Here’s the Jerusalem Conference website.
Rechnitz is the leader of the Western division of American Friends of Likud.
From Israel Today:
A leading right-wing Israeli commentator and former Knesset member told last week’s Jerusalem Conference that Israel’s international public relations problems can be traced back to the education of self-hate today’s Israeli youth receive.
Joining a panel dealing with Israel’s current public relations efforts, Elyakim HaEtzni told the gathering that starting in grade school, Israel children are taught to believe that they must figure out how they have angered the world, and in particular the Muslim Middle East, and what Israel can do to appease that anger.
HaEtzni noted that Israelis today grow up unaware of the Jewish state’s legal international rights because schools no longer teach them that modern Israel was sanctioned by international law, which granted the Jews far more land than they today exercise sovereignty over.
Instead, young Israelis are taught to believe that they have occupied the national homeland of another people, and that while Israel should continue to exist, it must make compromises to appease unsubstantiated Arab claims.
Approaching the issue from a more biblical perspective, Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi told the gatheirng that the root of the problem of Israel being unable to effectively defend itself on the international stage lies in the fact that "Jewish national existence is not founded on a connection with God, or with Torah, or with the commandment to settle the Land."
(IsraelNN.com) Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of the American Center for Democracy, said at the Jerusalem Conference Tuesday that Saudi Arabian bankers are the main financiers of global terrorism.
Corrupt “Sharia financing” banking practices – legal under Islamic law – are a fairly new phenomenon, Ehrenfeld said. They were first developed by the Muslim brotherhood in the 70s, following the financial power gained by Saudis during the oil boom.
Ehrenfeld at Jerusalem Conference video click here.
I visited and reviewed an official website of the Jerusalem Conference which took place this week. The only thought that came to mind was "What a waste!" The waste of time, human and financial resources and the waste of opportunity to set the agenda for reaching a Jewish National Goal and uniting Jews and our true friends around the world behind it.
The site stated: "The Jerusalem Conference openly deliberates core issues that will determine Israel’s future as a viable modern democratic Jewish State. The Jerusalem Conference provides a broad public forum for diverse viewpoints to freely discuss issues of national importance.
Topics range from national affairs and security to social welfare and economics, from Jewish education to Aliyah, Israel as a Jewish State to its functional relationship with its neighbours and nations of the world."
Very fine words, but only words!
While I was reading an itinerary of the conference, I recalled the conversation between Alice and scarecrow in "Alice in Wonderland". She asked him which road to take, but did not know where she was going. His answer was: "Take any, it will get you there!" For many years, the leadership of the Jewish people has lost the vision of the modern Zionist pioneers and, unfortunately, has been pushing Israel toward self-destruction!
The Jerusalem Conference discussed wide range of topics: Strategic Threat from Iran, Syria, Lebanon & Gaza; Importance of Aliya, Jewish migration to Israel; Israel’s and the World’s Economy; even the possibility of the World War III was discussed. Arab terrorism, the Palestinian Media and Education, The Winograd Commission, the new wave of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel Media bias also were mentioned.
I was surprised that one subject, which has been completely neglected and even sabotaged by governments of Israel for decades, was correctly defined: "Hasbara: Just Confused or Deliberately Non-Existent?"
Nobody booed Tzipi Livni or left in protest when the foreign minister of Israel told participants that she talks with Palestinians with "tears of paratroopers at the Western Wall" in her mind. "Time is not on Israel’s side, and we will eventually have to concede parts of the country" she said. I wonder, were they crocodile tears? It is her government which, by exhibiting a total lack of self-respect and an absence of any determination to pursue the Jewish National Goal, has made."
