JERUSALEM CONFERENCE
The Annual National-Economic Conference of the B’Sheva Newspaper
__________________________________________________________________
“Determining Israel’s National Agenda for the Next Generation”
Time: Monday – Wednesday, March 15 – 17, 2004
Place: The Jerusalem Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Agenda: Conference participants will deliberate for three days on the key issues and values that will comprise Israel’s national priorities and goals for the next generation.
Sponsors: Primary sponsor is the Israeli weekly “B’Sheva”, Israel’s third largest circulation newspaper. Secondary sponsors include the Jerusalem Municipality, The Jewish Agency, Ministries of Housing & Construction, Labor & Welfare, and sportation, leading institutions of higher learning think tanks (Tel Aviv Univ. Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan Univ.’s Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies and Rappaport Center for Preventing Assimilation, Touro College, Jerusalem College of Technology, Center for Jewish Values (NY), Keren Moreshet), El Al Israel Airlines, Microsoft (Israel), Hewlett Packard (Israel), Ace (Israel), Coca Cola (Israel), Middlegate Securities (NY), Makefet Pension Fund, and Bank Tefahot, and others.
SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS AND PARTICIPANTS
Monday, March 15th
Opening Assembly: 10:30 AM
11:00 AM - Opening D’var Torah: former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau
Opening Remarks: Mayor of Jerusalem Hon. Uri Lupoliansky
11:15 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 1: The Strategic Threat Against Israel in the post-Iraq Middle East
Participants:
Prof. Shai Feldman (Director, Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University), Chairman
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Uzi Landau
MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor Party, Brig.-Gen. (res.))
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Aharon Levran (former Head of IDF Intelligence, Research Div.)
Col. (res.) Yoash Tziddon-Chatto (former Senior IAF pilot, for. MK)
Ehud Ya’ari (Arab Affairs Analyst/Commentator, Israel TV Channel 2)
Dr. Gal Luft (Executive Director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, Washington, DC).
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 2: Israel and the Arabs of Eretz Israel
Participants:
Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry Michael Ratzon, Chairman
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed (Chief Rabbi of Beit El, Rosh Yeshivat Beit El)
MK Matan Vilnai (Labor Party, Major General (res.))
Rabbi Chanan Porat (former MK, Educator & Settlement Leader)
Yossi Alpher (Tel Aviv University)
Dr. Yuval Arnon-Ohana (Senior Lecturer, College of Judea & Samaria)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 3: Is Aliyah & Jewish Birthrate Still a National Priority?
(In cooperation with The Jewish Agency)
Participants:
Amos Hermon (Chairman, Education Dept., The Jewish Agency), Chairman
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed (Rabbi of Har Bracha & Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Har-Bracha)
Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud, for. Minister of Absorption)
Rabbi Menachem Burstein (Director, Puah Institute for Fertility & Medicine)
Michael Freund (Director of Amishav Organization for Aliyah/Absorption of 10 “Lost Tribes”)
Dr. Eli Schusheim (Director, Agudat Efrat – organization encouraging Jewish birth)
Prof. Ezra Sohar, M.D. (environmentalist & economist, author of 8 books)
Prof. Sergio Della Pergola (demographer, Hebrew University)
7:30 – 9:30 PM
Session 4: Disengagment Plan: Legitimate Policy or Transfer of Jews
Participants:
Mayor of Ariel, Hon. Ron Nachman, Chairman
MK Gila Gamliel (Likud Party)
MK Prof. Yuli Tamir (Labor Party)
Dr. Alon Leiel (for. Director-General, Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D. (National Union party, for. IDF Chief Medical Officer)
Elyamkim HaEtzni, Esq. (Attorney at Law, for. MK)
Noam Arnon (Hevron Jewish Community spokesman)
TUESDAY MARCH 16
9:15 – 9:30 AM
Opening D’var Torah: Chief Rabbi of the IDF, Brigadier-General Rabbi Yisrael Weiss
9:30 – 11:15 AM
Session 5: Israeli Society Under Constant Conflict (Public Opinion, Media, Psychology)
(In cooperation with Touro College)
Participants:
Major-General (res.) Yaakov Amidror, (for. Commander, National War College), Chairman
Minister of Transportation Avigdor Lieberman
MK Uri Ariel (National Union)
Dr. Reuven Gal (for. Dep.Director, National Security Council)
Amos Schocken (Publisher, Haaretz)
Amnon Lord (Editor, Makor Rishon)
Caroline Glick (Columnist, The Jerusalem Post)
11:45 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 6: From Economic Crisis to Economic Growth
Participants:
Prof. Marcel Sarnat (Dean, Kiryat Ono Academic Campus), Chairman
Chaim Freilichman, (Director-General, Bank Tefahot),
MK Nissan Slomiansky (NRP)
Prof. Aryeh Hillman (Prof. Economics, Bar-Ilan University)
Anne Korin (Dir. of Policy & Strategic Planning, IAGS / Editor, Energy Security)
Rav Yuval Cherlow (Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva)
Gilad Rabinowitz (Chairman, Ace Corp.)
