For Sindy Benavides, a Hispanic community organizer from Virginia who was visiting Israel last week, the Jewish community is a newfound friend.

Three years ago, Benavides said, she had the “frightening” experience of seeing the number of anti-immigration bills introduced in the Virginia House of Representatives triple to 148 -- a reaction, she said, to the influx of Latino immigrants in the area.

With funding and training from the American Jewish Committee, Benavides and her fellow Latino community members mobilized to defeat about 100 of the bills in the 2006-07 legislative session – all those whose passage ran counter to the interests of their community.

Benavides, now 27, called the help she received from the organized Jewish world "invaluable."

The collaboration is an example of the alliances Jewish groups are forming with the U.S. Hispanic community, now the largest minority community in the United States.

Last week, Benavides was one of about a dozen or so prominent Latina leaders who came to Israel under the auspices of Project Interchange, an educational institute of the AJC, in cooperation with the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the United States.

"There is a great deal of commonality between the Hispanic and Jewish communities," Latina political consultant Ana Navarro told JTA in Jerusalem. "It would do us all good to get to know each other better."

For decades, the American Jewish and Hispanic communities have been indifferent to one another, says Dina Siegel Vann, director of AJC's Latino and Latin American Institute. But the two communities share the common history of immigration, and their domestic interests often dovetail, particularly on civil rights issues. It behooves the Jewish community to seek a deeper relationship as the Latino community grows in numbers, she said.

The visit to Israel was a way to introduce Israel to several key Latina community leaders. The participants also met with women leaders in Israel, including Bank Hapoalim owner Shari Arison, and government leaders.

The Latina women traveled all around Israel, meeting Ethiopians in an absorption center in Safed, talking with Palestinians in Jerusalem, visiting religious sites in Jerusalem’s Old City, and taking in a tour highlighting the strategic value to Israel of the Golan Heights.

In a visit that had resonance for many of the Latinas, the group also visited Beit Hatfutsot, a Tel Aviv museum focusing on the Jewish Diaspora where they learned how Jews have kept their culture in exile while integrating into their host countries.

The Jewish state does not get a great deal of coverage in Hispanic media, Navarro said, and the trip enabled her to learn firsthand about Israel.

Navarro -- who was born in Nicaragua and emigrated to the United States with her family during the Nicaraguan revolution in 1980 -- said she was particularly interested in learning how Israel has assimilated Jewish refugees from so many countries around the world. She said she was struck by how Israelis are accustomed to living in "survival mode," and that they are so dedicated to the defense of their homeland.

"Israelis are staunch, strong and educated," Navarro, 38, said.

The trip underscored the need for Hispanic and Jewish communities in America "to foster further the understanding of each other's experiences and challenges,” she said.

Benavides, who came to the United States from Honduras at the age of 1, echoed that sentiment. She said she was impressed at how Israel and the Jewish community found "a place at the table, a place in the world," and believes the Jewish and Hispanic communities have a lot to learn from each other.

She said her visit to Israel was "only the beginning. I see myself looking more closely when I get home."

"That is why it is so important to bring these women to Israel," Vann said. It "makes the Israeli and Jewish experience relevant to the Latina experience."

Vann is both Hispanic and Jewish. Born in Mexico, she came to the United States in 1996. As someone who speaks both the actual language and the cultural language of the two communities, Vann said she is trying to act as a bridge between Jews and Latinos.

Coalition-building has always been an important part of the Jewish community's strategy in both advocacy and politics, Vann said, and having a close relationship with the largest minority group in the United States can be very beneficial to the Jewish community.

This was the AJC's seventh mission to Israel involving Latin American or Hispanic groups. Other groups have included Latin American journalists, Latin American government officials and Hispanic businessmen.

Article published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

QUOTES AND FIGURES

Women Make Strides in Latin American Politics

A number of Latin American countries rank among the highest in the world when it comes to women’s representation in legislatures. A recent Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) report found that Latin America and Europe are the only two regions to surpass the world average. The IPU lists Cuba in fourth place with 43.2 percent, Argentina in eleventh with 38.5 percent, and Costa Rica at 13 with 36.8 percent.

