granted, as we saw with the with the congressional testimony, the president's or with.

But it's occurring not just in elite universities.

It's occurring in other places.

It's a clearing in high schools occurring you know, it's occurring in other settings that that that the that that the teachers and the adult role models are seeking to educate and not to and not to indoctrinate.

And so we have to be responsible and take charge of of the learning environments that our young people are in.

Hello, my name is Kyle Williams.

I'm a student at STEM High School and I wanted to know from you, what did you want to I mean, think or want to say to protesters that call for just a straight up cease fire between both sides to get innocent Palestinians out of Gaza in one way, shape or form.

So I wanted to know what you thought about that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for being here.

The it's the challenge of of determining how to proceed with the military action or, you know, or or pausing is, of course, one of the most difficult decisions that that the government of Israel has to make.

I, I can't and I won't put myself in their position as they as they make that decision.

I can assure you that the decision to pause for the hostage release agreement that was in place was both was simultaneously well accepted and also deeply, deeply painful, because for every life that was saved by a hostage that was released was that was excuse me, released.

There is a pretty clear understanding that more soldiers lives will be lost because that pause gave time for Hamas to reorganize or resupply some of its some of its battle stations.

And so this is a this is a tradeoff that is, again, painful and and difficult.

But Israel made that decision in order to in order to save the lives.

And my guess is it would do it again if offered, however, a unilateral cease fire or even a cease fire without agreement of what will happen is is not something that is going to happen, nor would it be advisable to happen because it would simply allow Hamas again, time to resupply, reorganize and and rededicate itself to the mission that it pursued on October 7th, which I've described in in great detail here.

And I just want to be clear, and I the students need to need to be clear.

This is a war, and the war has a clear objective.

And that objective is to destroy the capacity of Hamas to do what it did on October 7th.

And that objective is not yet accomplished.

There are there were main military installations that are embedded in hospitals, embedded in schools, embedded in refugee camps that are that have yet to be yet to be overtaken and tunnels that have yet to be cleared out.

And the war will continue until that objective is accomplished.

And as I said in my remarks, that's what we should want to happen, because we should not tolerate or allow a situation where the capacity to do what happened on October 7th remains.

Hey there.

Thank you for being here.

I'm wondering, I'm sure you're aware of some of the heinous things that Pastor Hagee has said in the past and.

I just wanted to ask if you think that it's worth platforming evangelical leaders like that, despite their support for white Christian nationalism and, policies that otherwise are a direct threat to Jews and other minorities.

Is it worth that tradeoff simply because there are so-called ally in this issue?

Thank you for the question.

Just so everybody understands the context of the question, Pastor Hagee was one of the speakers at the march that we organized on November 14th that I referred to earlier.

And and the answer is that we, of course, have spent a great deal of time looking at the comments and thoughts of of all the speakers, including Pastor Hagee.

Many of the comments that were the most deeply offensive.

Most of the ones that we saw were older.

We are aware of many efforts that have been made and conversations been made with Pastor Hagee to to understand the nature of those comments and to and to change them.

The.

And so we would not certainly have provided a platform for somebody who continued to to hold those same views.

Having said that, those offensive views having said that, to be sure, the goal of the march was to present perspectives that were completely diverse across the entire spectrum of American society and American political opinion.

And and we did do that.

As I mentioned, we had we had Muslim leaders.

We have Christian leaders.

We had we had African-American leaders.

And and, of course, of course, Jewish Jewish leaders who represented the spectrum of Jewish life and thought that was an important part of the goal was to demonstrate the breadth of the diversity of agreement on this issue.

You know, we as I mentioned when I talked about the the congressional leaders standing together, there's not much we agree on in America right now where we're pretty divided on a wide range of issues.

But our goal was to demonstrate that on this issue, we are not divided.

And that was absolutely an important part of the project.

Eric, thank you so much for being here today.

But I have a question that's been bothering me for many years, actually about 35 years, when my son, who at that time was an editor on a major college newspaper, asked me, how do you deal with these young Jewish editors who are so pro-Palestinian?

I'd like to hear your comments.

I have no answer for him.

So, first of all, because because you've been thinking about this for 35 years, you'll give me you'll give me a little bit of leeway in the answer.

I think the I won't take 35 years to answer it, but can I just make a comment about the word pro-Palestinian?

Because I consider myself pro-Palestinian.

Most of the leaders of the Jewish community that I know and members consider ourselves pro-Palestinian.

That perhaps for me, the most disturbing element of the protests that that I've seen across the country is the equating of of of somehow opposing Israel's legitimate defense of its of its people with with being anti-Palestinian or being the opposite of being pro-Palestinian.

