A total of 16 people from Great Neck are running in the 37th World Zionist Congress election in 2015, making the area one of the most active in fielding candidates for the election.
Liz Berney, an attorney from Great Neck and executive director of the Zionist Organization of America-Long Island and Queens, said she does not know exactly why there were so many Great Neck residents running.
But, she said, she believes Great Neck is an intelligent and caring community that makes people feel open to express their ideas on Zionism and run.
Berney, Ilya Aronovich, Lynne Bursky-Tamman, Tracey Cohen, Jacqueline Fischer, Stanley Fischer, Bill Frumkin, Brent Greenspan, Elirom Kalatizadeh,Shahnaz Malekan, Alan Mazurek, Karen Mazurek, Michael Orbach, David Schimel, Shoshana Sokol and David Zar are all running for the ZOA slate from Great Neck, Berney said.
“This is a community where everyone lives in peace and harmony and where nobody is worried they’re going to be attacked because they are Jewish,” she said.
She said many non-Jewish people – including many Asian-Americans and Christians – are also friendly to the Jewish members of the Great Neck community.
The ZOA is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy groups in the United States, according to Berney, and one of the first Zionist organizations in the country as well.
She said the ZOA focuses on educating people about Israel and other Jewish issues worldwide, advocating for Jewish rights on college campuses, helping correct misleading reporting in Gaza and educating governmental departments on Jewish issues.
The first World Zionist Congress was held in 1897, and originally met every year, although now the congress convenes every four years, Berney said.
She said the Congress makes policies on Jewish issues and also decide on what funds various Jewish organizations receive.
Berney said many in Great Neck have had personal experiences with anti-Semitism, which fosters a sense of community.
She said she had experienced anti-Semitic acts while visiting Israel with her children.
“While I was swimming with my children in Galilee, there were Arab teens who were throwing rocks at us and some of the other Jewish children,” Berney said. “I was driving on a road near Hadera when an Arab truck driver switched over in a lane and tried to plow into me. I was driving with three small children in the car.”
She said the ZOA slate’s major priority is making sure the Congress allocates necessary resources to Jewish people around the world, and to help exfiltrate and resettle Jewish people from areas where they appear to be in imminent danger, such as France.
“We feel that life-saving is a priority,” Berney said. “There are a lot of slates where their focus is ‘vote for our slate.’ That’s not what this election is about.”
Berney said some slates have mixed priorities, and often focus too much on getting votes for their slate. She said the ZOA’s slate has different priorities.
“These are all commendable actions in ordinary times, but these are not ordinary times,” Berney added. “Our priorities must be savings Jews and making sure we don’t have a terrorist Hamas state.”
Stanley Fischer, an attorney from Great Neck running for the slate, said he wanted to run because he felt he could contribute to both the Congress as a whole and its proposals as they relate to the current state of Jews and the state of Israel.
“I think that I have an open mind and I think there is a need for positive action in regard to portraying Israel as a true partner in peace, as a country which is Democratic in a region which is not and as a country which seeks peace despite being surrounded by those who may seek its destruction,” Fischer said.
Fischer said he has experienced various acts of anti-Semitism throughout his life that have affected him as a Jewish man.
Fischer said that a primary concern for him is the state of Israel’s image in the world.
“I strongly feel that Israel is getting a bad rap,” Fischer said. “There is work that must be done to clear up any ignorance or misconceptions.”
The ZOA’s slate – called Zionist Organization of America/ZOA: Defend Jews & Israeli Rights – does not just include the ZOA members.
Berney said the slate includes members of StandWithUs, NORPAC and the One Israel Fund.
More than 100 people are running on the ZOA slate, according to its website. There are 11 slates running for election.
Voting began Jan. 13 and will continue through April 30. According to the ZOA’s website, any Jewish person over the age of 18 can vote.
The U.S. has 145 delegates in the 500-member Congress.
