Following recent meetings in New York between 20 leaders from Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA, the two powerful organizations and largest providers of Zionist education and engagement agreed on developing plans for bold action and leveraging their collective resources to counter the growing barriers between Diaspora and Israeli Jewry, further efforts to fight antisemitism and the BDS movement, and support Israel’s Negev and Galilee, while showcasing and celebrating the beauty of Zionism.
As part of developing future plans for enhancing Zionist education, the two organizations also agreed to explore opportunities to progress the development of the World Zionist Village that if approved will be located in the capital of Israel’s Negev Desert, Be’er Sheva, that will create a space to bring the Zionist world together for a new conversation about the movement’s shared values and common destiny.
“The time to act for our collective Zionist future is now,” exclaimed World Zionist Village Chair, Joe Wolfson. “For millennia, the Jewish People have always united when faced with an existential crisis. After 2,000 years, Theodor Herzl called on us to unite – and we answered the call and came home to Israel. Now, we have an opportunity to again shape our shared destiny – and it can only happen if we’re part of the same conversation under one roof utilizing all the resources at our disposal.”
The Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael delegation was led by the organization’s Chairwoman, Ifat Ovadia-Luski, who said, “ I am proud to continue our historic work for our Jewish people everywhere and build our relationship with Jewish communities throughout the United States and around the world. I congratulate the participants of both KKL and JNF-USA for their willingness and cooperation. I am confident that the understandings will help the Jewish people and the State of Israel in various ways. We came together under my chairwomanship along with our distinguished board members and professionals to build a model of cooperation that will benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish People.”
Jewish National Fund-USA Assistant Vice President, Administration, Marvin Schlanger, added, “Just as our World Zionist Village will be located next to “Abraham’s Well” where one of the conversations about our People’s future began, today, we again sat around a well of vision, inspired and determined to create a common legacy for the land and people of Israel and Jewish people everywhere.”
Photograph: KKL-JNF Spokesmanship