by joe eskenazi
staff writer
When Israeli Consul General David Akov was handed the key to the city of Santa Cruz, he did not give local pro-Palestinian activists any so-called “bulletin-board material.”
His ostensible peace partner wasn’t so gracious. When Afif Safieh, the Palestinian National Authority’s representative to the United States, was awarded Santa Cruz’s key in August, he took the opportunity to tear into the Jewish state, referring to Hezbollah as “amateurs in terrorism compared to Israel.” At a time when Hezbollah rockets were raining down upon the north of Israel, it was a particularly galling comment from an honored guest of the city for Santa Cruz-area pro-Israel activists to bear.
“With statements like this, I felt this was not the kind of person we should be honoring,” Rabbi Rick Litvak of nearby Temple Beth El in Aptos was quoted as saying at the time.
Rick Zinman, the executive director of Santa Cruz Hillel, said that, even beyond Safieh’s offensive comments, local Jews were confused that a Palestinian representative would be embraced by the city while no attention was paid to an Israeli.
“I think there was a sense that the Jewish community felt put off by the fact that one potential partner in potential peace process being honored and no consideration at the time given to other potential partner in the process, the Israelis and Israeli government,” he said.
So, on Nov. 27, Akov spoke on the U.C. Santa Cruz campus and in the city about steps Israel can and will take to achieve a lasting peace. And his comments were received — peacefully.
“You know, we’re trying to do outreach to all municipal levels and not just the largest cities. I think there’s a special interest [in Santa Cruz]; it’s a very politically oriented city. And since there was a similar ceremony before for the Palestinian ambassador, the Jewish community wanted to do something also with the state of Israel,” said Akov.
This is, he confirmed, his first key to a city.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California