For Immediate Release:                                                    Contact: Phylis Shafran: 646-638-8501;
March 20, 2017                                                                                                    347-947-0102

James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Noa Rothman, Rabin's Granddaughter among the notable guests

The American Friends of the Yitzhak Rabin Center (AFYRC) honored Gregory Floyd, President of Teamsters Local 237, a union of 24,000 New York City and Long Island public employees, on March 19th with the 2014 Yitzhak Rabin Leadership and Public Service Award. AFYRC is a non-profit organization supporting the mission of The Yitzhak Rabin Center, an Israeli national institute dedicated to the late Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and honorary dinner chairman, presented the award to Floyd at the reception held in The Museum of the Moving Image. Rabin's granddaughter, Noa Rothman, Israeli TV host and creator/scriptwriter of popular HOT Cable television series, "The Prime Minister's Children," brought greetings on behalf of the Yitzhak Rabin Center following an emotional video of the Rabin funeral which included speeches by President Bill Clinton and P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat.

In his remarks, Floyd said that he toured Israel as the guest of the Jewish Community Relations Council and "on that tour, I saw, first-hand, the struggles of average Israelis trying to keep the Middle East's sole bastion of democracy safe. It did not take long for me to realize that Israel is a land of many contrasts: the birthplace of three religions, a land of visual beauty and a safe haven for the Jewish people, who endured a mad man's attempt to annihilate them. Yet, Israel is also a place where the threat of war is constant and your neighbor might also be your enemy. And, when we visited the Yitzhak Rabin Center, the contrasts grew even greater." He added: "The Center is dedicated to promoting tolerance and goodwill. It is named after a national hero, assassinated at a peace rally! And here we are tonight. A mix of contrasts too. People from labor, business, and government. Blacks, whites, Jews and gentiles, gathered in the borough of Queens, 5,703 miles away from Israel but, just 5 miles from where the vote to recognize the state of Israel took place in May of 1948. Yes, we are all very different, yet we are all very much the same. We all want peace in our lifetime. We all want our children and grandchildren to be free from the horrors of war. AFYRC and peace in Israel are intertwined. Your support goes a long way toward keeping the Yitzhak Rabin Center a place for conversation, education, and understanding. These are the ingredients that keep the hope for peace and the promise for democracy alive."

Among the more than 200 guests were Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Letitia James, former U.S. Senator Alphonse D'Amato and US Congressman Charles Rangel.

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