FROM THE AVI PRESIDENT Whereas the AVI Board has for many years been relaxed on dues compliance, this will no longer be possible in the future.  A  review  of  the  numbers  re- ported in the newly released Income and Expense Report clearly shows that our income shortfall is driving us to- ward  a  deficit  in  our  treasury.    This poses a threat to the continuation of our activities, including the publica- tion of this newsletter. We are contacting members in arrears with second reminder notices and will suspend the mailing of the newsletter to those not responding. The Board is also  considering  other  measures  to solve the problem and keep our activi- ties intact. But first and foremost, I ask each  AVI  member  to  share  the  load and not count on those who are remit- ting dues to pick up the slack.  Those who have not paid their $25 annual dues are asked to respond immediately. Those who experience hardships will be exempt once they tell us in full con- fidence. The  many  chaverim  who  have  paid their  dues,  (even  exceeding  the amount billed), year after year, deserve full recognition of their dedication and accolades for  keeping  AVI  alive  and well.  Our  fellowship  is  important  in keeping alive the legacy of our contri- bution  to  the  creation  of  the  Jewish State  and  in the  commemoration  of our fallen. Si Spiegelman AMERICAN VETERANS OF ISRAEL VOLUNTEERS IN ISRAEL’S WAR OF INDEPENDENCE UNITED STATES & CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS 136 East 39th St., New York, N.Y. 10016 SUMMER 2001 REPORTS FROM THE REGIONS NEW YORK Memorial The  35^th  Annual  Col.  David  ‘Mickey” Marcus  Memorial  was  held  on  Mother’s Day this year.  Our original date was May 20^th but an unexpected change in the Sa- lute to Israel Parade schedule, from May 13^th to May 20^th, made it necessary for AVI to change the Marcus date and still be able to participate in the Parade.  Fortunately, continued on Page 2 SOLIDARITY UNDER FIRE Since the resumption of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, the intifada, tourism to Israel has de- clined. Individual Jews from America and else- where as well as non-Jewish tourists (with the notable exception of American evangelicals who see Israel as preparing the way for the Second Coming, have been deferring their planned vis- its. Some Jews group tours were cancelled. No- table among these was a planned summer study tour sponsored by the American Reform move- ment and several delegations of athletes slated to attend  the  Maccabiah  games.  Several  Israeli groups, including the Israel branch of Reform Judaism, were outraged about what they saw as a lack of support in these trying times. This bit- ter reaction was reported in the New York Times. The AVI then sent the following letter to the edi- tor to the Times. It was published on the edito- rial page on June 14. To the editor: Regarding the report “Israelis Angry...” (NYT June 11, A6) we support the sentiments of the Israeli leadership. The American Veterans of Israel consists of men and women, Jews and non-Jews, who volunteered to serve in Israel’s defense in its War of Independence in 1948 and who sailed the DP ships that ran the Brit- ish blockade in the years before that. We have ON AUTHENTICATING MILITARY SERVICE… From time to time disputes arise among our members  regarding  a  battle  or  aliya  bet experience.  Less  frequently  a  question  is raised as to whether some particular indi- vidual was even a participant. Memory, of course, plays tricks on all of us. Recently, a renowned historian was accused on claim- ing he fought in Viet Nam while the evi- dence argued that he never left the United States during the relevant period. On June 22, the New York Times ran an op-ed by Edmund Morris reflecting on the general question of autobiographical memory. Tak- ing this article as a jumping-off point, the Newsletter editor asked several AVI mem- bers to think about the relevance of Mor- ris’ thinking to our own discussions. Here an abbreviated copy of the Morris article is followed by comment by David Kaplan, Eddy Kaplansky and Ralph Lowenstein and Sam Kafka. Just Our Imaginations, Running Away By EDMUND MORRIS Having been chastised by the eminent his- torian  Joseph  Ellis  for  fictionalizing  the story of my life in “Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan,”  I  suppose  I  should  feel some satisfaction at the news that he has fictionalized his  own.  Actually,  I  feel  no joy in Professor Ellis’s discomfiture, only a profound sense of unsurprise. Well, of course he’s woven the fabric of his life partly out of  whole cloth and partly out  of the shot silk of fantasy. Don’t we all? Can any of us  gaze into the bathroom  mirror  and whisper, “I never made anything up”? All human communication, outside of the driest  exchanges  of  statistical  and other continued on Page 5 continued on Page 9