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 7: From Economic Growth to Social Stability
Participants:
Minister of Labor & Welfare Zevulun Orlev, Chairman
Prof. Yaakov Kopp (Public Policy, Ben Gurion University in the Negev)
Dr. Yigal Ben-Shalom (Director-General, Israel National Insurance)
Mayor of Maalot, Hon. Shlomo Buchbut
David Zilbershlag (Chairman, Mifal Chaim, & Haredi Media Consultant)
Moshe Habba (Chairman, Makefet Pension Fund)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 8: Hi-Tech: Israel’s Economic Locomotive
(In cooperation with the Jerusalem College of Technology)
Participants:
Prof. Yosef Bodenheimer (President, Jerusalem College of Technology), Chairman
Dr. Orna Bari (for. Chief Scientist, Ministry of Trade & Industry)
Andrew J. Neff (Senior Managing Director, Bear, Stearns, New York)
Yisrael Frieder (Managing Director, Karden Communications)
Yosef Tzuria (Deputy Managing Director, NDS Corp.)
Zohar Zisapel (Chairman, Radvision of the RAD Group)
5:00 – 7:15 PM
Session 8-2: Jewish Ethical Perspectives in Determining Economic Policy & the National Annual Budget
(In cooperation with the Keter Institute for Economics According to the Torah)
Participants:
Part I. Part II.
Rabbi Yitzhak Bazak Rabbi Shlomo Ishon
Prof. Yochanan Schtessman Prof. Ben-Zion Zilberfarb
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky
Evening Addresses:
7:45 PM - Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom
WEDNESDAY MARCH 17
9:15 – 11:15 AM
Session 9: Anti-Semitism, Assimilation and Jewish Survival
(In cooperation w/ The Jewish Agency and Bar-Ilan University’s Rappaport Center)
Participants:
Minister of Immigrant Absorption Tzippy Livni, Chairperson
Prof. Yehezkel Dror (Institute of Policy for Jewish Existence)
Ambassador Yitzchak Meir
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
Dr. Laurence Weinbaum
Dr. Avi Becker
Dr. Tzvi Zohar
11:45 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 10: Israel-US Relations
Participants:
Ambassador Zalman Shoval, Chairman
Prof. Talya Einhorn (Tel Aviv University)
Jeffrey H. Ballabon (VP for Public Policy, Primedia Corp.)
Dr. Rand Fishbein (Director, Fishbein Associates, Washington, DC)
Hon. Yoram Ettinger (for. Israel Embassy Liaison to Congress)
Prof. Aryeh Hillman (Economics, Bar-Ilan Univ., for. Economic Advisor to the PM)
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 11: Is Jewish-Zionist Education in Crisis?
