Knesset Diaspora parley broadcast online

Jewish people from around the world joined a Knesset meeting titled “A new paradigm for relations between Israel and the Jewish people” on Tuesday, as webinar technology was used in the Knesset for the first time.

The meeting, called by Knesset Subcommittee on Israel and the Jewish People chairwoman MK Einat Wilf (Independence), featured representatives from the Jewish Agency, Foreign Ministry, Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Ministry and others, who discussed changes and developments in the relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.

Wilf said technology and globalization transformed the way people communicate, challenging the relevancy and appropriateness of the old relationship between Israel and the Jewish People.

She then pointed out that dozens of Jews around the world, including New York, Paris, Munich and other cities, were watching the meeting on their computer screens, and could send questions and comments.

One of the central issues debated in the meeting was conversion.

MK Haim Amsalem, a rabbi and the author of a book on the Jewish laws of conversion, said the chief rabbinate’s current policies are stricter than necessary and have “almost closed the door” for those with one Jewish parent who want to join the Jewish people.

EINAT WILF