Israel News Politics World

Jews outside Israel will now have sway in Knesset subcommittee

June 25, 2012 | Jewish TribunecloseAuthor: Jewish Tribune Name: Jewish Tribune
Site:
About: no bio enterdedSee Authors Posts (6954)

Israel MK Einat Wilf

JERUSALEM – Due to thousands of registered emails and likes on Facebook supporting the idea, Einat Wilf, chair of the Knesset subcommittee on ties between Israel and the Jewish people, has agreed to propose the idea of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) representing not only Jews in Israel, but Jews in the Diaspora as well.

Thanks to this new initiative, Jews in the Diaspora will now have an influence on what is discussed in the Knesset.

The subcommittee discussed the proposal by Joelle Fiss, a British Jew residing in the United States, that the Knesset should not only deal with issues proposed by Jews in the US, which houses 80 per cent of world Jewry in conjunction with Israel, but should also vote on issues advocated for by smaller Jewish communities in other countries, providing they amount to at least 0.2 per cent of the Jewish population. By the same token, Fiss proposed that the Knesset should not discriminate based on religious beliefs, and should represent all streams of Judaism.

“Consultation between the official institutions of the state of Israel and the Jewish people are essential, and it is important to listen and to understand the issues they face,” stressed Wilf. “[This consultation must be] not only with heads of a few Jewish organizations who meet periodically with ministers and prime ministers, but also with all the many Jews around the world.”

Tags: current Diaspora input Israel Knesset sway