Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček (Hilary Eldrige for Jewish Insider)

In the ornate sitting room in the Czech ambassador’s official residence in Washington, D.C., the walls are covered not in Central European art or other local artifacts, but an eclectic assortment of souvenirs from Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček’s excursions around the world. From a crimson-and-gold-upholstered armchair, Kmoníček points to a full crocodile skin hanging on the wall and begins to explain its provenance. “I was negotiating in Sudan, and I needed to prove I am macho enough,” Kmoníček said casually. The unique assortment of objects reflects Kmoníček’s idiosyncratic tastes, but it also gets at the key thesis of his diplomacy. “If we want to be heard, we must be interesting,” he told Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutchin a recent interview at his residence.

Get involved: Sometimes, of course, even an ambassador from a small landlocked Central European country finds himself enmeshed in global geopolitical conflicts. The challenge these days for Kmoníček is not only standing out in Washington but standing up on the international stage for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his embattled nation faces an onslaught from Russian forces. The Czech Republic has sent ammunition, fuel and medical supplies to Ukraine, and has also been at the forefront of advocating for a strong Western response to Putin’s aggression. Kmoníček called Putin’s actions in Ukraine “a danger for all of Europe, ​​and to face it, the key is the absolute unity of all the allies.”

Renaissance man: Even when the Czech Republic does not find itself embroiled in a Continental land war, Kmoníček, 59, has a lot to offer that will interest diplomats, politicians and members of the public alike. Born and raised in Pardubice, a city of 90,000 some 60 miles east of Prague that is best known for its chemical factory, Kmoníček plays classical guitar and can speak several languages, including Arabic, Russian, some Hebrew and a bit of Tatar (his wife’s native language).

Personal discovery: The Hebrew came from a year he spent in Israel in the 1990s, during a “real roller coaster” of self-exploration — he discovered he was Jewish in his mid-20s, and soon after, he went to study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem as part of a program for Jewish leaders in the Diaspora. Kmoníček’s mother revealed her Jewish lineage after hiding it from him during the country’s socialist years. During the era in which Kmoníček grew up, a good Jew “celebrates his Christmas and never heard about Hanukkah,” he said.

Israel attitude: “I still consider it as my home ground,” Kmoníček said of Israel, while acknowledging that his Hebrew has not quite held up over the years. Today, the Czech Republic is one of the most pro-Israel countries in Europe, a tradition that dates back decades. Every time a new leader is elected in the Czech Republic, Kmoníček fields calls from friends and officials in Israel questioning the new administration’s stance on Israel. “I try to explain [that] because the public mood in [the] Czech Republic is traditionally so much pro-Israeli, that it’s suicide for any politician to go against that sentiment,” he said.

Read the full interview here.

Freshman Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) drew a third Democratic primary challenger last week when Michael Gerald, a senior pastor at Shiloh Church in Tuckahoe and a deputy commissioner at the Westchester County Department of Correction, entered the race to represent New York’s redrawn 16th Congressional District. In his first interview as a candidate, Gerald told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel that he is running largely because he believes that Bowman, who is among the most high-profile progressive lawmakers in the House, has been absent from the district during his first term.

Opening salvo: Echoing criticism voiced by the two other challengers in the race, Gerald suggested that Bowman’s policy views — including on infrastructure spending, police funding and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — have been unproductive and out of touch with voters’ priorities. “Rather than the congressman focusing his attention on solving the issues of our district, he would rather turn his attention to making a national name for himself,” Gerald, 54, said on Friday. “He’s not getting anything done for us.”

Major contrast: Gerald took particular issue with Bowman’s support for defunding the police as well as his “present” vote last May on a Capitol Police funding bill. “The fact of the matter is that we should never abandon our men and women in law enforcement,” said Gerald, who worked as a New Jersey state trooper and as a county undersheriff before he became a full-time pastor in 2007. “I really take issue with folks who indiscriminately say we ought to defund the police.”

Eye on Israel: The first-time candidate, who describes himself as a strong supporter of Israel, also criticized Bowman’s recent decision to withdraw his support for and vote against bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords. Gerald characterized the about-face, which angered Jewish constituents in the district, as proof that Bowman “is fighting an ideological war,” adding: “He’s pretty much saying ‘I don’t give a F about what you think’ to people who are constituents, and I think that’s disrespectful.”

Bowman on alert: Experts have speculated that Gerald, who, like Bowman, is Black, could prove viable if he shores up some voter support — and campaign contributions — in the coming weeks. His candidacy seems to have raised Bowman’s receptors. On Friday afternoon, Gerald said he met with Bowman in the district at the congressman’s request. He left the conversation convinced he had made the right choice. “I still maintain that there is a way in which you preserve your character and you move forward together,” Gerald told JI, “because we ain’t going nowhere if we continue to be extreme in our thoughts and our positions and our policies.”

Read the full story here.

Elad Kakon communicates with non-hearing students during a visit to the class for the Deaf at the École de la Princesse Lalla Amina school in Marrakesh, Morocco on Feb. 28, 2022.

