"I Don't Need Another Meeting"

by Buddy Macy

Last month I had a telephone conversation with Howard Rieger, President of United Jewish Communities (UJC), the Jewish Federation network in North America. I had phoned Mr. Rieger earlier in the day, and he promptly returned my call. It had been a rough week for the colossal Jewish fundraising organization. On October 13th, a front-page article appeared in The New York Jewish Week criticizing UJC for disbursing a significant amount of funds from its Israel Emergency Campaign (IEC) to non-Jews in Israel. Howard Rieger responded to the article by stating that 3 percent of all IEC monies raised to-date had gone to non-Jewish Israelis in the north. Yet, according to an October 5, 2006 UJC Communications Department email containing an IEC ALLOCATIONS UPDATE, nearly $9,000,000 of the first $50,000,000 SPENT had been distributed to non-Jews. In his calculation, Rieger used the amount of PLEDGES ($300 million) as the denominator, not the actual dollars SPENT, thus intentionally creating the illusion of a much lower percentage of the funds going to non-Jews.

During the phone call, I proposed to Mr. Rieger that he meet with me and several other ardent supporters of Israel. We wished to discuss the organization's lack of support for the expellees from Gush Katif and northern Samaria, its "post-war" financial support of non-Jews (without the knowledge of many of the contributors to the IEC) and UJC's silence with regard to Ehud Olmert's existence-threatening decisions regarding Israel since assuming the position of Prime Minister. Mr. Rieger's reply was short and callous: "I don't need another meeting," he said.

Mr. Rieger: I am writing this email on Sunday evening and do not expect nor wish any compensation for it. You, on the other hand, receive a salary (that is paid out of contributions to needy Jews) in excess of $700,000 annually for your work on behalf of our fellow Jews - fundraising and advocacy that should be regarded by you as a tremendous privilege – yet, you refuse to meet with me and other pro-Israel activists during working hours because you don't "need " another meeting. The Jewish People deserve and NEED much more. And, certainly, 16 months after being expelled from their homes and communities, 10,000 Jewish refugees deserve and NEED the Jewish community's concern, compassion and FINANCIAL GENEROSITY .