Over a thousand people gathered at the InterContinental New York Times Square Hotel in Manhattan Sunday for the 2022 Arutz Sheva-Israel National News Jerusalem Conference.
The first-ever Jerusalem Prize for the development of Judea and Samaria was awarded during the conference, going to the Falic family for their efforts to support Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria, including the development of tourism in the area and promotion of Israeli businesses.
The conference is slated to focus on a number of topics including efforts to secure the return of the remains of two IDF soldiers being held by Hamas; Jerusalem as a model for innovation; education challenges in the Startup Nation; obstacles to efforts aimed at bringing Diaspora Jews to Israel; the difficulties in developing Israel's periphery; and the phenomenon of Israelis who live abroad returning to Israel.
Attending the event, which coincides with New York City's annual Celebrate Israel Parade, are Israel's Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Pnina Tamano-Shata; Benjamin Regional Council chief Israel Ganz; Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan; WZO chairman and Jewish Agency interim head, Yaakov Hagoel; CEO of UJA-Federation of New York, Eric S. Goldstein; CEO of the Conference of Presidents, William C. Daroff; Founder and CEO of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass; the Mayor of Beit Shemesh Aliza Bloch; Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Minister of Housing and Construction Ze'ev Elkin; Gush Etzion Regional Council chief Shlomo Ne'eman; Yad Vashem director Dani Dayan; Israeli Consul General in New York Asaf Zamir; former White House special envoy Jason Greenblatt; chairman of the World Likud and former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon; National President of Emunah Debbie Bienenfeld; CEO of the Gush Etzion Development Company Aharoni Neubauer; CEO of Netspark Yariv Peer; chief of the Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora Roi Abecassis; Chairman of National Histadrut General Federation of Labour Yoav Simchi; Vice Chairman of the WZO and Head of Education Department Gael Grunewald; and JCRC-NY Executive Vice President and CEO Gideon Taylor.