JCRC Announces the Gettler JCRC Breakfast Briefing Series

Dee and Ben Gettler
Dee and Ben Gettler
With the increasing importance of U.S. national security, in particular, involving the Middle East and the U.S.-Israel relationship, and with an eye toward engaging and educating community leadership on those subjects, Dee and Ben Gettler have generously committed funding to ensure the continuation of a breakfast briefing series organized by the JCRC for the past 20 years. The series, which will be renamed The Gettler JCRC Breakfast Briefing Series, will kick off with its first event on November 4, 2010, 7:30-9:00 AM at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. The first briefing will feature Anne Bayefsky, a human rights scholar and expert on the campaign to delegitimize Israel at the United Nations. Participation is by invitation only, and interested parties may contact the Jewish Community Relations Council at (513) 985-1501.

“These JCRC briefings have always been supported by the vision and inspired leadership of Ben Gettler, and we are extraordinarily grateful to Ben for making this new commitment enabling them to continue,” said JCRC President Gary Greenberg. Since the late 1980s, they have typically been held downtown, and have been designed for leading policy makers and opinion leaders in the Cincinnati Region, including elected officials, clergy and other interfaith leaders, ethnic community leaders, media personalities, and business and academic figures.

Previous briefings have focused on national security issues, with particular emphasis on current events in Israel and the Middle East, and anti-Semitism. High level speakers from around the world have made presentations, answered questions and interacted with our guests in an exclusive, intimate forum. Past speakers have included Saul Singer, co-author of Start-Up Nation; Dr. Robert Satloff, Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Hilary Krieger, Washington Bureau Chief of The Jerusalem Post; Daniel Kutner, Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Region; and Yaakov Katz, journalist for The Jerusalem Post, USA Today and the London-based Jewish Chronicle, among others.

These Briefings have been critical in engaging and educating influential elites. “Ben Gettler introduced me to these briefings, and they have afforded me an insight into Israel and Middle East issues that I would otherwise never have,” explained former Congressman Bill Keating.

“I have always been a strong supporter of Israel, and like many I am concerned about Israel’s future. That’s why these briefings are so important, as they really help educate members of the community about the challenges facing Israel and what we can do to help.”

“As difficult as the challenges have been in the first 60 years of Israel’s existence, the dangers that the Jewish State currently faces are unprecedented,” said JCRC Director Brian Jaffee. “The global campaign of delegitimation of Israel – which includes ritual condemnations in foreign capitals and at the United Nations, as well as a widespread Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions Movement – combined with the challenges of a nuclear Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, poses existential threats to Israel’s ongoing security and viability. We appreciate that Ben Gettler has long kept us focused on those challenges, and we will have no shortage of topics to present in the months and years ahead.”

Ben and Dee Gettler, have been community leaders for more than half a century. Ben, a University of Cincinnati and Harvard Law School graduate, is CEO of Vulcan International Corporation and past Chairman of the Cincinnati Transit Company and the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. He served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Cincinnati, Chairman of the Board of Jewish Hospital, National Chairman of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, and is a founding member of both the nationwide Republican Jewish Coalition and the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati. Ben served as President of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Cincinnati and was a recipient of its prestigious Peace of the City Award.