January 27, 2011 cjnews.

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The Canadian Jewish News GTA

ROLEX•PATEK•CARTIER

‘We must preserve Israel as an option

for future generations’
Continued from page 3
“We must preserve the State of Israel as an
option for the future generations. The children
did not decide to leave Israel, their parents
did,” he added.
A similar theme was expressed by federa-
tion president and CEO Ted Sokolsky, at the
opening ceremony.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s at-
titude [pointing to the advantages of connect-
ing with Israelis living abroad] changed the re-
lationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry
forever,” Sokolsky said.
There are believed to be about one million
Israelis in the Diaspora, mostly in North
America, with others in Europe and Australia.
In the GTA, 85 per cent of all Jewish immi-
grants are Israelis, said federation board chair
Elizabeth Wolfe.
But “building an Israeli community abroad
and maintaining the Israeli culture are not
easy tasks”, said Gidi Grinstein, president and
founder of Reut Institute, an Israeli policy
group that provides strategic support to Israeli
leaders and decision-makers, speaking at the
first plenary session.
“The Israeli identity is too weak to be pre-
served in the Diaspora conditions, and keeping
the identity of the future generations is a great
challenge. Statistically, the future generation
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