American philanthropist Larry Hochberg on the importance of courage

Larry Hochberg laughs when I ask him why his name does not so easily appear online. “I’m not on Facebook, either,” he says. One of the most significant forces in Israel advocacy for over 50 years, Hochberg is signed onto a long list of successful endeavors with the purpose of strengthening Israel – but he does not seek the limelight. 

Hochberg’s approach is proactive, and these days he is very much focused on what he sees as opportunity in Europe, through leading the non-profit, non-partisan organization ELNET Europe-Israel, which dedicated to strengthening relations between Europe and Israel. He is the co-founder and chairman of Friends of ELNET. 

“The remarkable support for Israel across Europe these days is a testament to more than a decade of ELNET’s educational work across the continent,” he says. “We have just recently witnessed the fruits of this achievement, as a long line of European leaders have shown overwhelming support for Israel’s right to defend itself, condemning Hamas and even expressing an unusual public display of solidarity, flying the Israeli flag over official buildings. 

“This growing European support for Israel is a result of various factors, including disillusionment after the Arab Spring, increasingly realistic foreign policy, the opportunities in the wake of the Abraham Accords, a convergence of Israeli-European interests in energy and high-tech, and, finally, the recognition of the shared challenge of Islamist extremism.”

An internationally renowned lay leader and philanthropist, supporting numerous pro-Israel initiatives, Hochberg serves as Friends of the IDF Illinois Chapter Board Member and National Board Member and Chairman Emeritus. He has held leadership positions in various Jewish organizations, beginning his community activism in 1967 with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, where he filled various positions including General Campaign Chair. In Chicago, Hochberg also founded the Aliyah Council. He was on the National Board of Directors of AIPAC and served as a National Officer of the United Jewish Appeal (now Jewish Federations of North America-JFNA). 

Hochberg is the president of the Hochberg Family Foundation where he oversees grants to charitable organizations, including as the lead sponsor of the University of Wisconsin Hillel Building. His business accomplishments include serving as CEO and chairman of Sportmart Inc., prior to its sale to The Sports Authority. He was also a co-founder of Children’s Bargain Town, which became part of Toys “R” Us.

My father was a small businessman who immigrated to the US from Russia. He was a Jew, he cared about Jews, but I myself wasn’t really that involved in Jewish activities as a child, apart from having a bar mitzvah, like most Jewish American boys were at that time. I did learn a little bit about Israel, but even in college, I didn’t really know what was going on because I was doing my thing, you know, going to classes, and playing in pick-up ballgames. 

The Six Day War was my epiphany. I was a reasonably successful businessman at that time, in my early 30’s. We had a large family business already, I was also working on my own business – and suddenly, Israel was surrounded. And I remember it like yesterday, that clear understanding, that no one would help, even though President Johnson favored Israel – he couldn’t do anything. There wasn’t any country that was willing to join, nothing! So in my mind, sitting in Chicago, I thought to myself – here comes another Holocaust! Because Israel is all by itself, it can’t possibly beat all those Arab countries at the same time. Then the Israelis went on the offensive, and I decided to take my first trip to Israel, from Germany where I had been attending a convention. That trip changed my whole life. 

After seeing Dachau, and then flying to Tel Aviv – I realized that Israel won, and I convinced my family and my colleagues, that Jews could be doctors, lawyers, businessmen, we didn’t need anyone else to run our country. We were capable of military defense, we were organized. And when I saw Israel at that time, in the spring of ‘68 – then my whole world opened up.

It took a lot of time, a lot of energy and it still does, to try and focus on things that might help Israel, that make a difference. And it’s a whole group of things. Today, in the US, we need rallies, we need briefings. Our community, in many respects, is not used to getting out there, like the Muslim community is out there. But at that time, in 1968, there was only the Jewish Federation in charge of almost everything. There were no other organizations really, even to collect money to send overseas. But the Jews were a people again, and you couldn’t give that up no matter what.”

In 1973, at the start of the Yom Kippur War it seemed like Israel got surprised from being overconfident. But, you know, I was sitting in Chicago, what do I know? I went to the Israeli Consul General and told him, ‘I’ll go over there,’ and he said, ‘No, Hochberg! You stay here, and you do what you can to mobilize Americans and American support for us.’ As it turned out, it was US Defense Secretary Schlesinger and President Nixon of all people who eventually turned the tide, with the resupply for the IDF. That’s what I remember – though others can take the credit for it. 

Nowadays, Israel is in many ways a regional superpower that can handle almost anything, creates innovative solutions and has recently acquired some new, important allies. Nevertheless, it is in reality only 22,000 square miles, hemmed in from all sides by mostly bitter enemies. And in the reality of the Middle East, we don’t always know what is going to happen, so if the tides turn against Israel, those who are not our enemies now can very quickly become just that. You in Israel understand that fragility, but the new generations in the Diaspora Jewish community have not necessarily adjusted to this new reality. The global Jewish community, mostly in North America but also in Europe, has had a golden age, and I’m afraid it may be coming to an end – if we don’t act.” 

People keep saying that Israel’s PR is no good. But that is not the case – it is actually better than it was 20 years ago. It is just different, nowadays we have social media, which helps us some, but then again opens up to so many other ways to be attacked. So far as I can tell, the Israeli diplomacy in the IDF has actually improved. It’s just that the whole world is more complicated, and our enemies are very well versed in how to find our weak spots. And they will use their numbers to ferociously attack Israel on social media.

