American Jews moot India-US-Isreal coalition

[Guest guest]

American Jews moot India-US-Israel coalition against terror

Ganesh S. Lakshman (Indo-Asian News Service)New York, September 13

Members of prominent Jewish delegations in the US have met visiting Prime

Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New York and spoke of the urgent need for

India, the US and Israel to combine forces, especially to fight terrorism.

The organisations that met Vajpayee at the New York Palace Hotel on Thursday

were B'Nai B'rith International, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish

Institute of National Security Affairs and the American Israeli Public Affairs

Committee.

A 21-member delegation held talks with the Indian prime minister, who is here

for the UN General Assembly session and to hold bilateral discussions with

world leaders.

After the meeting, David J. Harris, executive director of The American Jewish

Committee, said: "The main issues discussed were the between India and the US,

and the meeting of Vajpayee with President George W. Bush.

"We also spoke about the blossoming of relations between India and Israel. We

dwelt on the common thread of terrorism that the democracies of India, Israel

and the US face. We spoke about the intensifying cooperation in the US between

the Indian American community and the American Jewish community."

In return, Vajpayee told them how India had to deal with terrorism on a daily

basis. The sectarian violence in Gujarat and the issue of Jammu and Kashmir

also came up at the meet.

The Indian leader reportedly expressed a desire for enhanced cooperation between

American Jewish organisations and Indian American groups and indicated that the

Indian American community in the US is still relatively new and has much to

learn from the Jewish community in this country.

He spoke about his friendship with Israel and the fact that even when he was a

member of the opposition, he was in favour of relations between India and

Israel "at a time when there were no relations between the two countries".

Cheryl Halpern, chair of the UN Advisory Council of B'Nai B'rith International,

said: "We spoke about the need to promote better understanding between the

Indian community in the US and the Jewish community.

"There should be much greater integration between us — because we are so

similar. The pillars of our communities reflect faith, family and generosity."

Daniel S. Mariaschin, executive vice president of B'Nai B'rith International,

said: "The relationship between the Jewish community in the US and the Indian

American community has really over the past years become much closer.

"We have very much in common as communities in this country. Two immigrant

communities who place high value on education, hard work and have close

families. And there is a commonality of interests in terms of the issues of the

day. We spoke about how we can work closely on issues on our mutual agendas."

MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: Click Here