Rank and File

image from

MK Oren pitches in to raise money for needy children; A comedic twist on immigrating to Israel; Changes to IBA News in English broadcast.

Steven Klein, haaretz.com

Excerpt:

ESRA TO NEEDY KIDS: Friends of ESRA [see] held their annual fundraising dinner on Thursday of last week to aid ESRA’s “Give a child a future” campaign, with MK Michael Oren delivering a speech on “The Israel-U.S. relationship.” The event attracted 70 guests to the Herzliya home of David and Beverly Saffrin, who have hosted the dinner for the past three years, and raised over 70,000 shekels ($17,800) to support children and youth in dire financial need. Oren “highlighted a connection between the religious beliefs of past U.S. presidents — Lincoln, Truman, Harding and Clinton, all from a Baptist background — creating what Oren called “a bond between them and the Holy Land,” according to ESRA’s Brenda Katten. She added that Oren called on Israel to give more support to American Jewish students on the front lines of the public diplomacy battle. ...

OFF THE AIR: IBA News in English went on the air 25 years ago, during the Gulf War crisis. “It was the only channel then with a prime time slot of 8 in the evening,” recalled Queens native Steve Leibowitz, who was there from the very beginning and retired Wednesday after being editor of the English news desk for the past 11 years. “People still remember Leah Zinder and Kimberly Mor.” Leibowitz, who joined in 1990 as a reporter and was later deputy editor, said he moved to Israel in 1974 and did a master’s degree in communications with a future English news program in mind. Now he will dedicate more time to Israel Football, which he founded in 1989, and the Woodstock Revival he started in 2009. The English news slot is now 4 P.M. on Channel 33.