Female participation in Latin American cabinets nearly tripled to 24 percent between the 1990s and 2007, with Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Uruguay reaching rates of over 30 percent. Women’s representation in the lower houses of Latin American congresses grew from an average of 10.8 percent in 1997 to 22 percent in 2009, with Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru seeing the biggest growth. Approval of electoral quotas by 11 countries contributed to this jump in political participation. Argentina adopted a 1991 quota law that required for women to account for at least 30 percent of candidates for public office. Since the 1995 UN Conference on Women in Beijing produced its action plan, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras adopted similar electoral quotas.

In addition to increases in women’s legislative participation, five women have governed Latin American countries: Violeta Barrios de Chamorro of Nicaragua (1990 to 1997); Mireya Elisa Moscoso of Panama (1999 to 2004); Michelle Bachelet of Chile, who won 2005 elections and will leave office on March 11; and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina, who won 2007 elections and governs until October 2011. Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla won February 2010 elections and takes office May 8.

Depending on the outcome of upcoming elections, Latin America may be able to count more females heads of state. On February 20, the ruling Worker's Party in Brazil nominated Dilma Rousseff, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's chief minister, as the party’s presidential candidate for the October elections. In Peru, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, trails only slightly behind Lima mayor Luis Castañeda, according to February polls. In Colombia, two women, Noemí Sanín and Marta Lucía Ramírez, are slated to run for the presidency in the May elections.

Information taken from the Council of the Americas

LATIN AMERICA AND MIDDLE EAST PERISCOPE

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AJC HIGHLIGHTS

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AJC Welcomes Clinton’s Affirmation of U.S. Bond With Israel

AJC expressed appreciation for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s reaffirmation today of the “close, unshakable bond between the United States and Israel and between the American and Israeli people.”

“Coming at a time when the historic alliance between the United States and Israel has been characterized as being in crisis, Secretary Clinton’s comments provide much-needed clarity,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Her remarks are particularly welcome given the overheated commentary asserting that the special relationship between America and Israel is in danger.”

Speculation about the future of U.S.-Israel relations has reached fever pitch following the condemnation by Vice President Joseph Biden, during his visit to Israel last week, of an announcement to build 1,600 housing units in eastern Jerusalem. Biden accepted an apology from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the timing of the announcement, but criticism from other U.S. leaders followed. The Israeli government has announced that a special committee will examine how the ill-advised announcement came to be made.

AJC Celebrates with Egyptian Jews Dedication of Restored Cairo Synagogue

AJC celebrated today with the Egyptian Jewish community the rededication of the historic Rav Moshe synagogue, restored by the Egyptian government.

"When I first set foot here only five years ago, the synagogue was in ruins and its roof opened to the sky," said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC's Director of International Jewish Affairs, as he affixed a new mezuzah, a gift from AJC, at the entryway to the adjoining yeshiva. The yeshiva was the original study of Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides, the renowned physician, rabbinic scholar and leader of the Egyptian Jewish community in the 12th century.

Baker praised Egypt's Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny and Supreme Council of Antiquities Head Zahi Hawass for now recognizing that Jewish religious sites are also an integral part of Egyptian heritage and Egyptian culture, and then leading the restoration project.

"There is no more tangible expression of this than the restored synagogue and yeshiva where we gather today," said Baker. "They are a testament to the verbal commitment of Minister Hosny and Dr. Hawass, and a reflection of the dedicated work of skilled engineers and artisans. On behalf of AJC I salute them and thank them for what they have done."

AJC Donates Funds for Relief Efforts in Chile after Devastating Earthquake

AJC is partnering with the Chilean Jewish community to bring aid to that nation's earthquake victims. Through a fund set-up by AJC on its main webpage and Spanish counterpart, the organization will be able to channel US$20.000 dollars for relief efforts in the southern part of the Latin American country.

	latinos@ajc.org The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is not affiliated with, and the positions in this newsletter are not necessarily endorsed by, any of the entities to whose web sites this newsletter is linked, nor is the AJC responsible for any errors or omissions in the content of or on any linked site.