Unity Coalition for Israel drops ‘National,’ adds programs, staff
Joel Emerman – May 13, 2004
Kansas City Jewish Chronicle
The National Unity Coalition for Israel is no longer just national. In recognition of the group’s broadened international reach, it has changed its name to simply the Unity Coalition for Israel.
“The international outreach is directly responsible for the name change,” said Esther Levens, the local woman who helped found the Unity Coalition for Israel in 1994 as the main project of her original group, Voices United for Israel. “We just dropped the national, which isn’t a huge change, but it just represents us better.
“We are just going to keep doing what we are doing; just more of it,” she added.
According to its Web site, (www.israelunitycoalition.com), the group has cultivated American support for a strong and secure Israel. UCI claims the membership of over 200 organizations that, in turn, represent millions of Christian and Jewish Americans. The group’s founders believe that, in this way, they deliver a much-needed message to the media and Congress that Israel is not just a Jewish issue.
One area UCI is devoting attention to these days is the college campus. UCI has sponsored advocacy training for Christian and Jewish college students, working closely with Charles Jacobs of The David Project, most recently last month at the University of Kansas, where, Levens said, “students were very receptive.”
Another recent addition was the establishment last October of a UCI Jerusalem Liaison Council. That council’s Knesset Aide Project plans educational programs to familiarize Israelis, especially legislative aides and members of the media, with Israeli officials and community leaders.
In March, a European Coalition for Israel was established, with an office and director in Brussels, Belgium. This Christian initiative to support Israel and combat anti-Semitism has been designed by the main Christian pro-Israel organizations with activities in Europe. It is patterned after and is an outgrowth of the Unity Coalition for Israel.
Another recent UCI activity was the third annual Israel Solidarity Event, undertaken in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. That event took place on May 7.
However, “because of these new programs, we need financing,” Levens said.
And so, UCI has hired Dick Laird of Springfield, Mo., to serve as the development director.
“I will be trying to create some interest in the programs and raise funds for her (Levens) to make them more viable,” Laird said. “My goal is to assist her to make the international programs a reality.”
Laird has a background as a youth minister and later as dean of students at Lubbock (Texas) Christian University. He was a national vice president for Students in Free Enterprise.
Laird was hired because “he has taught for 30 years and is familiar with the corporate business community,” Levens said. “His experience on Christian campuses makes him well-placed to help us.”
