Ambassador Dennis Ross speaks to JAMen attendees. Credit: Andrew Holmes

By Jay Rubin

The Jewish Austin Men Dinner and Speakers Forum, sponsored by Shalom Austin and popularly known as JAMen, kicked off its seventh season on October 18 with its most timely presentation ever.

Ambassador Dennis Ross, who played a leading role in shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, delivered a tour de force analysis of the implications of Israel’s 9/11, the horrific massacre perpetrated by Hamas terrorists from Gaza on kibbutzim, towns and a music festival in southern Israel on October 7, which was the Jewish Sabbath and Simchat Torah, 50 years and a day after the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Ross had originally been planning to speak about his forthcoming book, tentatively titled “Statecraft 2.0: What America Needs to Succeed in a Multipolar World,” scheduled for publication in 2024.

Following the reception and dinner at the Epstein Family Community Hall at the Dell JCC, 140 JAMen members were joined by more than 100 additional guests to hear both the presentation and Q&A.

Ross characterized the Simchat Torah massacre as Israel’s worst intelligence failure since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The scale of civilian murders and hostage-taking, including women, children and the elderly and the level of brutality including rape, dismemberment and burning victims to death has left Israel with no choice other than to reoccupy Gaza at least temporarily and to destroy Hamas as a political and military force. Ross praised the response of the Biden administration to support and rearm Israel and to deploy major resources to the region to deter other bad actors including Iranian proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen from further destabilizing the region and widening the war.

Although shocking video and audio footage of the massacre and kidnappings shared by the terrorists created a broad wave of initial sympathy and support for Israel in the U.S., given past conflicts, that support is likely to diminish once the IDF increases air and ground attacks and civilian casualties mount.

Ross spoke for more than an hour and took questions for an additional half hour before having to relocate to another room in the JCC to Zoom in to an interview on MSNBC.

Although JAMen programs are diverse and scheduled far in advance, the situation in Israel will continue to play a significant role with author, Tablet Magazine Editor-at-Large and Unorthodox Podcast Co-Host Liel Leibovitz addressing the crisis during his November presentation and Q&A.

Other programs likely to address the conflict at least in part include a panel discussion on February 21 of Israeli tech entrepreneurs recently relocated to Austin and a presentation by former IDF Entebbe Raid Commando Gadi Ilan on April 10.

For a full description of JAMen Season 7 programs or to sign up, visit
shalomaustin.org/JAMen.