Participants:
Deputy Minister of Education Tzvi Hendel, Chairman
Colonel (res.) Moshe Leshem (Chairman, Gamla Shall Not Fall Again)
Dr. Tzvi Tzameret (Director, Yad Ben-Tzvi Institute)
Alan Hoffman (Dir. Education Dept., The Jewish Agency)
MK Gila Finkelstein (NRP, former Principal of Zeitlin High School, Tel Aviv)
Dr. Shlomo Kalish (Founding Partner, Jerusalem Global Ventures)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 12: The Struggle for Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and National Character
(In cooperation w/ the Jerusalem Municipality & Bar-Ilan University’s Rennert Center)
Participants:
Uzi Baram (for. MK & Minister – Labor Party), Chairman
MK Rabbi Meir Porush (Torah Judaism Party, for. Dep. Minister of Housing)
Uri Sheetrit (Chief City Engineer, Jerusalem Municipality)
Hon. Dan Halprin (Director, Iptik Business Consulting Corp.)
Yisrael Har'el (Fellow at the Hartmann Institute, Jerusalem, Ha'aretz columnist, former Yesha Council head)
Prof Yehoshua Schwartz (Rennert Center on Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University)
Motti Tepperberg (CEO & Owner, Efrat Wineries)
7:00 – 8:20 PM & 8:40 – 10:00 PM
Closing Sessions 13 & 14: Torah Study & Jewish Tradition as a Foundation for
National & Cultural Values in Israeli Society
(In cooperation with the Center for Jewish Values, New York)
Participants:
Session 13: 7:00 – 8:20 PM
For. Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rishon Lezion Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron
Prof. Rabbi Moshe Sokol (Touro College, New York)
Rabbi Shalom Gold (Rabbi, Kehilat Zichron Yosef, Jerusalem)
Benny Gal (CEO, Gal Communications)
Session 14: 8:40 – 10:00 PM
Rabbi Mordechai Elon (Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Hakotel, Jerusalem)
Rav Mordechai Noigershal (Director, “Judaism From a Different Angle”)
Prof. Shalom Rosenberg (Philosophy, Hebrew University & Touro College)
Emanuel Shilo (Editor, B’Sheva Newspaper)
The Annual National-Economic Conference of the B’Sheva Newspaper
__________________________________________________________________
“Determining Israel’s National Agenda for the Next Generation”
Time: Monday – Wednesday, March 15 – 17, 2004
Place: The Jerusalem Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Agenda: Conference participants will deliberate for three days on the key issues and values that will comprise Israel’s national priorities and goals for the next generation.
Sponsors: Primary sponsor is the Israeli weekly “B’Sheva”, Israel’s third largest circulation newspaper. Secondary sponsors include the Jerusalem Municipality, The Jewish Agency, Ministries of Housing & Construction, Labor & Welfare, and sportation, leading institutions of higher learning think tanks (Tel Aviv Univ. Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Bar-Ilan Univ.’s Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies and Rappaport Center for Preventing Assimilation, Touro College, Jerusalem College of Technology, Center for Jewish Values (NY), Keren Moreshet), El Al Israel Airlines, Microsoft (Israel), Hewlett Packard (Israel), Ace (Israel), Coca Cola (Israel), Middlegate Securities (NY), Makefet Pension Fund, and Bank Tefahot, and others.
SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS AND PARTICIPANTS
Monday, March 15th
Opening Assembly: 10:30 AM
11:00 AM - Opening D’var Torah: former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau
Opening Remarks: Mayor of Jerusalem Hon. Uri Lupoliansky
11:15 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 1: The Strategic Threat Against Israel in the post-Iraq Middle East
Participants:
Prof. Shai Feldman (Director, Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University), Chairman
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Uzi Landau
MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor Party, Brig.-Gen. (res.))
Brig.-Gen. (res.) Aharon Levran (former Head of IDF Intelligence, Research Div.)
Col. (res.) Yoash Tziddon-Chatto (former Senior IAF pilot, for. MK)
Ehud Ya’ari (Arab Affairs Analyst/Commentator, Israel TV Channel 2)
Dr. Gal Luft (Executive Director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, Washington, DC).
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 2: Israel and the Arabs of Eretz Israel
Participants:
Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry Michael Ratzon, Chairman
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed (Chief Rabbi of Beit El, Rosh Yeshivat Beit El)
MK Matan Vilnai (Labor Party, Major General (res.))
