Prime minister, president air views before Jewish journalists

Special Report by ALAN SMASON

To the steady click of high-powered cameras amid a sea of Jewish journalists Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and outgoing President Shimon Peres aired their views on serious issues facing the Jewish State.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the journalists at the Jewish Media Summit. (Photo by Alan Smason)

Netanyahu began his talk by speaking about the death of a 15-year-old Israeli teenager and the severe injuring of three others, one of whom was his father, in the Golan Heights. “Earlier I spoke with the parents of Mohammed Karaka and expressed condolences. It’s been nine days since the three teens were abducted by Hamas. Our enemies don’t differentiate between Jews and non-Jews, adults and children.”

Netanyahu addressed more than 100 Jewish journalists invited from across the globe as well as in front of several local journalists as part of the first state-sponsored Jewish Media Summit being held in Jerusalem. The event runs for four days through Wednesday, June 25.

The prime minister was highly critical of the divestment vote taken by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which he characterized as “misguided.”

Netanyahu focused on three major worries he believes Jewish journalists should be concerned about. They are the rise of anti-Semitism in areas like Europe, the loss of Jewish identity by Jewish youth throughout the world and the threat of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of extremist Islamist groups, most notably those sponsored by  Iran.

Netanyahu also spoke of the great strides the Jewish State has made, particularly in the area of technology. As an example, he stated that in its 66-year history, Israel has seen a ten-fold increase in population despite precipitation amounts falling to “about half” of what it had previously been. The standard of living in Israel has increased by 30 % over the same period and Israel’s economy has increased by a factor of 100.

Shimon Peres at the press conference opening the Jewish Media Summit. (Photo by Alan Smason)

“Our feet are grounded in the past in this land for what we see as our future,” he proclaimed.

Earlier, Peres, the outgoing 90-year-old  former premier who leaves office as president next month, engaged reporters in a question and answer period with Times of Israel correspondent David Horovitz, who acted as moderator.

Peres was very supportive of the work of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, whom he termed “the best friend of Israel.” He said he had nothing to offer incoming president Reuvin Rivlin in terms of advice, since he felt he was a very capable leader. Peres spoke for 20 minutes before leaving the room.

For more information on the Summit or to view the proceedings, allmost all of which are being streamed in realtime, go to http://www.jms.org.il/.