JERUSALEM (June 8) - To Americans Jonathan Avidan, 19, and Rich Klabanoff, 20, Israel is an integral part of their identities as Jews. 

"People who don't come give up on their faith," Avidan, a resident of Ben-Salem, Pennsylvania, said yesterday at the Western Wall
. 
"And their heritage," added Marlboro, New Jersey resident Klabanoff. 

Avidan and Klabanoff are not alone in their sentiments. Despite the ongoing violence with the Palestinians, and more recently the Tel Aviv suicide bombing, thousands of American Jewish students will be echoing their support for Israel when they arrive here next week. 

On Sunday, 3,100 students will join 400 peers, including Avidan and Klabanoff, already in the country as part of the Birthright Israel program. 

Birthright was founded in 1999 as a means of providing Jews ages 18-26 a 10-day free trip to Israel.

Even though the Reform Union of American Hebrew Congregations decided last week to cancel its youth trips to Israel, Birthright has stood by its trips and has allowed them to proceed as planned. According to their estimates, 1,000 more students are due to arrive in Israel next month. 

"Seventy percent of our students are coming," said Dr. Shimshon Shoshani, International CEO of Birthright. "That's a great achievement, in spite of the violence in Israel and the decision of some Jewish organizations not to come."

On Wednesday, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh blasted the UAHC and encouraged all Jewish organizations to continue their trips.

"If, in this hour, Jews do not come to visit here, what is the significance of their solidarity with Israel?" Sneh said in a statement. 

But even with the UAHC decision taken into account, more American Jews are coming than are those who are backing out. 

The Ramah and United Synagogue Youth trips, under the aegis of the Masorti Movement, are going ahead as planned. Israel Experience programs, sponsored by the Jewish Agency, will not be cancelled. The Hadassah-sponsored Young Judaea trips are also moving forward. And the Orthodox Youth Aliya camp in Haifa is expecting three groups of Americans next month.

Not just the youth population is standing behind the country. B'nai B'rith of Canada has decided that the first national officers' meeting under president Rochelle Wilmer will be held here in Jerusalem in a few weeks' time. 

"For us, its very important to personally identify with Israel and that means being in Israel and walking the streets," said BBC executive vice president Frank Dimant⁷. "We can only do that in Jerusalem, now, when Israel needs us." 

For many, now, more than ever, is the time to prove their solidarity. 

"Messages of condolence, however heartfelt, cannot compare to the act of visiting Israel to show that we are one people and that we truly stand together when under attack," Wilmer said in a statement. 

Those students taking part in Birthright, the 350 coming as part of Ramah, the 240 coming as part of USY, and the many other hundreds of students in different programs have decided that their solidarity is much greater than any fear the eight months of violence has caused. 

"I'm gratified, I'm impressed, and I'm deeply moved by this show of support for Israel," said Rabbi Paul Friedman, head of the North American branch of the education department at the Jewish Agency. 

According to Friedman, the UAHC is the only organization that has cancelled its trips outright. 

"We are very proud that our young Birthright Israel participants - who are the future leaders of the Jewish community - have made their independent decisions to continue with their plans of visiting Israel," Shoshani said. 

And despite the UAHC decision, which was reached just after the Tel Aviv bombing and based on security concerns, all the groups have taken measures to guarantee the safety and security of their participants. 

According to Yonatan Leibowitz, spokesperson for the Masorti Movement, any security concerns were mitigated by the overwhelming benefit students will derive from visiting here. 

"Once we determined we were able to guarantee their safety, we saw absolutely no reason to cancel," Leibowitz said. "We do see the extra value of having people coming especially at this time when the Israeli people need the show of Jewish solidarity."

Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert today said he is cutting off contact with the Reform movement in the US in protest over the movement's canceling of trips to Israel this summer by its activists and youth groups. 

Olmert said he will reject any requests the Reform movement makes regarding Jerusalem. 

Olmert said the Reform movement is asking for full recognition in Israel, even though its activities here are minimal. 

He said the Reform movement canceled visits now, at the time of truth, when the country most needs Diaspora Jewry to identify with it, Israel Radio reported.

My Comment: I couldn’t agree more with Ehud Olmert. And just as the Mayor of Jerusalem rejects now all contact with the Reform movement as well as their demand for full recognition because of their retreat from solidarity with Israel, so will the King of Israel, MessiahYeshua, not recognize all those among the churches who failed to stand with Israel in her time of affliction and trial, but remained passive as if Israel’s welfare was none of their concern.