Marsha Jaffa and Richard Barnett attended the 2024 Hadassah National Conference in Las Vegas from July 28-30. The conference was attended by an estimated 400 Hadassah family members, friends, and Associates. The goal of the conference was to inspire Zionist passion and come together on what unites us.
Unifying issues included building a brighter future for at-risk youth in Israel, ending the silence on the weaponization of sexual violence, supporting the Hadassah Medical Organization’s response to the war-injured and the resulting innovation and research, and protecting Jewish Americans from the scourge of antisemitism on college campuses around the country.
The conference featured many remarkable speakers including but not limited to Ambassador Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, David Schizer co-chair of Columbia University task force and Dean Emeritus, and Israeli-born master storyteller Talia Carter. Carter discussed her book, The Boy with the Star Tattoo and her pro-Israel and women’s rights advocacy. Two Hadassah Youth Aliyah Village students shared their stories. And Hadassah Medical Organization’s physicians and caregivers spoke about the new technology and innovative procedures used to save lives and how they dealt with the immediate chaos of the October attacks.
The keynote speaker was Montana Tucker, an award-winning actress, singer, dancer, and philanthropist. Her passion is to combat antisemitism and all forms of hate and to educate people to love one another. Sportswriter, Social Media Influencer and Actress Emily Austin shared her experiences with antisemitism.
Gilad Erdan discussed the function of the UN and gave some history. The UN was formed to prevent atrocities after WWII. Originally, the UN was made up of 51 countries. Today the UN is made up of 193 countries, of which one-third are Arabic. Seventy percent of the condemnations made by the UN are against Israel. Conversely, Hamas hasn't been condemned for murdering, kidnapping, torturing Israelis or educating their children to hate Israel. Ironically, Erdan pointed out that Saudi Arabia's leadership's role in the UN is for gender equality. Moreover, Russia has been appointed to the UN's Human Rights Committee and Lebanon International Justice. Erdan's final remarks concerned Qatar funding our Ivy League Colleges. He mentioned that some of the Ivy League Colleges are afraid to stand up to Hamas and Qatar. Perhaps, he added, the Jewish people should divest and not give as much money to the colleges. His lecture was extremely informative.
David Schizer testified in the US Congressional hearing on Columbia University in April. He talked about friendships being destroyed since October 7th and added that the conflict has exasperated mental health issues among Jewish students. He went on to say that college should be about students coming together and sharing their views. Currently, there are a lot of conflicts on College Campuses. Schizer ended his remarks by sharing that Columbia is working hard on bringing students together. More information about the Hadassah Convention can be found on the Hadassah website.
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