Lt.-Gen. (res.) Moshe “Bogey” Ya'alon will deliver the opening address at the sixth Jerusalem Conference on Monday evening, January 26. Other speakers in the three-day conference will include Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as Communications Minister Ariel Atias, Knesset Members Gilad Erdan, Avigdor Lieberman, Uri Ariel and Ophir Paz-Pines, National Union chairman Yaakov "Ketzale" Katz and other political figures.

Ya'alon, a candidate for Knesset on the Likud list, is one of the few Israelis in positions of power who came out against the 2005 evacuation of Jewish residents from Gaza, and who paid the price for his stance. His tenure as Chief of Staff was cut short and he was replaced by Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz.

The renowned expert on the Islamic world, Prof. Bernard Lewis, will be interviewed by Dan Diker at the closing plenary session Wednesday evening.

Human rights experts Anne Bayefsky, author and journalist Melanie Philips, and columnist Caroline Glick will participate in a panel Wednesday on “The UN and the International Assault on Israel.”

The Jerusalem Conference is an annual forum for the discussion of Israel's national priorities, social values, and aspirations, which hosts key figures and policy makers from Israel and around the world -- all leaders in the political, economic, academic, communal, security, military, and rabbinic spheres.

The 2009 Jerusalem Conference will focus on the "New Leadership and New Direction" that will emerge this year in Israel and the United States following the national elections in both countries.

Registration for the conference can be carried out online or by telephone at +972-2-9978026.