PERU, ONE OF ISRAEL'S CLOSEST FRIENDS

Letter from Lima by David A. Harris, Executive Director, American Jewish Committee

November 28, 2005

Here's a political trivia test:

Name the one country today—outside Israel—where the president, speaking before the Israeli Knesset in a special session earlier this year, began his remarks with the words, Am Yisrael Chai ("the people of Israel live").

Name the one country today—outside Israel—where the first lady is Jewish, was a member of a left-of-center Zionist youth movement, studied in Israel, and raised her daughter to speak Hebrew.

Name the one country today where the vice president is an active member of the Jewish community.

Name the one country today where the current prime minister, a distinguished economist, practically commuted to Israel as an investment banker, over a span of six or seven years, to advise it on privatization efforts.

And name the one country in South America today that is included in every list of Israel's closest friends in the world.

As you would have guessed from the title, the answer to all five questions is Peru, though the information may come as a surprise to many. After all, Peru seldom surfaces in discussions of world Jewry or Israel's global standing. It deserves greater attention, as befits a friend.

READ ON....