According to this report in Maariv (and again, I'm sorry but there is no translation yet), a group of Jewish leaders is meeting in Jerusalem under the auspices of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, which I think is a Jewish Agency off-shoot.
Britain is represented by Sir Ronald Cohen, the founder of Hedge Fund Apax, while other participants come from across the diaspora political spectrum, including the former US presidential adviser Elliott Abrams; Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations; former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer; the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman; the senior vice president of Bna'i B'rith International, Daniel Mariaschin; Pierre Besnainou, a leading figure of the Jewish community in France.
The team will present its findings to Binyamin Netanyahu and Shmon Peres.
Avinoam Bar-Yosef, the head of the JPPPI, said:"Currently there is a political process that is expected to focus on the core issues, Jerusalem, access to the holy sites, the character of the State of Israel. These are issues that even if the Jewish people in the Diaspora do not participate in the discussions, it affects their future and [they] must express an opinion and make sure that it is being heard."
So this puts lie to the claim by some that if you don't live in Israel, you must not comment on, and especially not criticise, Israeli policies.
A welcome Israeli initiative
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