After Delay, Netanyahu Confirms Speaking Via Satellite To Jewish Federations
All the Nicknames: Benjamin Netanyahu is known as ?Bibi,? but many prominent Israeli politicians have not been called by such informal names. Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address the Jewish Federations of North America’s annual General Assembly next month via satellite on November 14.
Netanyahu will be interviewed live from Israel, as he was last year. He appeared in person at the 2013 and 2015 General Assemblies and by satellite in 2014 and last year.
Reports last week said that an address by Netanyahu had not been confirmed, which was considered unusual that close to the event.
“We are thrilled to once again have Prime Minister Netanyahu with us at this year’s GA, as we have now for so many years running,” said Richard Sandler, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America, in a statement. “It’s a clear display of how important the relationship between Israel and the North American Jewish community is viewed by the Israeli government and by the prime minister himself.”
Tensions between Netanyahu and the U.S. Jewish community have sharpened in recent months in the wake of his freeze of a plan for an expanded egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall, favored by the Reform and Conservative movements who claim a majority of affiliated North American Jews.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is scheduled to speak in person at the conference. His appearance at the General Assembly is the first time that Rivlin will speak to a major Jewish audience outside of Israel, according to JFNA.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