In a simply decorated classroom on the far side of a dusty schoolyard deep inside Marrakesh’s bustling Old City, about a dozen deaf schoolchildren watched with amusement last week as a small group of well-educated — and usually articulate — young hearing Israelis and Moroccans attempted to communicate with them. Using very basic sign language, or at least those signs shared by the Hebrew and Moroccan versions of the visual-manual modality language, the children seemed not to know or care that they were a part of something very remarkable, even historic, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports from Marrakesh, Morocco.

Building bridges: As the governments of Israel and Morocco work to normalize relations on a diplomatic level following a December 2020 agreement to establish full and open ties, grassroots movements and civil society organizations are working to build and strengthen the connection between the two countries, already deeply linked via long-standing cultural roots. The group visiting the École de la Princesse Lalla Amina school and the class for the non-hearing, which is operated by an independent local charity, were participants in the Leaders of Tomorrow Summit and one of four teams competing in a low-tech hackathon challenge to create sustainable and cultural people-to-people projects that aim to build bridges between their countries.

Listen to me: “Our main goal is to leave no one behind,” Oumaima Mhijir, 29, a participant from Morocco, later told hackathon judges in a five-minute pitch about Project Ismaani (translated from Moroccan as “listen to me”). “We want to create a fellowship for good that aims to enhance cultural understanding between our two people.” Elad Kakon, 36, an Israeli on the same team, told JI that the team’s decision to focus on the non-hearing community came about after Mhijir, who helped established, through a local nonprofit, Marrakesh’s Sign Language Café, appealed to the Israeli participants for assistance with the charity that runs the school for the deaf. When Kakon revealed to the group that his Moroccan-born father, who grew up in Casablanca, was also non-hearing, the group hit on the idea of building a bridge between the two tiny and often sidelined communities.

Meaningful encounters: Organized by the Tel Aviv-based NGO ISRAEL-is, which educates and trains young Israelis to conduct meaningful encounters with their international peers, in collaboration with Mimouna Association, the summit brought together some 60 highly educated young Israelis and Moroccans, a mix of students and professionals.

Jewish heritage: Mimouna’s president, El Mehdi Boura, who established the organization in 2007, said there were some negative views of Jews, and of Israel, in Morocco but the normalization agreement, which is linked to the broader Abraham Accords with an additional three Arab countries, has served to bolster Mimouna’s profile and has made working on Jewish-related projects in the country much easier. “What we are doing in Morocco is not about the Abraham Accords, but it has definitely facilitated things for us,” he said, adding, “There are one million Jews of Moroccan descent in Israel and around the world and they are our brothers.”

People-to-people peace: Eyal Biram, co-founder and CEO of ISRAEL-is, told JI that he created the Leaders of Tomorrow Summit following the Abraham Accords’ signing to harness the new relationships that were forming. “We understood then that something really special was happening, that there was an Arab country opening its heart to peace and the people there were looking to connect with young people in Israel.”

Read the full story here.

Detroit City Clerk Janice M. Winfrey speaks at the TCF Center during a press conference.

The bipartisan advocacy group Pro-Israel America is taking on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s newly drawn 12th Congressional District. In its latest round of House endorsements — including five Democrats and three Republicans — PIA will announce on Monday that its political arm is backing longtime Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who is among a handful of Democratic challengers going up against Tlaib this August in Detroit and its surrounding suburbs, reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.

Early action: “Pro-Israel America is working to ensure that the 118th Congress reflects broad, bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” PIA’s executive director, Jeff Mendelsohn, said in a statement to JI. PIA is so far the only pro-Israel group to have weighed in on the primary, which also includes former Michigan state legislator Shanelle Jackson. Former state Rep. Phil Cavanagh said last week that he was dropping out of the race and would instead run for judge in Wayne County.

‘Key race’: PIA says it is listing the matchup between Winfrey and Tlaib as a “key race” because it expects a “highly competitive” primary battle. The other candidates PIA is prioritizing — all of whom are Democrats competing in open-seat primaries against left-leaning opponents — include Pittsburgh attorney Steve Irwin, Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas and Kentucky state Sen. Morgan McGarvey. Both Irwin and Villegas have also gained backing from Democratic Majority for Israel.

Possible overlap: The other candidates PIA is endorsing are Rob Menendez, Jr., the son of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is running to replace outgoing Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), and three Republican incumbents: Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Pete Stauber (R-MN) and Bill Huizenga (R-MI), who is seeking reelection in a newly drawn district now shared with Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI). Upton, whom PIA endorsed last July, has yet to declare if he will run for another term. PIA said it is “awaiting any updates from” the congressman but is “also endorsing Huizenga in the interim.”

‘Proven’ and ‘promising’: “These candidates include proven leaders in Congress and promising new voices who support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship,” Mendelsohn told JI. “We will continue to bring the power of the pro-Israel grassroots community to help these candidates fight and win in their competitive races, including those against anti-Israel opponents.”

Read the full story here.