Rabbi Chanan Porat (former MK, Educator & Settlement Leader)
Yossi Alpher (Tel Aviv University)
Dr. Yuval Arnon-Ohana (Senior Lecturer, College of Judea & Samaria)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 3: Is Aliyah & Jewish Birthrate Still a National Priority?
(In cooperation with The Jewish Agency)
Participants:
Amos Hermon (Chairman, Education Dept., The Jewish Agency), Chairman
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed (Rabbi of Har Bracha & Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Har-Bracha)
Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud, for. Minister of Absorption)
Rabbi Menachem Burstein (Director, Puah Institute for Fertility & Medicine)
Michael Freund (Director of Amishav Organization for Aliyah/Absorption of 10 “Lost Tribes”)
Dr. Eli Schusheim (Director, Agudat Efrat – organization encouraging Jewish birth)
Prof. Ezra Sohar, M.D. (environmentalist & economist, author of 8 books)
Prof. Sergio Della Pergola (demographer, Hebrew University)
7:30 – 9:30 PM
Session 4: Disengagment Plan: Legitimate Policy or Transfer of Jews
Participants:
Mayor of Ariel, Hon. Ron Nachman, Chairman
MK Gila Gamliel (Likud Party)
MK Prof. Yuli Tamir (Labor Party)
Dr. Alon Leiel (for. Director-General, Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad, M.D. (National Union party, for. IDF Chief Medical Officer)
Elyamkim HaEtzni, Esq. (Attorney at Law, for. MK)
Noam Arnon (Hevron Jewish Community spokesman)
TUESDAY MARCH 16
9:15 – 9:30 AM
Opening D’var Torah: Chief Rabbi of the IDF, Brigadier-General Rabbi Yisrael Weiss
9:30 – 11:15 AM
Session 5: Israeli Society Under Constant Conflict (Public Opinion, Media, Psychology)
(In cooperation with Touro College)
Participants:
Major-General (res.) Yaakov Amidror, (for. Commander, National War College), Chairman
Minister of Transportation Avigdor Lieberman
MK Uri Ariel (National Union)
Dr. Reuven Gal (for. Dep.Director, National Security Council)
Amos Schocken (Publisher, Haaretz)
Amnon Lord (Editor, Makor Rishon)
Caroline Glick (Columnist, The Jerusalem Post)
11:45 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 6: From Economic Crisis to Economic Growth
Participants:
Prof. Marcel Sarnat (Dean, Kiryat Ono Academic Campus), Chairman
Chaim Freilichman, (Director-General, Bank Tefahot),
MK Nissan Slomiansky (NRP)
Prof. Aryeh Hillman (Prof. Economics, Bar-Ilan University)
Anne Korin (Dir. of Policy & Strategic Planning, IAGS / Editor, Energy Security)
Rav Yuval Cherlow (Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva)
Gilad Rabinowitz (Chairman, Ace Corp.)
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 7: From Economic Growth to Social Stability
Participants:
Minister of Labor & Welfare Zevulun Orlev, Chairman
Prof. Yaakov Kopp (Public Policy, Ben Gurion University in the Negev)
Dr. Yigal Ben-Shalom (Director-General, Israel National Insurance)
Mayor of Maalot, Hon. Shlomo Buchbut
David Zilbershlag (Chairman, Mifal Chaim, & Haredi Media Consultant)
Moshe Habba (Chairman, Makefet Pension Fund)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 8: Hi-Tech: Israel’s Economic Locomotive
(In cooperation with the Jerusalem College of Technology)
Participants:
Prof. Yosef Bodenheimer (President, Jerusalem College of Technology), Chairman
Dr. Orna Bari (for. Chief Scientist, Ministry of Trade & Industry)
Andrew J. Neff (Senior Managing Director, Bear, Stearns, New York)
Yisrael Frieder (Managing Director, Karden Communications)
Yosef Tzuria (Deputy Managing Director, NDS Corp.)
