Some 500 delegates from the World Zionist Congress will take a bus to Ben Gurion International Airport today, where they will greet 360 new immigrants arriving in Israel. The new olim will be arriving mostly from Argentina, Russia, and France. Many other delegates, also numbering in the hundreds, will visit victims of yesterday’s terror attack in Jerusalem hospitals. This evening, hundreds of delegates will give blood at a specially set-up Magen David Adom center at Binyanei HaUmah (Jerusalem Congress Center) for victims of terrorism.
Prof. Aharon Barak, Israel\'s Chief Justice, told the Congress yesterday that the principle of equality of Jew and Arab is the embodiment of the Zionist ideal. “The claim has been voiced that imposing the principle of equality amongst Jews and Arabs is the end of Zionism or that it is an expression of post-Zionism. There is nothing more erroneous than such a claim. Zionism is not based on discrimination between Jew and Arab.” Justice Barak, speaking to a session devoted to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, said that his Supreme Court\'s controversial ruling forcing Jewish communities to allocate land to Arab citizens who wish to live there \"is not anti- or post-Zionist. It is a Zionist ruling in the true sense of the term. It is the embodiment of Zionism, which seeks to see Israel as the National Home of the Jewish People, between whose walls exists complete equality of all its residents.”
Barak\'s speech was frequently interrupted by boos and catcalls - possibly because Arab MK Azmi Bishara proposed only a few days ago that areas of the Galilee become an Arab autonomy. Several delegates finally got up and yelled that Barak\'s ideas would be destructive of the Zionist enterprise. Justice Barak completed his speech, but left immediately afterwards.
The Chairman of the Druze Zionist Council, Yusuf Nasser Adin, called upon the Congress delegates to make aliyah [immigration to Israel]. \"Our demographic situation is difficult, and you should come to Israel for the Third Temple of the Jewish Nation,\" he told the cheering crowd.
Prof. Aharon Barak, Israel\'s Chief Justice, told the Congress yesterday that the principle of equality of Jew and Arab is the embodiment of the Zionist ideal. “The claim has been voiced that imposing the principle of equality amongst Jews and Arabs is the end of Zionism or that it is an expression of post-Zionism. There is nothing more erroneous than such a claim. Zionism is not based on discrimination between Jew and Arab.” Justice Barak, speaking to a session devoted to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, said that his Supreme Court\'s controversial ruling forcing Jewish communities to allocate land to Arab citizens who wish to live there \"is not anti- or post-Zionist. It is a Zionist ruling in the true sense of the term. It is the embodiment of Zionism, which seeks to see Israel as the National Home of the Jewish People, between whose walls exists complete equality of all its residents.”
Barak\'s speech was frequently interrupted by boos and catcalls - possibly because Arab MK Azmi Bishara proposed only a few days ago that areas of the Galilee become an Arab autonomy. Several delegates finally got up and yelled that Barak\'s ideas would be destructive of the Zionist enterprise. Justice Barak completed his speech, but left immediately afterwards.
The Chairman of the Druze Zionist Council, Yusuf Nasser Adin, called upon the Congress delegates to make aliyah [immigration to Israel]. \"Our demographic situation is difficult, and you should come to Israel for the Third Temple of the Jewish Nation,\" he told the cheering crowd.