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By Elizabeth Berney, Esq.
After the main proceedings of the 2023 Extraordinary World Zionist Congress (WZC) concluded on Friday April 21, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides addressed the 150 American WZC delegates, at a meeting organized by the American Zionist Movement (AZM). (AZM is the umbrella organization for American groups who attend the World Zionist Congress.)
Unfortunately, I can’t divulge the substance of Nides’ address, because AZM’s president announced during Q&A that the meeting was “off the record.”
(I can report, however, that after the meeting, I spoke with Amb. Nides about his failure to vigorously publicly condemn the Palestinian Authority’s heinous “pay to slay” payments to terrorists to murder Jews. And, at a meeting with Amb. Nides last February, ZOA President Morton Klein asked Amb. Nides why he, publicly and repeatedly, criticizes human-rights-loving ally Israel but almost never criticized the terrorist dictatorship of the Palestinian Authority regime. Especially, Klein asked, “why do you never publicly condemn and try to end the most heinous Nazi-like policy of the Palestinian regime of paying Arabs lifetime pensions to murder Jews?!” Nides responded by claiming he raises the issue privately.)
The fact that I can’t say more about Amb. Nides’ address at the WZC raises an important issue: It seems unnecessary and wrong that diverse umbrella groups such as the AZM (and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations – the CoP) make certain such meetings “off the record.” The politicians and diplomats who speak at these large multi-group meetings continue to tow the “party line,” and don’t say anything that they haven’t already repeatedly publicly said “on the record” elsewhere.
Perhaps the “off the record” designation makes AZM and CoP board members and delegates feel like they are special, privy to inside information that no one else has. But we board members and delegates are present at these meetings as representatives of our organizations and constituencies. We were elected or appointed to represent a constituency – not to receive special inside information privileges. The members of the public who voted for us or appointed us should know what is being said at these meetings. And in the unlikely event that one of the speakers at these meetings were to say something new, shouldn’t our constituencies know about this? I hope that the AZM and the CoP umbrella groups will consider ending the practice of “off the record” meetings.
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