2011 World Jewish Congress Meetings

Governing Board to Focus on Global Jewish Response to Changes Sweeping the Middle East

Israel’s President Shimon Peres to Open
2011 World Jewish Congress Meetings

Governing Board to Focus on Global Jewish Response to
Changes Sweeping the Middle East

(JERUSALEM – June 19, 2011) The 2011 Governing Board meetings of the World Jewish Congress will open this evening at Jerusalem’s David Citadel Hotel with an English-language address by President of Israel Shimon Peres. The event will also feature the presentation of the WJC’s Herzl Award to Israeli industrialist and philanthropist Nochi Dankner.

WJC President Ronald Lauder, who will open the proceedings, remarked that the annual meeting comes at a time of historic importance for the Jewish world. “Perhaps more than ever before, the international community is witnessing a variety of pivotal changes which will impact very heavily on the global Jewish community,” Ambassador Lauder said. “The purpose of this gathering is to enable the Jewish world to offer a united voice on these developments so that the vital interests of the global Jewish communities are recognized and acted upon.”

The event will also be addressed by Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, a co-founder of the Friends of Israel Initiative, whose comments will focus on the need for increased support for Israel in the face of growing diplomatic challenges around the world.

The event will begin at 7:00 PM at the David Citadel Hotel.