- April 24, 2024
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The guest speaker criticized media coverage of the Middle East.
Linda Scherzer, former CNN correspondent, said she had been traveling across America for 25 years and had never seen anything like the 32nd Annual Community-Wide Shabbat Service on Jan. 30 at Temple Beth-El, 579 N. Nova Road.
“I’m deeply moved,” she said. “I’ve never experienced a night like this.”
Scherzer was the guest speaker at the event, presented by the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties. Gloria Max, executive director of the federation, said most of the other synagogues in the two counties close so that all of the members can come together. She said she didn’t know of anything like it in the United States.
“It’s very unique,” Max said. “There is always trouble in the world. We pray for peace as one.”
Lynne Ritter, chairperson of the event, agreed it’s a special time.
“It brings us all closer,” she said.
Six rabbis conducted the service along with Cantor Rebecca Cook.
Howard Pranikoff, president of the federation, welcomed the audience, and told them he just got back from Israel and spirits were high. He said they will never surrender to terrorism.
He then introduced Scherzer, of Montreal.
Scherzer said for the past 12 years, she has been the director of “Write on for Israel,” a program that trains a select group of high school students to have skills and confidence to speak for Israel when they go to college. She said she currently finds bias against Israel on college campuses.
“They can stand up with confidence in a toxic environment, the college campus,” she said. “They learn how to say Israel may not be perfect but I’m a supporter and here’s why.”
Scherzer has extensive experience covering the Arab-Israeli conflict. She said she used to defend the press, saying there was no intentional bias in covering the Middle East. She said the story is complex and difficult to cover, especially on television.
“It tells stories in a minute and a half,” she said. “It’s hard to tell the whole story.”
But last summer she had an awakening, she said. She said the Hamas army embedded itself in population centers, and the media focused on the suffering of the citizens rather than the attacks by Hamas.
“There has been a serious malfunction in the way the press covers the war,” she said.
She also said she would also like to see more coverage of Isis in Iraq, the oppression in Syria and Boco Haram in Nigeria.
But she said to never forget that everyone is biased.
“When they say we are biased, they are not completely wrong,” she said.
She said she sympathizes with the suffering of the Palestinians, but their troubles are brought on by their leaders. She believes someday there will be a Palestinian state, which will be beneficial to Israel.
In closing remarks, Max said the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties may be small but makes a big difference. In 2014, 24,500 people were helped by the Jerry Doliner foundation, regardless of their religion, and 7,000 less fortunate youths received backpacks with supplies for school. Fifty people per day are fed by the food pantry.
“Do a little bit wherever you go,” she said. “It’s the little bits of good that add up and overwhelm the world.”
