June 24, 2012 / 4 Tammuz 5772

New York—As some 400 leaders from Israel and Jewish communities around the world gather in Jerusalem next week for The Jewish Agency Assembly and Board of Governors meetings, The Jewish Agency has announced that it will host The Studio of the Jewish People—a live webcast venue for English interviews with meeting speakers and attendees—conducted by a “who’s who” of Israeli journalists, including Dov Elboim, Dana Weiss, Yoav Limor, Gilad Adin, and Shmuel Rosner.

The Jewish Agency Assembly and Board of Governors Meetings will run from Sunday, June 24 to Wednesday, June 27. The gathering will focus on the Jewish Agency’s work and how it is responding to the most critical challenges facing Jews in Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. It will include addresses by the President of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres, government ministers, members of Knesset, researchers, and experts and community leaders from around the world, all of whom who are on the frontlines confronting the challenges facing global Jewry

“Each year, this gathering sets the agenda for how the Jewish community will collectively address global trends and issues like assimilation, anti-Semitism, Aliyah, security, economic affairs, socio-cultural and political divisions, and the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora,” said Barry Spielman, The Jewish Agency’s Director of Communications for North America. “It is the year’s most diverse cross-section of Jewish leaders. Allowing anybody with an Internet connection access to The Assembly and Board of Governors, The Studio of the Jewish People is a way for the Jewish Agency to welcome all Jews into these important global discussions..” 

The studio interviews will focus on the sissues addressed in the plenary sessions, some of which will also be streamed live. The webcast can be viewed at http://bit.ly/MlSGsu. The schedule is as follows (all times are EDT):

• Sunday, June 24, 1:45 am -  Sarah Beck interviews Natan Sharansky, Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency
• Sunday, June 24, 2:45 am - Addresses of President Shimon Peres and Natan Sharansky
• Monday, June 25, 1:30 am - Address by Dan Meridor, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel  and Minister for Strategic Issues
• Monday, June 25, 2:30 am -  Lectures on Liberalism and Zionism by Harvard Professor and author of What Money Can’t Buy, Michael Sandler, and by Gadi Taub, Hebrew University Professor and columnist for Yedioth Ahranoth.
• Monday, June 25, 4:30 am - Dov Elboim interviews Michael Sandler, Gadi Taub, and Natan Sharansky on “Liberalism and Zionism”
• Monday, June 25, 11:00 am – Eli Wohlglertner hosts a roundtable on anti-Semitism and de-legitimization of Israel
• Tuesday, June 26, 3 to 4:30 am - Shmuel Rosner interviews attendees (to be determined) on Israel-Diaspora relations
• Tuesday, June 26, 5 to 6:30 am - Dana Weiss interviews Knesset members Ze’ev Elkin, Nachman Shai, and Eliezer “Mody” Sandberg on politics and the Jewish world, and Yoav Limir on “Preventing the Next Toulouse”
• Tuesday, June 26, 10:00 am - Yoav Limor interviews Natan Sharansky; Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews; and Steve Hoffman, President of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, on preventing the next Toulouse 
  Wednesday, June 27, 4:00 am - Special broadcast with The Jewish Agency’s Director of the Russian-speaking Jewry unit, Roman Polonsky, on issues uniting and dividing Russian-speaking Jewry
• Wednesday, June 27, 5:30 am - Tal Bashan discusses “The Jewish Agency in 2020” with Leah Golan, Deputy Director General of The Jewish Agency; Avinoam Bar-Yosef, President of the Jewish People Policy Institute; and Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union for Reform Judaism
• Wednesday, June 27, 9:00 am - Tal Bashan discusses women in the Jewish world with Jane Sherman, past Board Chair of the United Israel Appeal and member of The Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors; MK Orit Zuaretz; and Joanna Arbib, Chair of Keren Heyesod - United Israel Appeal’s World Board of Trustees, and Member of The Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors
• Wednesday, June 27, 11:00 am – Natan Sharansky answers viewer questions with Gilad Adin