New York is Yacht Country
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Israel’s newly arrived consul general in New York, Arye Mekel, made what he described as his first public appearance on the job yesterday. The event, sponsored by the Israel Project, a non-profit pro-Israel organization, was held on a yacht at Chelsea Piers.
At the event, The Israel Project screened television commercials featuring parents of Israeli terror victims; some of the parents were at the event on the yacht. The Israel Project said it had bought 350 cable television commercials to air in New York during the convention. The ads feature the parents of terror victims bemoaning terrorism and talking about Israel’s security fence.
The Israel Project, founded in 2002, is a newcomer to the already crowded field of American pro-Israel organizations. But it seems to be welcomed by the established groups: also in attendance at the event yesterday were the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, and the executive vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Michael Miller. The Israel Project, the other two groups, and the UJA-Federation of New York will also sponsor an event Sunday at 11 a.m at Baruch College “to pay homage to victims of terrorism and educate Republican convention-goers about Israel.”
Chelsea Piers yesterday was crowded with yachts in town for the convention; the vessel for the Israel Project event was moored behind the Forbes magazine yacht, the Highlander.