Jewish descendent has special fondness for Israel

Although he has never been to Israel, Leonard Iventosch plans to do so within the next few years. He'll be able to do that through business trips to the Middle East in his new position as vice president of worldwide channels at Network Appliance in Sunnyvale. The Weimar resident of almost 15 years realizes his Colfax-area acquaintances and friends might be surprised about his love for Israel. "I don't have a lot of conversations about this in the Colfax area," said Iventosch, a Sierra Express varsity club basketball team coach. "I'm usually infuriating people here with my ideas about school vouchers and charter schools. I don't usually get into Middle East politics." But Iventosch is Jewish and remains concerned that the predominantly Jewish country has fought for the right to exist ever since its formation in 1948. "I think it's a cool thing that any Jew can go live in Israel. It's been a safe haven for Jews who have been discriminated against, from Africa, from Russia and from European countries for generations," said Iventosch, referring to the Law of Return passed by the Israeli government in 1950 that allows Jews in all other countries to become a citizen.And he has family from there - his brother-in-law grew up in Tel Aviv."I think Middle East news reported in this country portrays Israel as a cruel oppressor," Iventosch said, "as opposed to Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East where people have freedom. It's difficult to get the true story of what's going on there." He suggests finding a more balanced view from multiple sources such as Commentary Magazine and the Wall Street Journal, rather than just from "your typical daily paper.""Israel has to defend a very tiny slice of land agreed upon by the United Nations where Jews could come together. Both Palestinians and Jews make claims to land that go back to Biblical times," Iventosch said. "What's painful for me, not just as a Jew but as a person, is that the Palestinians have had and have the opportunity to live side by side, have joint trades, work in each other's countries, get along with each other.""Instead, they have chosen to create a legacy of one generation after another, knowing anger, suicide and hatred, making no effort to make it work," he continued. "In all the years the U.S. has tried to broker peace plans, neither the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) nor Hamas have ever changed their charters that calls for the destruction of Israel."Both the PLO and Hamas are considered terrorist organizations by many countries.Iventosch, like countless politicians and statesmen throughout the world, doesn't have an easy answer for solving the Middle East conflict. "I believe Israel wants peace. Israelis would welcome their Arab neighbors; they'd like to trade with them, to ship products. Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in technological innovation; the Wadi Valley, they call it there," Iventosch said. "There are incredible companies, great companies incubated over there. The creativity of Israeli people is exported everywhere except to their neighbors a couple of miles away."