The Final Session of the Conference

October 23rd 2009 (Sorry about the quality of the pictures)
This evenings closing session was so incredible and so intense, that it needed its own post.
The Session was Called "Israel 2020- The Visions of Our Leaders" The idea was to have these leaders share their vision for Israel in 2020.
Nir Barkat- Mayor of Jerusalem, Who spoke earlier that day was the moderator.
Natan Sharanski- Chairman of the Executive Jewish Agency for IsraelEhud Barak- Vice Prime Minster, Chairman of the Labor Party (Left Wing Political Party)

Ehud Barak

Eli Yishai- Vice Prime Minister, Chairman of the Shas Party (Religious Political Party)
Eli Yeshai

Tzipi Livni- Chairperson of the Opposition, Chairperson of the Kadima Party (Centralist Political Party)
Tzipi Livni

Israel Maimon- Chairman of the Conference Committee- I don't really remember him speaking

Shimon Peres- President of Israel.
Shimon Peres

Barak, Yeshai and Livni were the three who spoke the most. Barkat and Sharanski each said something at the beginning but it paled in comparison to the discussion between the three political party leaders, so I'm going to skip over it.
Each of the three Barak, Yeshai and Livni were originally given ten minutes to talk about their vision. Then they were asked a question and had three minutes to respond. The another question and they had thirty seconds to respond. And oh my it got heated!
Livni said there are to options for the future. The first is to fulfill the vision of Israel. To have a fully recognized Jewish State that is secure and safe. She recognized that in order to achieve this goal some land may have to be given up to the Palestinians so they can have a Palestinian State as well. The second option was for their to be one state, where Israel currently exists, and while Jewish people would live there it would not be Jewish State and Jews would not be the majority. She wants to see the first option actualized, and doesn't believe that the second should even need to come to fruition. She also made a commentary towards how elections in Israel work, and how the political system needs changing. She said that the Prime Minster should be elected the people, thus so that the people can elect the majority party, and thus government will not have to give into the small factions. (She had run in the last election and was beat out by small political parties gaining too much power). Livni says that the small political parties do not deserve the amount of power they currently have in the current government structure.
Yeshai- If you do not know, Yeshai's political party is one of those small political parties Livni was referencing. Yeshai began by commending the amount of creativity and culture in the country. He then went on to address the conflict between Jews and Muslims. He said that Israel and the Israeli government has to stop blaming itself for how badly peace negotiations are going with the Palestinians. Israel has already made tons of concessions, and it is now the Palestinian's turn. He also criticized the Goldstone report, saying how dare they criticize Israel look how Israel has not retaliated against Hamas's rockets, look how committed to Peace we are. He closed this portion of his speech by saying the strength of the Jewish people is our unity.
Barak- Spoke about how everything derives from peace. How right now, one hand is on the gun as preparation for attacks and the other hand is reaching out towards peace (although I did not catch if he thought this was how things should be or what they need to change from). He spoke about the quality of life in Israel, and about how young people from all over choose to live here, when they could live anywhere else in the world. He says everyone deserves the chance for a fulfilled life in Israel, and how the State of Israel must continue to exist so everyone throughout history (Holocaust, past soldiers fighting for the establishment of the State of Israel )did not die in vain. He said in order to found a Palestinian State that will coexist side by side with the State of Israel concessions need to be made.
-Here comes the interesting part of the the discussion.....
The Reform of the Political System in Israel
Question From Moderator: What reform do you think the Political System needs?
Barak-Wants a two party system
Livni- Citizens need to be directly elect leaders thus not allowing small parties to reign. This will allow the majority party to make decisions that will reflect the majority of interests of the people of Israel and eliminate the need to haggle and compromise with the small factions.
Yeshai- Doesn't oppose change, he just doesn't know what type of change is necessary. He wants to preserve the status quo between religion and politics, or in other words, wants the system to remain as is right now because his super religious party has a lot power right now.
-sounded a little like the health care debate: everyone agrees that change needs to happen, but no one has a solution that will appease everyone.

Question asked by moderator: Do you think its time that one of the two chief rabbis of Israel is conservative or reform? Which led into, what do you think the role of Jews in the Diaspora is?
Yeshai- Reform Jews in the Diaspora are becoming assimilated, and are no longer Jewish because they don't follow the Torah to a T. The role of Jewish people in the Diaspora is to move to Israel and become religious. And if that doesn't happen Judaism around the world is going to be lost. Used Reform Jewish Movement in the United States as an example and how they are all almost completely assimilated, and have lost "the Jewish identity" (at this point he was booed very loudly)
Barak- Assimilation is important and more than that okay. Successful Jewish communities have lasted where assimilation has occurred. Open mindedness is important is important. He said there is more than one way to express one's Jewishness, he pointed out how there are Jews in the diaspora who know the texts just as well or better than the people in Israel.
Lvini- Is assimilation is happening everywhere, eventually it is going to happen in Israel as well. To speak Hebrew and to go into the Army does not make someone Jewish, it makes them Israeli, and there is a difference between being Israeli and being Jewish. To be Jewish means a connection to the faith and the culture. Not to necessarily be overly observant and follow the Torah to a T. She pointed out how the Israeli youth is becoming increasingly detached and what needs to be done is to determine some characteristics of what it means to be Jewish, and and find something that unites them.
Yeshai- If you start to compromise the "standards of Judaism" and break the rules then it is double assimilation.
Barak- If someone is willing to risk their lives for Israel then they are a Jewish, even if their mother is not Jewish.
The final word on this subject was Barak quoting Golda Meir- "Whoever wants to be a Jew deserves it".
My recount of this session is not nearly close enough to how intense and fantastic it was. There was enormous amounts of tension between all three panel speakers, and so many confrontational things said that it was just incredible.
Peres closed the night by thanking everyone for attending the conference.
On our way out back to the bus to go back to Beit Schmuel we met Natan Sharanski and Dr. Ruth