Zohar Zisapel (Chairman, Radvision of the RAD Group)
5:00 – 7:15 PM
Session 8-2: Jewish Ethical Perspectives in Determining Economic Policy & the National Annual Budget
(In cooperation with the Keter Institute for Economics According to the Torah)
Participants:
Part I. Part II.
Rabbi Yitzhak Bazak Rabbi Shlomo Ishon
Prof. Yochanan Schtessman Prof. Ben-Zion Zilberfarb
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel Rabbi Shlomo Dichovsky
Evening Addresses:
7:45 PM - Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom
WEDNESDAY MARCH 17
9:15 – 11:15 AM
Session 9: Anti-Semitism, Assimilation and Jewish Survival
(In cooperation w/ The Jewish Agency and Bar-Ilan University’s Rappaport Center)
Participants:
Minister of Immigrant Absorption Tzippy Livni, Chairperson
Prof. Yehezkel Dror (Institute of Policy for Jewish Existence)
Ambassador Yitzchak Meir
Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld
Dr. Laurence Weinbaum
Dr. Avi Becker
Dr. Tzvi Zohar
11:45 AM – 1:30 PM
Session 10: Israel-US Relations
Participants:
Ambassador Zalman Shoval, Chairman
Prof. Talya Einhorn (Tel Aviv University)
Jeffrey H. Ballabon (VP for Public Policy, Primedia Corp.)
Dr. Rand Fishbein (Director, Fishbein Associates, Washington, DC)
Hon. Yoram Ettinger (for. Israel Embassy Liaison to Congress)
Prof. Aryeh Hillman (Economics, Bar-Ilan Univ., for. Economic Advisor to the PM)
2:45 – 4:30 PM
Session 11: Is Jewish-Zionist Education in Crisis?
Participants:
Deputy Minister of Education Tzvi Hendel, Chairman
Colonel (res.) Moshe Leshem (Chairman, Gamla Shall Not Fall Again)
Dr. Tzvi Tzameret (Director, Yad Ben-Tzvi Institute)
Alan Hoffman (Dir. Education Dept., The Jewish Agency)
MK Gila Finkelstein (NRP, former Principal of Zeitlin High School, Tel Aviv)
Dr. Shlomo Kalish (Founding Partner, Jerusalem Global Ventures)
5:00 – 6:45 PM
Session 12: The Struggle for Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and National Character
(In cooperation w/ the Jerusalem Municipality & Bar-Ilan University’s Rennert Center)
Participants:
Uzi Baram (for. MK & Minister – Labor Party), Chairman
MK Rabbi Meir Porush (Torah Judaism Party, for. Dep. Minister of Housing)
Uri Sheetrit (Chief City Engineer, Jerusalem Municipality)
Hon. Dan Halprin (Director, Iptik Business Consulting Corp.)
Yisrael Har'el (Fellow at the Hartmann Institute, Jerusalem, Ha'aretz columnist, former Yesha Council head)
Prof Yehoshua Schwartz (Rennert Center on Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University)
Motti Tepperberg (CEO & Owner, Efrat Wineries)
7:00 – 8:20 PM & 8:40 – 10:00 PM
Closing Sessions 13 & 14: Torah Study & Jewish Tradition as a Foundation for
National & Cultural Values in Israeli Society
(In cooperation with the Center for Jewish Values, New York)
Participants:
Session 13: 7:00 – 8:20 PM
For. Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rishon Lezion Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron
Prof. Rabbi Moshe Sokol (Touro College, New York)
Rabbi Shalom Gold (Rabbi, Kehilat Zichron Yosef, Jerusalem)
Benny Gal (CEO, Gal Communications)
Session 14: 8:40 – 10:00 PM
Rabbi Mordechai Elon (Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Hakotel, Jerusalem)
Rav Mordechai Noigershal (Director, “Judaism From a Different Angle”)
Prof. Shalom Rosenberg (Philosophy, Hebrew University & Touro College)
Emanuel Shilo (Editor, B’Sheva Newspaper)