(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Israel should be describing Jewish communities beyond the "green line" as developments, not settlements, Carlos Gimenez, the mayor of Miami-Dade County, said on Friday. Gimenez, on a visit to Israel with four other mayors of large U.S. cities sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, said, "When you conjure up the word 'settlement,' you think about the Old West, pioneers and all that....'Settlement' is the wrong word to use. If you want to describe it to Americans, it is really a development." While the Hispanic community in the U.S. is not seen as having a strong, emotional pro-Israel reflex, Cuban-Americans are the exception. "Cuban-Americans identify very closely with Israel," he said. "We were basically without a country, and know what it is like to be persecuted for your beliefs."
2011-11-21 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive