The Jews, they are a-changin’

Half of the world’s practicing Jews live in Israel and the other half are spread around the globe – with the bulk of them in the US. In 1973, at the time of the Yom Kippur War, just one sixth of world Jewry lived in Israel.

And, as much as the Israelis sought to spearhead the ingathering, they have always been an arrogant lot about their diaspora brethren.

But that attitude is changing, and it’s changing fast and furiously. There are a number of reasons why, and a number of people who have influenced this change – and I plan to share my views on this in a weekly series of blogs.

Suffice it to say that over the past few days I have been among over 100 delegates at a “Conference for Members of Leading Jewish Media” from over 30 countries in Jerusalem. I have shared cards and engaged with over 50 of the delegates. Some I knew, most of their publications I was acquainted with, and a surprising number knew of me and of the SA Jewish Report.

I have to make a point. I can’t do anything else but to do so. And right up front too! The fact that several Israeli government Ministries have been planning this event for some time and spent millions of dollars on making it happen was not just a PR exercise. Far from it. It is symptomatic of a sea-change in the attitude of the Israeli government.

And, while it’s been a long time in coming, the time is right, the reasons for it are right and the end-game has changed completely.

For today, allow me to simply provide a list of those who have addressed this conference – not the delegates, nor the incredibly hard-working team that put it all together, just those who have spoken – because the list that follows, above all, should rock the socks off us all – to the extent that that it shows how profoundly things are a-changing.

The following list of speakers is arranged in order of appearance and not of importance:

• Nitzan Chen, Director, Government Press Office;
• President of The State of Israel Shimon Peres;
• Efi Stenzler, World Chairman, KKL-JNF;
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu;
• Shmuel Rosner, New York Times Editor and Writer;
• Henrique Cymerman, Middle East & International Affairs Expert;
• Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Week;
• Jennifer Frazer, Comments Editor, The Jewish Chronicle;
• Marshall Weiss, President, American Jewish Press Association;
• Abe Foxman, National Director, the US Anti-Defamation League;
• David Horowitz, Publisher, Times of Israel;
• Amir Halevi, Director General, Ministry of Tourism;
• Yuli Edelstein, Speaker of the Knesset;
• Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive, The Jewish Agency for Israel
• Jane Eisner, Editor-in-Chief, Forward;
• Dr Yehuda Ben Meir, The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) Fellow, Editor of INSS Insight;
• Major General (ret.) Amos Yadlin, Director, INSS;
• Dr Emily Landau, Senior INSS Fellow;
• Uri Dromi, Director General, Jerusalem Press Club;
• Barak Ravid, Diplomatic Correspondent, Haaretz;
• Joel Greenberg, Special Correspondent, McClatchy newspapers;
• Asaf Gibor, Arab Affairs Correspondent, Makor Rishon;
• Elias Zananiri, CEO, Palestine Tomorrow;
• Samer Shalabi, Chairman, FPA
• Naftali Bennett, Minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs;
• Akiva Tor, Director, Bureau of World Jewish Affairs and World Religions, MFA
• Head of Defence and Foreign Committee MK Zeev Elkin;
• Former NSC Director Uzi Dayan and Palestinian entrepreneurs;
• Major Y Kapach of the IDF Gaza Division
• Bambi Sheleg, Founder and Editor, Eretz Acheret magazine
• Prof Tamar Hermann, Israel Democracy Institute;
• Rav Yosef Carmel, Rabbinical Dean and Av Beit Din of Eretz Hemdah;
• Rebecca Caspi, Executive Director, The Jewish Federations of North America;
• Yossi Klein Halevi, Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute;
• Lisa Hostein, Executive Editor, Jewish Exponent;
• Hagay Elitzur, Senior Division Head, Ministry of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs;
• Yael Weiss Gadish, Jewish Agency Representative to the GOI-World Jewry Joint Initiative;
• Justin Korda, Executive Director, Schusterman Foundation
• Steve Linde, Editor-in-Chief, Jerusalem Post;
• Eyal Arad, President, Arad Communications;
• Yigal Palmor, Spokesman, MFA;
• Susan Fishkoff, Editor, JWeekly;
• Shlomo Malka, RJC Radio;
• Marcus Sheff, Executive Director, The Israel Project
• Calev Ben David, Senior Correspondent, Bloomberg News Jerusalem
• Uriel Heilman, Senior Correspondent, JTA;
• Elie Singer, Founder, The Jewish Channel New York;
• Jacob Kamaras, Publisher, Jewish News Service
• Brigadier General Oren Avman, Chief of the IDF Ground Division;
• The Elected President of the State of Israel Mr. Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin;
• Haviv Gur, Correspondent, Times of Israel;
• David Suissa, President, LA Jewish Journal/Tribe Media;
• Dovid Efune, Editor, Algemeiner;
• Charlotte Halle, Editor, Haaretz English Edition;
• Dan Beylsky, Head of News Desk, “Kol Israel.”

So what the heck is going on here? One heck of a lot, that’s what. It is part of a new plan for world Jewry. A plan I shall be writing about in the coming weeks just as enthusiastically as I publish the amazing things I have heard and been shown.

I have experienced so many firsts over the past few days that I could write for years and not be able to share it all. I am overwhelmed. And, as it is my chosen task to be a communicator to Jewry, what else can I do but devote many long hours in the coming weeks and months to share what I have seen, heard, and read between the lines.

And, be forewarned, to any self-identifying Jew, this is going to be a tale and a half to be be told…

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