21.6.2012. 20:47 |
sa Foruma u Izraelu
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At the Israeli Presidential Conference: from Dr. Ruth to Peter Beinart
By Uriel Heilman · June 21, 2012
JERUSALEM (JTA) – What do hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Zionist critic Peter Beinart and Dr. Ruth have in common?
Titled “Facing Tomorrow,” the conference assembled leading entrepreneurs, politicians, academics and Jewish community figures from around the world, and with them a bevy of publicists, journalists and myriad other hangers-on....
It was a conference of bold-faced names without a coherent theme. Some sessions focused on Israel’s strategic threats and Jewish identity. Others were about the future of smartphones and cloud computing. A group of neuroscientists led a discussion on how machines can help the brain.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, the conference’s host, held a public work meeting with the president of Croatia.
Some of the first-timers among the 4,000 or so attendees -- an overwhelmingly but not exclusively Jewish group -- weren’t quite sure what to make of it...
Indeed, perhaps more than anything else, the conference, now in its fourth year, aspires to be a sort of Jewish Davos – a gathering where the A-listers of the Jewish world can meet, network, exchange ideas and maybe have a good time. Except unlike the exclusive Davos World Economic Forum, it’s a lot easier to get in and there’s no registration fee.
The conference is a testament to the star power and vision of Peres. Its $2.7 million price tag is paid for largely by the 88-year-old president's friends and associates, including corporate and philanthropic sponsors, and its theme is something that Israeli politicians, at least, are not known for thinking too much about: the long-term future....
The Israeli Presidential Conference is deliberately eclectic, while the Jewish world’s other major annual gatherings are focused.
The biggest Jewish conference of the year -- the springtime gathering in Washington of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which for two years running has drawn more than 10,000 people -- is about U.S.-Israel politics.
The annual General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, which a decade ago drew crowds similar to AIPAC at the time – about 3,000 – is mostly about Jewish communal service and hasn’t grown in 10 years.
The Reform movement’s biennial (6,000 attendees this year) and the annual Chabad-Lubavitch shluchim conference (4,000 attendees) are limited to specific religious denominations.
The Presidential Conference was about a lot of different things, with a heavy dose of politics and technology.
“I think it’s great to be at a conference that’s a crossroads of significant policymaking Jews from around the world with different political, religious and cultural backgrounds,” said Steven M. Cohen, director of the Berman Jewish Policy Archive at New York University’s Wagner School.
The conference is also unusual for Israel. Most presenters spoke in English, even the Israelis, and there were more suits and ties than some Israelis see in a lifetime.
Every time Peres entered a room, he was given a rousing ovation. On opening night, Peres bestowed Israel’s first-ever presidential medal on Kissinger, calling him a “brother” and hailing “the tremendous effort you made to help us on every occasion as a great statesman and as a great Jew.”...
One notable absence from the conference was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who canceled his appearance due to a leg injury suffered during a soccer game a few days earlier.
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