Skydiving for Israel

The Jerusalem Post news editor is on a trip to the United States to cover the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Los Angeles.

Ever since my trip to the US started last week, almost every official I've spoken to from the Jewish Federations, UJC Israeli embassy and consulate, and Jewish Agency, has told me just how bad things are for Israel and the Jews on US university and college campuses.

Israel's Consul in New York, Aryeh Mekel, told me today that the situation on campuses is degrading into a debacle. Mekel's hasbarah chief David Saranga concurred, saying that up until two years ago the consulate had a four-person department to deal with the issue of anti-Israel activities on college campuses, but that due to budget cuts, that department has been scrapped.

Sunday evening in Chicago

The Jerusalem Post news editor is on a trip to the United States to cover the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in Los Angeles.

I'm traveling with a group of distinguished Israeli journalists, and it has taken us 24 hours to get to Chicago because of flight delays and a broken down plane in Toronto. The group of journalists really let the CEO of El Al have it - we pretty much all had his cell-phone number. Some also called Rani Rahav, the big PR mogul, who does the PR for El Al. But despite the protexia, we still had to wait almost 8 hours in the Toronto airport for another flight to Chicago.