Jewish Press of Pinellas County

Israel Missions

Mayor compares country today to boyhood trip and St. Pete now


St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman places a note in the Western Wall while on a trip in mid-May with five other mayors from around the United States and led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman places a note in the Western Wall while on a trip in mid-May with five other mayors from around the United States and led by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman has got us covered this hurricane season, and for good measure has the city covered for all man-made and natural disasters, too.

Keeping his city from those harms is included in a prayer he slipped inside a crack at the Western Wall during a recent visit to Israel – as is custom for people from around the world when they visit the holy site. The prayer also sought protection for his family.

“I did Charlie one better,” he said, joking about how when fellow St. Petersburg resident Charlie Crist was governor, he used to put prayers in the wall, asking for Florida to be spared from a hurricane. It seemed to work during Crist’s tenure.

(Despite Crist’s track record and Kriseman’s prayers, the Jewish Press is not advising letting your insurance policies lapse.)

The trip to the Western Wall was just one of the stops Kriseman and four other mayors from U.S. cities made as they toured Israel in mid-May. They went to learn about the nation’s culture and history and to explore what it has to offer from a high-tech and governmental point of view.

(L-R) Shane Bemis, mayor of Gresham, OR; Kathleen Sheehan, mayor of Albany, NY; Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles; U.S. Ambassador David Friedman; Michelle De La Isla, mayor of Topeka, KS; Rick Kriseman, St. Petersburg mayor.

(L-R) Shane Bemis, mayor of Gresham, OR; Kathleen Sheehan, mayor of Albany, NY; Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles; U.S. Ambassador David Friedman; Michelle De La Isla, mayor of Topeka, KS; Rick Kriseman, St. Petersburg mayor.

For Kriseman it was his second trip to Israel, the first one coming 42 years ago when he was only 15 and went there with his dad. Back then Israel had not yet earned its “Start-Up Nation” reputation and Kriseman had no city to worry about or promote.

On the first trip, he recalled seeing a lot of Chassidic-looking men in beards and black hats, and this time some had the same look, but the population and manner of dress were more diverse.

As a Jew, Kriseman said, he felt good to be in the homeland of Jews, to have a Shabbat dinner in Israel and to know no matter where he was or where he looked, about 90 percent of those around him were fellow Jews. He recalled that during his days in the Florida Legislature, the sessions would open with prayers that nearly always invoked the name of Jesus, but in Israel, it felt like home.

He described his visit to the Western Wall and Yad Vashem, commemorating victims of the Holocaust, were “incredibly moving experiences.”

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriesman visited Tel Aviv, home to many tech companies, and said his city has many of the same qualities that attract tech people to Tel Aviv.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriesman visited Tel Aviv, home to many tech companies, and said his city has many of the same qualities that attract tech people to Tel Aviv.

Kriseman, four other mayors, a tour guide and a representative of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), traveled around the country as part of AJC’s Project Interchange for intensive dialogue and briefings. They were the first bipartisan delegation to participate in a week-long educational seminar under the auspices of a pact between the U.S. Conference of Mayors and AJC. The delegation of mayors was chaired by Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles, and included the mayors of Topeka, KS; Albany, NY, and Gresham, OR, as well as Kriseman. AJC CEO David Harris joined the mayors’ delegation for their opening dinner.

The seminar aimed to give the mayors a first-hand understanding of Israel’s economic and social entrepreneurship, its democracy, diverse society and regional challenges.

Among the highlights were opportunities to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, high-ranking government officials, leaders of Israel’s minority communities, and Jewish and Arab civil society leaders. The group also met with Einat Wils, a former member of the Knesset, to get an overview of Israeli politics. They visited the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and also met with the mayor of Tel Aviv.

The group was among the first delegations to meet with US Ambassador David Friedman at the new embassy in Jerusalem. While at the embassy, Tal Becker, principal deputy and legal advisor to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shared his insights about peace talks with Palestinians. Becker has been one of the principal peace negotiators during Bush, Clinton, Obama and Trump administrations.

“One of the most profound things he said is the relation between Jews and Palestinians needs to be viewed like a divorce,” Kriseman said, adding that Becker said negotiators “should not be thinking of who caused the divorce, but how you get along going forward for the sake of the children.”

Becker said in a way, the idea of justice is an obstacle to the peace process because both sides are incentivized to bring up all the ways in which they feel they have been wronged instead of seeking peace.

When the group visited the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank, Dr. Faisal Awartani, CEO of Alpha Institute for Research and Polling, had some very telling polling results, showing unemployment among Palestinians in the West Bank was at 17 percent, while in Gaza it is at 52 percent, and especially high among youths “which is why you see so much violence there.”

In a meeting with an Israeli brigadier general in the Golan Heights the mayors heard about the challenges with Hezbollah and in getting the economy moving.

Of course, Kriseman found comparisons between life in Israel and St. Petersburg.

Kriseman said many of the qualities that contribute to an environment for tech companies to flourish in Tel Aviv – quality of life, a young population, a coastal community, a very health conscious community, great night life and a thriving arts and culture scene – are qualities St. Petersburg already possesses and has contributed to it attracting similar companies.

As for immigration issues and diversity, the group spoke with an Ethiopian and Russian immigrant on their experiences in moving to Israel. The Russian woman said she felt the urge to meld into her new country’s society completely, to the point where she later felt she had lost some of her original identity. The Ethiopian spoke of how Ethiopian Jews are better accepted in Israel now than when they started coming in the 1990s.

Kriseman said St. Petersburg aims to make people from all over the world feel welcome. “We try to create an atmosphere where people can come and be themselves. That does not mean we do not have people with prejudicial beliefs and racial bias, but the majority of people here welcome others and are tolerant. I think we all strive to be that community. We want to be a city of opportunity where the sun shines on all.”

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