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VOL. XCIII NO. 6
WWW.ATLANTAJEWISHTIMES.COM
FEBRUARY 9, 2018 | 24 SHEVAT 5778
No Decision On Closing Consulate
Cultivating Community Roots Photos by Eli Gray
Temperatures that barely climbed into the 40s and more than an inch of rain overnight and into the morning didn’t deter committed Jewish community members and friends from gathering at Gordon White Park near the BeltLine in Southwest Atlanta on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 4, for the annual Tu B’Shevat tree planting coordinated through Trees Atlanta. Ahavath Achim Synagogue member Myrtle Lewin (above right), one of the annual organizers of the event, digs into the muddy soil with the help of Kristina Armstrong, while Trees Atlanta’s Greg Levine (left) points the way. More photos, Page 22.
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INSIDE Candle Lighting �������������������������� 4 Health & Wellness ����������������������5 Israel News �����������������������������������6 Opinion ���������������������������������������10 Business ������������������������������������� 24 Arts ���������������������������������������������� 26 Obituaries ���������������������������������� 28 Crossword ���������������������������������� 30 Marketplace ������������������������������� 31
The Israeli government has not decided to shut down its consulate in Atlanta, Ambassador Judith Varnai Shorer said in an interview Monday, Feb. 5. The consul general to the Southeast attended a conference of Israeli envoys in mid-January, and she said the Foreign Affairs Ministry was clear that debate had not begun about which diplomatic missions to close under a mandate to cut the budget between 2019 and 2022. “There is no decision whatsoever,” Shorer said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet approved a spending plan in early January that called for closing seven of the more than 100 Israeli diplomatic missions. Reports indicated that the consulate in Midtown was targeted. But the consulate survived a similar budget threat soon after Shorer took her post in August 2015, and there’s almost a year of possible dealing and lobbying before any missions would be closed. During its just-concluded leadership mission to Israel, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta made the case for the consulate, Shorer said. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, who is traveling to Israel at the consulate’s invitation for the 32nd International Mayors Conference from Feb. 11 to 16 and plans to visit his sister city partners in the Western Galilee Cluster, said he hasn’t been officially asked to speak about the possible closure. “But if asked my opinion about the consulate,” he wrote in an email, “I would underscore its role as a key player in maintaining strong relationships with the Jewish community in the region as well as the deep reservoir of non-Jewish support that exists across the Southeast.” ■