Trip to Israel Emotional for Jewish Leaders

Leaders of the Los Angeles Jewish community returned home Monday from what one termed “a very emotional” one-week trip to Israel, vowing to push for more tourism to that “almost abandoned” nation and to lobby for more funds to resettle Soviet Jews.

“Now’s the time for people to go to Israel . . . now when they need us,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, one of 26 people in the delegation organized by the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles.

Yaroslavsky said the group, which met with military and government officials during stops in Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, found “hotels are empty, businesses are suffering” as air travel to Israel has been curtailed and travelers stay away.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, who made the trip with his wife, Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne; and their two teen-age children, said the group visited the scenes of two Scud missile attacks and was surprised to discover how quickly the damage was being repaired.

“They have decided that they are going to reconstruct and rebuild immediately,” he said. “As you drive by, it requires somebody to point out the damage.”

The group was one of two from Los Angeles to leave for Israel on Feb. 11 to express wartime solidarity with the Jewish state.

Another 13 people, who traveled under the auspices of Volunteers for Israel, are spending three weeks at army camps and hospitals assuming jobs that will enable regular soldiers to do other work.

Yaroslavsky brought home one souvenir of the federation trip, a gas mask, but said he only used it once, during a missile alert in Jerusalem. While he said he would urge other Americans to visit Israel as well, Yaroslavsky acknowledged that with the threat of attack, “the uncertainly will drive you crazy.”

“They don’t hand out 4 million gas masks unless there’s a danger.”