In terms of our allies – well, we have to try and keep the friends we have. So far, the American government has been better than might be expected, and we at ELNET find the ways to speak to European governments. Our agenda, the approximately 15 million Jews or so that are left, is to survive and prosper and live full lives. And that means Israel has to be strong, and the diasporic community also has to do its job to support Israel.”

I think that Diaspora Jewry first of all has to understand that Israel is not going to be perfect. It’s wonderful, and it’s our future! But we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that Israel has to do what it simply has to do. We can’t be in a dream world, and think this Jew hatred would just go away. We need to push Israel’s agenda forward, as one team. It’s not a question of ego of one guy or one girl. It’s what we can do together, with discipline and professional leadership. That’s where I come from. That’s what I believed in 50 years ago, and I still do now. It requires courage. And leadership. With a plan in mind, being firm but smart, no matter whether I am in Chicago, LA, Europe, or anywhere else.

We are indebted to Israel and to the people of Israel since 1948, and I say that with all my heart. There are times when we can do things that the Israelis cannot. That’s how I began to get involved with the Friends of the IDF. Initially, they raised very small amounts of money because people hadn’t known about its purpose – they figured, well, that’s the Israelis’ job, to raise money for the soldiers, not ours. They didn’t understand that the IDF budget would go for military equipment, not for emotional health or educational programs. So we took on that responsibility, and I think it has become a real help for the IDF today, including serious scholarship programs, welfare and even safety projects. We, in the diaspora, do have a place that’s important for us to support groups like Friends of ELNET (FELNET) and the FIDF.

I think our main goal now, it to establish strong, effective pro-Israel advocacy groups outside the US. We have a lot of pro-Israel work going on in the US, Canada and Australia – but what about Europe? People find all sorts of excuses, saying that Europe is full of antisemites and other skepticisms. When we started out in Europe, there were about a million and a quarter Jews living in Europe, some wealthy but preferring to stay below the radar, and most people thought Europe was lost. We didn’t think so – and that was the formation of ELNET. 

About 14 years ago, where would you start but France, where there are so many Jews? We found our heroes there – I met with a French couple, who have remained among our most important contributors, and told them we want to bring sophisticated pro-Israel advocacy to France, with professional, committed people to run the organization. And so we established our activity in France. Our French director Dr Arié Bensemhoun, who has been with us over 12 years now and was also the head of the Jewish community of Toulouse, has become such a sophisticated, capable advocate for Israel education and also extremely inspirational to the rest of Europe. Nowadays we have tremendously functioning ELNET offices in London, Berlin, Brussels and Warsaw, and they accomplish great things including cooperative work on projects with government officials, thought leaders, the business community, and legislators. We’ve just recently had very successful official sessions around COVID, with experts from Israel coming to European senates to share Israel’s best practices to combatting the pandemic. We are also proud of our great contribution to the recognition of Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization in Germany the UK, the Netherlands, and other Eastern European countries. 

Israel has support it never dreamed it would have. We just need to know how to tap that sentiment professionally and educate persistently. It requires not just one-shot programs, it requires consistent support by people who are smart, and don’t get carried away with emotion. If you take people that represent a constituency and show them Israel, they can see Israel’s education, science, medicine, and infrastructures first-hand. Once they go to Israel, it’s a different story – they come back with an actual promise to do something, and they do it in their various legislative situations. We are looking forward to being able to take more delegations again to Israel, because while 80% of the US Congress has been to Israel, only some 10% of the European legislators have visited Israel. We’ve managed to move the needle, and it remains one of our main goals. I’m very optimistic.”

I think that we all realize that we can’t convince everyone to love Israel – that’s not going to happen. But it is a question of respect, more than love. So by showing people what you’re doing, why and how, you can have their support once they see it really aligns with their own values and mutual interests. And the thing we found is that there are friends everywhere, they’re simply undereducated. Either because they simply have their own lives, or because there’s so much disinformation and exaggerations going on out there. Each country is a little bit different, but in general, there’s a more general agreement among the pro-Israel elements of what would make sense to do, and I’m very proud of the ELNET leadership and professional team across the network, who have established this pure cohesiveness of educational mission whereby we put our energy where we think we can make a real change. 

Our effort remains a challenge, to prevent people from falling back. Once this crisis goes away, most of the pro-Israel community goes back to their lives. Being Jewish is a privilege, but it’s also a strain. And no matter where you live, the issues we all face are quite similar, it is just the conditions that are different. I think more wealthy Israelis need to join this crucial effort. We’re happy to help educate about Israel, but they have to understand it’s not the Israel of 1960 anymore. In Israel of 2021 there are very wealthy, powerful Israelis buying businesses all over the world. I feel that they must acknowledge their responsibility for supporting advocacy for their country, in Europe or anywhere else. They would like to trust the governments to protect on all fronts – but a government can only do so much, due to limitations on budget and personnel. So we need wealthy Jews, in Israel, in the UK, across Europe, and in the US, to pick up some of the freight, get involved. It’s for Israel, for us all.”

Very much indeed. I have family that lives in Israel, including a grandson and his wife who live in Tel Aviv with their young twins. They went to the bomb shelters like everybody else –  and like everybody else, I worry for their safety. I’ll tell you, I’m a lucky man, my family speaks Hebrew, and they are dedicated and involved in these issues that are close to my heart. We’re all in this together.