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22.12.04, 04:30
sraeli President Unveils Plan For 'World Knesset'
By FORWARD STAFF
12/17/04
(Forward) JERUSALEM — Israel's government took its first public step last week
toward the formal creation of an international Jewish "parliament," whose
purpose would be to represent Diaspora Jews in the formation of Israeli
government policies that have potential impact on Jewish life in other countries.
The initiative was unveiled at a special Monday meeting of the Knesset's
committee for immigration and absorption, which has responsibility for
Diaspora affairs. The meeting was held at the official residence of Israel's
figurehead president, in an apparent effort to emphasize the ceremonial
significance of the initiative, and was formally introduced by the president
himself, Moshe Katzav.
The proposal for a world Jewish consultative "parliament" was initially raised
last July in a strategic policy report submitted to Prime Minister Sharon by
the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel, Israel's legally designated
liaison to the Jewish communities of the Diaspora. The 50-page report, an
executive summary of a 600-page document due out this month, reviewed
security, political, religious, cultural and economic conditions in Jewish
communities on every continent and made a host of recommendations ranging from
Internet use to summer camp staffing. Among the key proposals was the
formation of an international representative body to consult with the Israeli
government on decisions that may affect Jewish security or culture in other
countries.
The report was prepared by a newly-formed Jewish Agency think tank for global
Jewish policy, chaired by the former American diplomat Dennis Ross.
After lengthy Cabinet debate, the report was approved in July and handed by
Sharon to a top aide, Yisrael Maimon, for interministerial implementation.
This week's Knesset hearing appears to be the first formal step.
Katzav, in introducing the proposal, suggested that it be seen as a "second
house of the Knesset," to be composed of Israeli and Diaspora Jews. The goal,
he said, would be to breach the conceptual, philosophical and experiential
gaps between the two.
Hebrew University demographer Sergio DellaPergola, the principal drafter of
the Jewish Agency report, told the committee that the new institution might be
modeled on other non-binding world councils, such as the Haut Conseil de la
Francophonie, an assembly of French-speaking nations that includes former
French colonies, or the Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all'Estero, which
represents persons of Italian extraction living around the world. A primary
aim of the council, he said, would be to foster feelings of fellowship among
Jews around the world who may share ethnic origins but little else.
Katzav, however, in a clear allusion to the Jewish Agency report, said the
council would have policy goals along with cultural ones. "We in Israel do not
have the right to make decisions on our own that affect world Jewry," he said.
"Even if, God willing, 60% of Jews on earth live in Israel, we still have to
consult. That is why it is important that this house shall arise."
DellaPergola testified to the committee that some 40% of the world's Jewish
population currently resides in Israel and another 40% in the United States.
The Knesset immigration committee normally meets in the Knesset chambers and
deals mainly with immigration matters. It is chaired by Labor lawmaker Colette
Avital, a former diplomat.
Several speakers at the hearing, notably Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan
Sharansky and Hebrew University political scientist Shlomo Avineri, spoke in
sharply cautionary tones about the new body. Both argued that such an
institution might be drawn into matters properly left to Israel's sovereign
institutions, such as drafting foreign policy or delineating national borders.
Both pointed to an implicit danger in the very use of terms such as
"parliament" or "Knesset" in the title.
The original Jewish Agency report, jointly authored by DellaPergola and
retired Brigadier General Amos Gilboa, a former deputy chief of military
intelligence, appeared to advocate precisely such a policy role, however. The
report suggested that Israeli security policies can have the unintended effect
of arousing hostility toward Jewish communities among émigré Arab populations
in places such as Europe and Latin America, with occasionally violent results.
It urged that Jerusalem institute a formal, ongoing structure for consulting
with Diaspora communities.
The report also urged that the proposed body be involved in Israeli decisions
on matters such as conversion and Jewish education.
Speaking to the Forward afterward, Sharansky made clear that the new body's
structure and duties are far from settled. He endorsed Katzav's "parliament"
image, even suggesting that Diaspora Jews be inducted directly into Israel's
Knesset, but at the same time he warned against Diaspora Jewish interference
in Israeli security policy.
The urgency with which Israel sees the issue was driven home by the staff
director of the Jewish Agency think tank, Avinoam Bar Yosef, who told the
Forward that his staff had been given three months by the president to work
through the issues and present a working legislative draft.
In all, 17 speakers were invited to testify before the committee on Monday.
Nearly all lamented a sense of disconnection between Israelis and their
Diaspora cousins, and voiced hope that a sense of common Jewish purpose could
be fostered.
Retired Major General Uzi Dayan, former chief of Israel's National Security
Council and currently president of the Zionist Council in Israel, laid out a
vision whereby "Judaism is seen as more than religion or a nationality, but as
a civilization. The State of Israel has as a duty to preserve Judaism wherever
it may be, as a higher priority even than [fostering] immigration."
Dayan's Zionist council is the Israeli wing of the World Zionist Organization,
which largely controls the Jewish Agency in partnership with Diaspora Jewish
philanthropies. Dayan himself is a nephew of the late Israeli leader Moshe Dayan.
Advocating a greater bond between Israel and Jewish communities in other
countries, Dayan said: "We have more to learn from them than we know. We can't
keep looking at them as if they are OK but somehow missing something. And you
know, they also see us as not Jewish enough."
Echoing other participants, Dayan called for the participation of young
people, "aged 30 and 40," in any future dialogue on the topic.
Former justice minister Yossi Beilin, chairman of the left-wing Yahad-Meretz
party, recommended to the committee that the new body be called an asefah or
"assembly," rather than a "parliament," to avoid any risk of compromising the
rights of Israel's non-Jewish citizens. "It should be left undefined," Beilin
said, "and meet twice a year to discuss issues connected to the Jewish people."
Beilin was one of the first Israelis to propose such a world assembly of
Jewish communities, recommending in the mid-1990s the formation of a body he
tentatively called Bet Yisrael or "the House of Israel." His proposal was
never acted on, in part because it was seen as potentially competing with
established bodies such as the World Jewish Congress and the Jewish Agency
itself. It was not made clear how the current proposal would avert those
potential conflicts.
Bar Yosef, the think tank director, indicated that the complexities of
sovereignty had been discussed at length in preparing the report. "Jews'
loyalty in every place is to the state in which they live, but the Jewish
people have to have an influence on matters of transcendent importance to the
State of Israel," he told the Forward.
"We recommended that Israeli decision-makers take all the Jewish people into
account when they make decisions
