Lawrence Eagleburger | BNAI ZION
The Son Also Rises
In the White House Story and Photo by Tim Boxer  EORGE W. BUSH is doing a much better job of backing Israel than his father ever did. That’s the assessment from the elder Bush’s secretary of state, Lawrence Eagleburger, when I asked him to compare father and son.
Eagleburger, who served George Bush in 1993, added that the current president “is being blackmailed by the Arab states” in return for their support in the war against terrorism. “If you’re going to be against terrorism, you have to be supportive of Israel.” Bnai Zion honored Eagleburger with its America-Israel Friendship Award at its 94th anniversary dinner in New York. W. James Schiller, the new president of the American Zionist Movement, received the Dr. Harris J. Levine Award. “I don’t see why anyone should get an award for doing what’s right,” Eagleburger said. He told how he went to Geneva to push for Israel’s Mogen Dovid Adom to be admitted into the International Red Cross. What he saw of “the European elite curled my hair. Not only did they not want to upset the Arabs, but they showed a strain of anti-Semitism.” As chairman of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, he remarked how difficult it was to discuss the matter. Throughout his long diplomatic career he negotiated with lots of “nasty people,” including Russians and Cubans. “Nobody comes close to matching European insurance companies.” Dinner co-chairman Roman Kent agreed how frustrating it was to deal with the insurance officials. Kent, treasurer of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, declared, “The Swiss, Germans, Italians – they all have one thing in common: they don’t want to pay their debts.” Bnai Zion executive vice president Mel Parness became a grandpa again this day. Daughter Caryn welcomed Brady Jaxon in Minneapolis. Mel now has five grandchildren – three in London, England, and two in Minneapolis. Mazel tov! | 
