Herzog Announces Global Jewish Dialogue Initiative

Israeli President Isaac Herzog launched a global council for Jewish dialogue Sunday night in his address to the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly, which met in Tel Aviv to celebrate Israel’s 75th Independence Day.

This council will reflect the full and diverse range of Jewish voices, like a “global Beit Midrash” or a “Jewish Davos.” Herzog said that the initiative, titled “Kol Ha’am—Voice of the People: The President’s Initiative for Worldwide Jewish Dialogue,” will be nonpartisan and apolitical.

(Courtesy Jewish Federations of North America)

Herzog acknowledged that the gaps between Jewish communities were growing wider, with an inability to discuss essential questions. Growing numbers of Jews, he said, were choosing stricter affiliations, or no affiliations at all.

Jewish Agency chairman Doron Almog also commented on the deepening rift between Diaspora Jews and Israel, saying that recent events “emphasized how robust Israeli democracy is.” The rift has been caused by several issues in recent months, such as proposed changes to Israel’s Law of Return, which gives members of the worldwide Jewish Diaspora special immigration rights to Israel, and the Netanyahu government’s proposed, controversial overhaul of the Israeli judicial system.

Israelis and Americans join together in calls for democracy and against the government’s planned judicial overhaul outside of the Tel Aviv Expo grounds where the General Assembly met, April 23, 2023. (The Media Line)

Herzog said he believed that the initiative would provide a place for serious, sensitive, and strategic discussions on the most complex and pressing issues facing Jewish people worldwide. It would also cultivate the next generation of Jewish leaders.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had been scheduled to speak at the event but canceled his appearance, apparently due to the large number of protesters who planned to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with his leadership outside of the event.

Jewish Federations of North America chair Julie Platt, mentioned the mass protests against the government’s judicial overhaul in Israel in the past three months, saying: “We hear you, we see you and we’re inspired.”

Outside the General Assembly meeting, the Media Line’s Felice Friedson spoke with a prominent demonstrator, the former director of the National Council of Jewish Women and former Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council head Nancy Kaufman. Kaufman described herself as a “progressive feminist Zionist who loves Israel and believes in democracy.” She said called the government’s judicial reform plan a “boosha,” using the Hebrew word for “shame” that American Jews like herself would not tolerate it.