November 2, 2009 | 2:40 pm

Don’t Cry For Me, Donald Sterling

Posted by Jack Weiss

The Los Angeles Clippers proved the other night that the traditional model of non-governmental America-Israel engagement is dead.

I’m not saying that the Clippers killed the model—let’s face it, the Clippers don’t kill anything.

I’m not saying that the model was killed—it had already died of old age.

And I’m not saying that its passing was a bad thing.  Instead, its demise demonstrates a new world of possibilities for Americans and Israelis who want to engage with one another.

Meanwhile, a new model is rising in Santa Monica and the Silicon Wadi.

First, let’s talk hoops.

Like many around town, I couldn’t help but notice the ads in the L.A. Times and the Jewish Journal promoting the recent Clippers game against Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv.  The event was a benefit for Migdal Ohr, an extraordinary orphanage in Israel run by Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman (this article is not a critique of Migdal Ohr or of the need to support such worthy institutions; Dan Adler and other Angelenos can tell you more about this amazing rabbi and what he has accomplished).

The local ads featured stock images of helpless children. There was nothing subtle about the ad copy either, directly thanking supporters on behalf of thousands of Israeli orphans.

The mood of the fans at the Staples Center last Tuesday night, though, was not one of pity but of pride.  At every Maccabi basket the crowd roared; the Clippers rated only occasional golf course applause.  Midway through the first quarter, I turned to my friend Joe Freeman and said, “The Clippers are playing an away game tonight.”

The arena was filled with every kind of Jew—Israelis, frum families, and secular Americans.  All came for one reason—pride in the State of Israel.  It wasn’t disappointing that our ticket dollars went to a worthy Israeli charity, but let’s be honest—the message that Israel is the land of our weak, vulnerable cousins did not drive turnout.  The crowd was united in its view that Israel is strong.  An orphanage as vibrant as Migdal Ohr, I would argue, is a sign of a country’s strength and sophistication.

The pride we feel for Israel is neither false nor undue.  Its renewed vitality is chronicled in Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s new book, “Startup Nation—The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle.”  They explain that Israel has become the world model for innovation—“there is a reason why so many (American) companies have come to Israel looking for the innovations they need to compete in today’s global economy.  As America tries to reboot, Israel is the place to look for how to build a comprehensive culture of innovation that can restore and sustain economic growth.”

Indeed, Senor and Singer’s book prompted Rabbi Shmuley Boteach to write in the Jerusalem Post, “it is time for Israel to consider forgoing American economic aid. I understand the military aid . . . But the economic aid creates an unnecessary dependency, (and) undermines the perception of Israel as a prosperous country.”

At the same time, it is important to recognize the value-areas that America can bring to the table with Israel.  One of the best current examples is percolating at the RAND Corporation, where funding from the Nazarian Family Foundation is providing America’s premier nonpartisan think tank with opportunities to consult directly to the Israeli government and suggest policy alternatives that may not have received the attention they warrant from a bureaucracy whose political leaders shift every few years.  The first RAND effort calibrates the recommended level of Israel’s future dependence on natural gas.  The next project is likely to be a uniquely American review of the Israeli Police, and perhaps of the justice system, too.

As RAND researcher Steven Popper made clear at a recent presentation on the natural gas project, Israel’s policy options are less constrained by resources than by the lack of stable institutions, again an area in which America can offer instruction.

That’s what the real future of the non-governmental America-Israel relationship looks like.  Israel has spark and ingenuity and inventiveness and can teach us how to innovate and adapt rapidly.  American research organizations such as RAND and the Milken Institute can teach Israel how to analyze policy through a longer lens and mold more stable domestic institutions.

There’s a lot we can teach each other—through partnership with and investment in the best each other has to offer.

By the way, the Clippers won the game the other night, and it wasn’t even close.  I’m not sure Maccabi Tel Aviv wants your sympathy.  Clipper fans, however—well, that’s another story.

(Updated 11-4-09—While Sterling and his counsel have “vehemently” denied the charges, yesterday he reached a record multimillion dollar settlement with the federal government in a case in which he was accused of racially discriminating against renters.  The case serves as a reminder that racial prejudice is alive and well in our City in the 21st Century. Sterlings will pay $2.7 million to settle rental bias suit—latimes.com)

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