There's nothing pro-Palestinian about anything.

Hamas is is doing.

They have held the people of Gaza captive for these for these many years.

They use them as as fodder.

Israel's tried repeatedly back to the cease fire question from the from the student Israel's tried repeatedly to offer escape routes and and they've been blocked by by Hamas.

There's nothing pro-Palestinian about this.

And by the way, I want to note that that if somehow Israel's process of eliminating this threat in Gaza was, so anti-Palestinian or so anti-Arab, I can assure you that you would be seeing a different reaction in the Arab world than you are today.

And don't don't base it on press releases or statements based on actual actions of which you are not seeing any.

I was, you know, one of the great moments, positive moments I've had in this role.

I was at the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House and left that night for Dubai.

I was in literally with in Dubai on the first day of peace.

And by the way, it also happened that that weekend was Rosh Hashanah was the Jewish New Year.

So I spent the Jewish New Year the first week of the Abraham Accords in the first open Jewish religious ceremony in in Dubai.

It was remarkable experience.

But I'm mentioning this because there's true there was truly a warm peace.

A warm peace in in Abu Dhabi today.

They've built something called the Abrahamic compound or Abrahamic House.

There were three buildings of exact same geography, you know, Jackson Square footage and the same piece of property.

One is a mosque, one is a church and one is a synagogue.

And you should visit it for sure.

It's now open.

There is truly change happening.

As you know, before October 7th, there was progress towards peace, normalization at least between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which the home of Mecca, if you think about this, an amazing, amazing development.

Obviously, those things are not on the front burner today.

Neither have they been taken off the table.

So we do need to keep this in perspective.

pro-Palestinian would be to eliminate the Hamas threat and get back to the business of building civil society in some relationships.

Now, after 30 after 35 minutes of answering your question, I'll answer your question.

The the one minute per year of your thinking about it.

The that'll be my ratio.

The I.

Look, there's no question we have, you know, there's diverse opinions in the Jewish committee.

I'm sure there's diverse opinions in in this room.

It's also, of course, the case I mentioned the polling numbers that show, by the way, something like 90.

The polls show that something like 90% of American Jews are following the news closely.

90%, right.

And then something in the seventies between 70 and 80 agree with the the general direction of American policy and and Israel's policy.

But all the polls, whether it's just the Jewish community or whether it's of the American public at large, show a difference by age.

All right.

We all know that that you know that there is a you know that there is a that among the younger demographic, the the perceptions of this war are different.

I think there's a lot there's there's a lot of reasons, a lot of explanations for that.

Most of us, you know, we come from a generation where we knew Holocaust survivors, parents, grandparents.

We remember I mean, I, I was I remember the Yom Kippur War, you know, the 1973, sitting in a synagogue in Cleveland Heights and on Yom Kippur morning hearing about the hearing about the attacks.

So there's obviously a different invite.

You know, people grew, whereas if you're 18 years old or you're the editor of the college newspaper, first of all, the only prime minister of Israel you probably know is is Bibi Netanyahu.

And and you only know a situation where peace has been you know, peace has not been possible.

I was a member of Congress representing this community so proudly when when the Oslo Accords were signed, some of us together stood on the South Lawn of the White House.

We remember that feeling.

This generation doesn't.

And so and finally, I'll say the job of of college newspapers is to be contrary.

That's what they do.

But we will always we will always continue to educate and work, believe that over time, with growth and maturity and greater understanding of knowledge and history, that people will will come to positions that we believe are good for our community and our society.

Thank you.

Thank you to Eric Fingerhut for joining us at the City Club today.

Today's forum is in partnership with the Cleveland Jewish News, and forums like this one are made possible thanks to the generous support from individuals like you.

You can learn more about how to become a guardian of free speech at City Club Dawg.

The City Club would like to welcome students joining us from M.C.

Squared STEM High School and Hawkins.

We're delighted to have you here today.

We would also like to welcome guests at the tables hosted by the Cleveland ADL, Cleveland Jewish News Global.

Cleveland, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Larry, Oscar and Temple to Ferris, Israel.

Thank you all for being here today.

But the city club's final forum of 2023 will take place on Friday, December 15th.

Author and Professor Manny Teodoro with University of Wisconsin will be here to discuss the consequences of the bottled water industry and why increasing citizens trust in tap water means increased engagement in democracy.

Interesting, you can learn about these forums and others at City Club, dawg.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you once again to Eric Fingerhut and thank you to Erika Root and Luria for introducing them and a cog Newcastle may I be happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate.

I'm Lewis Chait and in this forum is Gerald.

For information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the City Club, go to City Club, dawg.

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